How could I write a novel about Cuba without mentioning the influence of racial prejudice?

Cuba

THE FREE TRADE that Yankee merchants enjoyed with Cuba during the American Revolution had been cut off abruptly when the United States won its independence. They petitioned their new government to plead their case with Spain. The Yankees saw no reason why they couldn't continue making vast fortunes in trade with the island, especially since the Cubans themselves were equally anxious for the Yankee trading ships to continue calling at their ports.

The infamous La Amistad was a Cuban owned slaver that had free access to La Habana while Yankee merchants watched from the sidelines (click to enlarge)

Unfortunately for both the Yankees and the Cubans, Spain had opened the island's ports to the revolutionaries only to tweak the noses of their traditional enemies, the British. Once the revolution ended, the Americans appeared as nothing more than wayward Englishmen who would probably return to the British Empire once they discovered how dangerous the world could be without a well-endowed protector. Indeed, there were many among the Americans who had argued emphatically that the revolution was nothing more than a fight for Americans to gain representation in Parliament. Others sought to annex America to the French monarchy, again as a source of protection in a dangerous world. Only a few actually envisioned America becoming an independent nation. Fortunately for us, their opinion held sway.

The suddenness of the closing of Cuba's ports caught many unaware. Oliver Pollack, America's commercial agent to Cuba discovered that his merchandise had been confiscated by the Spanish when two of his ships from New Orleans arrived at Havana, and he was accused of smuggling.

If the capricious and moribund colonial rule of the island by Spain was the only thing getting in the way, an independent Cuba seemed to be the only answer. Unfortunately for the Yankee traders, their pleas to the new government of the United States to support revolution in Cuba fell on deaf ears. Presidents Washington and Adams surveyed the prospect of revolution in the Caribbean, and recoiled in horror when they considered that it would be fought primarily by slaves. There certainly weren't sufficient numbers of creoles – Spaniards born on the islands – to overcome the peninsulares – Spaniards born on the peninsula of Spain and loyal to its crown – and the might of the Spanish army.

Such a revolution was fought in Haiti with slaves overthrowing the government of their French masters. The American presidents feared the social, economic, and political implications of the American slave South. Thus, they believed it in the best interests of the United States to discourage any other independence movement in Cuba.

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Unfortunately, race discrimination would continue to influence American foreign policy, especially as regards to Cuba, well into the Twentieth Century. I had to allow for this influence in my novel, Rebels on the Mountain. It reveals itself in several modes: in the relationship between the principle characters, Nick Andrews – a Caucasian American – and Lucia Comas – a Cuban mulata – as well as in the attitudes of American diplomats and businessmen who appear in the novel.