Hispanic/Latino-American History Part Two

Preambulo

I know that I said that part two of Hispanic/Latino American History would cover "t he diversity of ethnic backgrounds that make-up Hispanic/Latino-American culture in the United States as well as some of the contemporary issues, concerns and challenges they face," but I now find it necessary to extend it to three parts --- the history is so rich and pregnant with significance that I felt I had to.

In this installment I will be focusing on three countries that give us the majority of our Hispanic/Latino American citizens: Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Our interactions with these countries have been extremely involved and complex.

Interaction & Intervention

The United States had established close com mercial ties to Cuba, still a Spanish colony. In 1895, Jose Marti launched a renewed drive for Cuban independence. He hoped to force American intervention, but opinion in the United States was divided.

Spain sent an army to Cuba. Its commander put 300,000 Cubans in concentration camps while he tried to defeat the army of independence. American newspaper reports exaggerated stories of Spanish atrocities against the Cuban people. As more peo ple began to clamor for giving aid to the Cubans, President McKinley tried to find a peaceful solution. Spain moderated its policies and granted lim ited self-rule to Cuba. The issue seemed to be dying down.

Then, two incidents fanned the fire. A newspa per published a Spanish diplomat's criticism of McKinley. Worse, a U.S. warship, the battleship Maine, mysteriously blew up in Havana's harbor. No one knew why the explosion occurred, but newspapers blamed Spain and the cry for war became too strong to resist.

The first battle of the war took place in the Philippines, another Spanish possession. Admiral George Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet there, and U.S. army units joined Filipino rebels. The Spanish in the Philippines surrendered.

In Cuba, an American army -despite being ill- prepared-won a decisive battle. Press accounts gave great fame to Theodore Roosevelt, who led a volunteer cavalry troop. Within two days, a naval battle resulted in destruction of the Spanish fleet and Spanish surrender in Cuba.

Spain quickly agreed to a peace that granted Cuba its independence and gained the United States the islands of Puerto Rico and Guam and the Philippines. The United States had, what could be considered, an empire.

Many Puerto Ricans wanted independence, but others were willing to accept being an American territory. Still others wanted to become a state. The Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Ricans were not American citizens. In 1917, Congress granted that right to Puerto Ricans and allowed them to choose their legislature. But it still denied statehood to the island.

For the first four years after the end of the war, the U.S. army remained in Cuba. It imprisoned Cubans who protested American presence, but it also fed the hungry.

Cuba also made one very important contribution to the world. In medicine, Dr. Walter Reed is generally credited with originating the theory of yellow fever transmissions by mosquitoes. The truth is that he only confirmed this theory. Carlos Juan Finlay , a Cuban physician, was the one who actually originated it. Up until the time that Dr . Finlay began his research into yellow fever, the medical research profession worldwide believed this disease was transmitted through the air or produced by a putrid substance from dead marine organisms.

In 1879, Dr. Finlay suspected this theory was wrong and began his research, which lasted two years, after which his findings convinced him that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes. For the next 22 years, American scientists, including Dr. Reed, repeatedly rebuffed Dr. Finlay's attempts to convince them that his theory was correct.

During this period, yellow fever killed more American soldiers than died in the Spanish-American War and claimed the lives of 52,000 French workers constructing the Panama Canal . It wasn't until 1901 that the North American scientists, following the lead of their colleagues in Mexico , Cuba and Europe, finally confirmed Dr. Finlay's theory.

After the Spanish-American-Cuban War, the United States insisted that the new Cuban constitution grant the United States privileges. Many American businesses had invested heavily in the island, and they wanted their property protected. These provisions were agreed to -reluctantly-and Cuba became independent but partly under U.S. control.

Under the 1901 Platt Amendment, the United States limited Cuban independence. Cuba cannot sign treaties with other countries or borrow money unless it is agreeable to the United States. The United States also reserves the right to build a naval base on Cuba.

