Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez has denounced attempts by opponents of the island’s government to distort what happened in Cuba on May 20, 1902. “To erase history, anti-Cubans in the United States are trying to redefine May 20,” he stated in a message on X.
According to the island’s top diplomat, that date “marks the birth of a Republic mutilated by the Platt Amendment.” “The vindication of our mambises came on January 1, 1959, after much good blood forged the path to true independence,” he stated in the platform itself.
After intervening in the war between Cuba and Spain in 1898, The United States maintained its troops in this country and prepared the political farce of establishing a republic faithful to its purposes, according to historians and researchers.
The U.S. military occupation of the Caribbean nation, they note, ended on May 19, 1902, and the Republic was born a day later, when a new government and constitution were established and the Cuban flag was raised at the Palace of the Captains-General.
However, specialists point out, the Cubans’ independence sentiment was ignored, an administration serving the United States was implemented, and the Magna Carta included the Platt Amendment as an appendix.
This ensured absolute U.S. dominance over Cuba, under the threat of the use of force to maintain the military occupation. Furthermore, it required the leasing of land for U.S. naval stations and coal mines, hence the naval base at Guantánamo, which remains against the will of the Cuban people.
For many scholars, the history following May 20, 1902, confirmed that this One day Cuba became a kidnapped nation, because each of its steps was authorized from Washington, until the revolutionary triumph in 1959.
