While the isle of Cuba was initially discovered on October 27, 1492 during one of

Columbus' first voyages, it wasn't actually claimed by Spain until the sixteenth century.

However, it's tumultuous beginnings as a Spanish sugar colony provides an insightful backdrop

into the very essence of the country's political and economic unrest. From it's early

revolutionary days to the insurrectional challenge of the Marxist-Leninist theories emerged the

totalitarian regime under Fidel Castro in present day Cuba.

Cuban colonial society was distinguished by the characteristics of colonial societies in

general, namely a stratified, inegalitarian class system; a poorly differentiated agricultural

economy; a dominant political class made up of colonial officers, the clergy, and the military; an

exclusionary and elitist education system controlled by the clergy; and a pervasive religious

system.1 Cuba's agrarian monocultural character, economically dependant upon sugar

cultivation, production and export severely restricted its potential for growth as a nation, thereby

firmly implanting its newly sprouted roots firmly in the trenches of poverty from the very

percent of all sugar consumed by the United States, thus mandating the direction of the Cuban

Cuba (its current leader, President Machado, had lost the ability to govern after his promise of

The years following the Ten Years' War were harsh and austere. The countryside,

auspicious results in the event of a lifting of the U.S. embargo. More importantly, Castro would

It is evident that the political disposition of the country, as in most countries, has been

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Approximate Word count = 3206
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)