With these limitations written into the Cuban constitution in 1901, the United States turns the government of Cuba over to the Cuban people. In 1902 Cuba declared its independence from the United States

Filipinos -who had been fighting for indepen dence for years-were outraged that the United States had annexed their islands. Rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo led an armed revolt against the Americans. In a war that lasted three years, the American army used some of the same tactics that the Spanish had used in Cuba. The revolt was finally suppressed in 1902. The islands finally gained independence in 1946.

Roosevelt's major action was to ensure the building of the Panama Canal. The canal was want ed to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, cutting travel time for merchant ships -and for U.S. navy ships. Panama then was a province of Colombia, but won its independence in a U.S.-supported revolt. The new nation gave the United States land to build a canal.

It took ten years to build the 50-mile-long canal, and it was a success from the start. But Roosevelt's actions caused ill will toward the United States throughout Latin America.

The president warned European nations to keep their hands off Latin America. He also announced his intention to intervene whenever political turbulence in Latin America threatened U.S. business. President Taft took such a step in 1911, sending troops to Nicaragua.

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson took a moral tone in Latin American policy. He said that the United States would refuse to recognize any Latin American government that was oppressive, undemocratic, or opposed U.S. interests. A revolu tion in Mexico quickly tested this policy.

Conservatives favored by U.S. businesses that invested in Mexico seized the Mexican govern ment. Wilson used a minor incident to send troops to Veracruz. When a new leader took power in Mexico, Wilson withdrew the troops.

The trouble did not end, however. A revolt against the new Mexican government by Francisco "Pancho" Villa involved the United States. Within a month, Pershing and his men had traveled over 300 miles south into the heart of Mexico in an unsuccessful pursuit of Villa. Wilson ignored President Carranza's threats of war, and the two armies eventually clashed on April 12, 1916, and again on June 21, 1916.

Both countries prepared for war; Wilson mustered 100,000 troops on the border in Texas. Fortunately, however, war was averted when Carranza petitioned for mediation. An agreement was reached in early January 1917 when Wilson recalled Pershing and officially recognized Carranza's government.

The Jones Act was passed in 1917, extending U.S. citizenship to all Puerto Ricans and creating two Puerto Rican houses of legislature whose representatives are elected by the people. English is decreed the official language of Puerto Rico.

Within the same year, however, Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1917, imposing a literacy requirement on all immigrants aimed at curbing the influx from Southern and Eastern Europe, but ultimately inhibiting immigration from Mexico.

In 1921, limits on the number of immigrants allowed to enter the United States during a single year are imposed for the first time in the country's history. As the first of two national origin quota acts designed to curtail immigration from eastern and southern Europe and Asia is passed, Mexico and Puerto Rico become major sources of workers. Sadly, in the same year, a depression in Mexico causes severe destitution among Mexicans.

With the onset of the Great Depression, in 1929, Mexican immigration to the United States virtually ceases and return migration increases sharply. The League of United Latin American Citizens is founded in Texas by frustrated Mexican Americans who find that opportunities for them in the United States are limited.

Around this time, the United States controls 44 percent of the cultivated land in Puerto Rico; U.S. corporatists controlled 60 percent of the banks and public services, and all of the maritime lines. In the period between 1930 and 1934, approximately 20 percent of the Puerto Ricans living in the United States would return to the island.

In 1933, the Roosevelt Administration reverses the policy of English as the official language in Puerto Rico. In that year, Cuba experiences an interesting chain of events: dictator Gerardo Machado is overthrown; Fulgencio Batista leads a barracks revolt to overthrow Cuban provisional President Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Quesada, becoming the dictator of the Cuban provisional government; and in 1934 the Platt Amendment was annulled --- in 1940, Fulgencio Batista is elected president in Cuba.

In the run-up, Hispanics throughout the United States enthusiastically respond to the war effort as the country enters World War II. Over 400,000 Hispanics served in the U.S. armed forces during this war. Twelve were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor --- in August 1995, Secretary of Defense William Perry participated in a ceremony to honor those people who displayed heroism under fire in service to their country.

The third (and final) installment will address the American Hispanic/Latino Civil Rights movement and current challenges and triumphs.