What better use of your imagination than to dream of a voyage to an exotic land?

Cuba

I GREW UP observing the events that led to the rise of Castro and the descent of Cuba into communism, albeit from a distance. Like all current events, news stories and opinions at that time were colored by popular conceptions. Communism bad. Democracy good. Interestingly, there was no evidence that Castro was leading a communist revolution. Indeed, the communists were well-established on the island, managing labor unions, with the tacit approval of the dictator, Fulgencio Batista, and his American sponsors. Castro and his Fidelistas were not to be trusted, I suppose, because they wore beards. It was the badge of Beatniks, the precursors to Hippies. 

The Caribbean (click to enlarge)

I might not have looked more closely at Cuba and the events there had I not been inspired by a broken dream. A member of the Baltimore Yacht Club wanted me to accompany him as he took delivery of a yacht in Galveston, Texas, and sail it back to the Chesapeake Bay. As a Sea Scout I had earned a reputation as an expert pilot and sailor. In preparation for the trip, I purchased charts and cruising guides, and began plotting the course. I studied weather patterns and sea conditions as well as the landfalls we expected to make along the way. I also began paying attention to the news from Cuba. I had some facility in Spanish and listened to broadcasts of Castro's speeches.

Nothing prepared us for the sudden shift from the American-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, to the vitriolic temper of Castro's rise to power. There was no evidence that he was a communist, although there were communists among the Fidelistas, including his brother, Raul, and his friend, Che Guevara. As events in Cuba spiraled out of control, Havana became remote and forbidding.

Writing Rebels on the Mountain forced me to throw away preconceptions and prejudices, and look again at the events in Cuba and America's role in them. I had to dig deep into the past to clear my vision, all the way back to the island's first inhabitants, the Caribs.

Modern view of Havana Harbor (click to enlarge)

Spanish galleons initially bypassed the greatest island of the Antilles in their lust to reach the fabled riches of Mexico as well as Central and South America. The island, later to be known as Cuba, simply didn't promise riches sufficient to justify the expense in treasure and lives for its subjugation. They focused on Santo Domino as a base of operations, much smaller, and thus, easier to subdue. Cuba's inhabitants were fierce fighters and cannibalistic. They had vast interior spaces in which to retreat and regroup, safe from marauding Conquistadores, then return and renew their attacks.

In addition to bases from which to mount Spanish expeditions against the Aztec, Inca, and Mayan civilizations, Santo Domingo supported vast plantations that supplied provisions for the expeditions to the main land. Local natives were enslaved to provide cheap labor. The Spanish didn't take Cuba seriously until they discovered that the slaves were stealing away to the larger island. They had to conquer it to deny them this refuge.

Cuba's conquest turned into a carnage. There was no reason to take native hostages. They had no treasure to ransom themselves. There was no reason to enslave them. They could not be tamed. The Spanish resorted to ethnic cleansing of the island.

The Spanish conquest of Cuba began in 1503. By 1513, they dominated the periphery only. The island's interior was still untamed. From that time until the end of the Spanish-American war in 1898, Spain never seemed interested in Cuba as anything more than a gateway to their colonies in the Americas. 

Cuba lies in the center of the Americas. North, South, and Central America are arrayed around the island and its greatest natural asset, the harbor that the Spanish named La Habana. No other harbor in the region equals it. Accessible only via a narrow inlet, the harbor is easily defended from any naval excursion launched against it. Its broad, deep water interior, can shelter immense fleets from the most violent storms. Two lesser harbors at Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo Bay, were merely the icing on the cake.

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As for the Cubans themselves, the Spanish never evinced much interest in them. This may explain why several attempts were made following the American Revolution, to annex the island to the United States. Leaders in Cuba, as well as the United States, dreamed of adding a Cuban star to the American constellation. Even Castro, it seems, may have harbored some hopes for such an alliance inasmuch as he made the trek to Washington shortly after deposing Batista and taking control of the island. One can only wonder how things might have been different, had President Eisenhower not rebuffed him so rudely.