This blog was inspired by and draws from Jerry Sierra's summary of Cuba's long struggle and failure to achieve independence.

American's will cheer or lament Fidel's passing and proceed largely ignorant of our involvement in Cuba's history the last 300 years, even as the torch bearers of the budding British presence in the New World (and the benefactors of the chaos unfolding in the Old).

If anyone knows about Simón Bolívar, Latin America's premier revolutionary, they'll realize that the Spanish colonies more than the British ones long chomped at the bit. Where British colonies had a semblance of civilization and English order & law to them, the Spanish ones were more arrayed as a spoils system with a much harsher pecking order of who's in, who's out.

Combine that with Cuba's position as an island, subservient to the whims of Spanish, then British, then American monopoly of the seas, and disgruntlement there was. This could have worked out for the best, and almost did, as in 1762 Cuba was given some measure of independence when occupied by the Brits during the Seven Year War, finally free to trade with whomever, as opposed to the captive Spanish market that paid what it wanted, usually little. But that bit of freedom was quickly dashed in 1763 by the end of the war, with the British trading Havana for the more convenient, closer-to-its-colonies Florida.

Britain then lost Florida after defeat in the American Revolution and subsequent Treaty of Versailles. In the years following independence, the US annexed the west Florida area (east of the Mississippi from Baton Rouge to Mobile & Pensacola), falsely claiming it part of the Louisiana Purchase, then a few years later any remaining areas of West Florida (because, because, because), and finally by Andrew Jackson's raids in 1817-1818 ostensibly against the Seminole.

(Spain didn't have a "big beautiful Wall" at the time, so American settlers, ex-slaves and whoever else wanted could easily move across the complex swampy border and set up shop as they wished (Florida's population in 1830 was still only 35,000, half of those white, over an area back then close to current-day Nebraska or South Dakota).

Spain made it official in 1821, ceding Florida to the US. In fact, most of Spain's colonies were pushing for independence during this period - why not Cuba? Turns out they were - with a joint Mexican-Colombian expedition coming to help. But Henry Clay didn't want more more blacks - certainly not free blacks with guns - so threatened all the powers-that-be that we would brook no independence, and Simón Bolívar backed down, recognizing the elephant in the room despite never having seen one. Current count: World 2, Cuba 0.

The US kept up its arms trade with Spain and an embargo on rebels to keep Cuban revolts in check over most of the rest century, not incidentally receiving 90% of Cuba's exports, but as Spain weakened due to José Martí's revolution (he's the poet & revolutionary whose words were turned into "Guantanamera") in the late 90's and Spain's legacy colonies became more trouble than they were worth, the US quietly tried to buy Cuba in 1896. (This was longstanding US policy - Franklin Pierce had caused controversy in 1854 with the Ostend Manifesto suggesting to buy Cuba or steal it if refused). It didn't help that the US had put heavy tariffs on Cuban sugar in 1894 to put the colony in crisis, as sugar *was* its main export.

In a development we might appreciate today, the Yellow Journalism of Hearst & Pulitzer heated up thereafter, based not on a desire for Cuban land but simply to sell more papers in New York, and thus the furor surrounding the still mysterious sinking of The Maine was used for the US to send in troops - again ostensibly to free the Cubans.

But when the smoke cleared, the US was left in charge. Despite bestowing independence on Cuba in 1902 and mostly pulling out (likely due to a bout of Yellow Fever that hit our troops hard), the US Marines largely controlled the comings-and-goings on the island, invading or pressuring every so often, along with occupying Guantánamo permanently.

(A sad irony for José Martí - the city of his people's struggle turned into a perpetual colony, but also come the Iraq War, a symbol of American militancy, colonialism and now torture. Part of Martí and colleagues' hurry to push their revolution was seeing the US gobble up Hawaii as another step in its steady global imperialism - no doubt they had figured they'd be one of the next in line).

In 1906, the US re-occupied for 2 years, and again in 1912. In the mid-20's, the first generation of US gambling & prostitution swept Cuba, only halted by the Great Depression. The US continued to influence Cuba's fledgling politics through WWII, past Batista's first term and into his post-war coup years. And the rest, from Fidel's revolutionary days onward, is what we know as "history". Cuba's never quite gotten that independence it dreamed of, now eternally at the whims of US domestic politics and the anger of the Miami exiles.

Final count? Hard to say, at least 5 points or more for the US, as they attempted to run up the score the last years, but as a baseball fan, it's fair to say Fidel scored at least once or twice, and that's probably all that matters. Qué hombre, señor. You and José and all the rest.