The Platt Amendment: When Cuba Was Born Free but in Chains

On May 20, 1902, Cuba raised its flag for the first time as an independent republic. The streets of Havana filled with celebration. But behind the jubilation lurked a bitter reality: the new nation was born with an invisible chain written into its constitution.

That chain had a name: the Platt Amendment.

From Spanish Colony to American Protectorate

After four centuries of Spanish rule and a war of independence that cost over 300,000 Cuban lives, the island didn’t pass directly into the hands of its people. The explosion of the USS Maine in 1898 gave the United States a pretext to intervene in the Spanish-Cuban conflict, and when the war ended, American troops stayed.

The military occupation lasted from 1899 to 1902 under General Leonard Wood. During that period, Washington made it clear that withdrawing its troops came at a price.

The Eight Conditions That Shackled Cuba

On March 2, 1901, Connecticut Senator Orville H. Platt introduced an amendment to the Army Appropriations Bill that established eight conditions for Cuban independence. The most significant:

• Article I: Cuba could not sign treaties that compromised its sovereignty with foreign powers.
• Article III: The United States reserved the right to intervene militarily to “preserve Cuban independence” and maintain an adequate government.
• Article VII: Cuba was required to sell or lease land to the U.S. for naval stations — the origin of Guantánamo Bay, which the United States maintains to this day.

The Debate That Divided Cuba

The Cuban Constitutional Assembly of 1901 faced a devastating dilemma: accept the amendment or face indefinite military occupation. The debate was fierce.

Juan Gualberto Gómez, independence hero and journalist, led the opposition. He argued that accepting the amendment meant surrendering the sovereignty that had cost so much to win. Manuel Sanguily, another distinguished patriot, called the amendment “a humiliating appendage.”

But the pressure was immense. U.S. Secretary of War Elihu Root sent a clear message: without the amendment, there would be no republic. Finally, on June 12, 1901, the assembly approved the amendment by 16 votes to 11, with four absent.

The Interventions: The Amendment in Action

The Platt Amendment was no dead letter. The United States used it to intervene in Cuba on multiple occasions:

1906-1909: The Second Occupation. When an electoral dispute between liberals and conservatives threatened stability, Secretary of War William Howard Taft proclaimed himself provisional governor of Cuba. American troops remained for three years.

1912: The Little War of the Independientes de Color. U.S. Marines landed in Oriente when the Cuban government violently suppressed the Independent Party of Color, an Afro-Cuban political movement demanding racial equality.

1917: Intervention During World War I. American troops deployed to Cuba during the so-called “February Revolution,” a liberal uprising against the government of Mario García Menocal.

Beyond direct interventions, the amendment’s shadow shaped all of Cuban politics. Presidents of the Republic knew that any crisis could trigger Article III.

The Shadow of Guantánamo

Article VII produced the amendment’s most enduring legacy. In 1903, Cuba leased 45 square miles of territory at Guantánamo Bay to the United States for an annual payment of 2,000 pesos in gold coins — later converted to a check for $4,085 per year.

Over a century later, the naval base continues to operate. Since 1959, the Cuban government has refused the payments and demanded the territory’s return, but the original treaty states it can only be rescinded by mutual agreement.

1934: The End of the Amendment

Repeal came in the context of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy. On May 29, 1934, Cuba and the United States signed a new Treaty of Relations that eliminated the most harmful articles of the Platt Amendment.

The context was decisive: in 1933, a popular revolution had overthrown dictator Gerardo Machado. The new nationalist government demanded changes in the relationship with Washington. Roosevelt, seeking hemispheric allies against the rise of fascism in Europe, agreed.

However, Guantánamo Bay remained. And the resentment from three decades of conditional sovereignty profoundly shaped Cuban political identity — a sentiment that later leaders, from Carlos Manuel de Céspedes to twentieth-century revolutionaries, knew how to harness.

A Legacy That Explains the Present

The Platt Amendment wasn’t just a historical episode. It was a formative experience that shaped Cuba’s relationship with the United States for over a century. The distrust of Washington, nationalism as a political pillar, the uncompromising defense of sovereignty — all find their roots in those years when independence came with conditions imposed from the north.

As Cuban historian Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring wrote: “The Platt Amendment was the greatest obstacle Cuba encountered on its path to true independence.”

Understanding the Platt Amendment is understanding why Cuba is the way it is.

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Sources:

• Platt Amendment — National Archives
• Platt Amendment — Encyclopædia Britannica
• Platt Amendment — Wikipedia
• Pérez, Louis A. Jr. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution. Oxford University Press.