The end of slavery in Cuba failed to defuse the spirit of rebellion on the island

Cuba

SPANISH SLAVE OWNERS in Cuba used the same tired arguments that were proven wrong in the American South after the Civil War. They feared industrial depression and chronic interracial strife if their slaves were freed. However, under mounting international pressure from every quarter, and bankrupt and exhausted from the Ten Years War, fighting to preserve slavery and their domination of the island, the Spaniards were ready to give up.

Slaves tend Cuban sugar cane (click to enlarge)

Still, the Spaniards held out for gradual emancipation while the Cubans demanded immediate manumission. The law that finally passed the Spanish Cortes (Congress) in 1880 favored the slave owners and provided for an interim eight-year period of patronato (patronage) during which the former owner would care for his slaves. The absurdity of this system was finally recognized and slavery was formally abolished by royal decree in 1866. 

Cubans, especially the former slaves, were not mollified by the end of human bondage. The Guerra Chiquita or Little War, continued unabated until island expatriates living in America and Europe could drum up enough support to mount another major offensive against the peninsulares and their Spanish overlords.

Just as the end of slavery didn't bring racial equality in America, Cuba's former slaves had their rights severely restricted. They were relegated to the balconies of theaters, and most hotels and restaurants wouldn't serve them. Surprisingly, they were admitted to public schools, but the white students were withdrawn to private ones. Trade unions refused to admit them thereby precluding them from employment requiring skilled workers.

Racial discrimination continued in Cuba up until the time that Castro ascended to power. Ironically, Fulgencio Batista, himself a mulato of mixed heritage, often visited the Havana Yacht Club as a guest but could never qualify for membership even though he was President and supreme dictator of the government of the island until Castro forced him to flee.

Under Castro's regime, all traces of racial discrimination were eradicated. However, as in all other communist countries, a new class arose, the bureaucracy. Equality in Cuba allowed everyone except for a privileged few, to descend into poverty. Castro himself took possession of the Presidential palace while the homes of the bourgeoisie were commandeered by the communist bureaucrats, or converted into government offices. The former members of the middle class who failed to escape the island were forced to live as peasants, if they survived the pogroms following the revolution.

Interestingly, interracial marriage was tolerated following the end of slavery in Cuba. Unlike most states in America that enacted anti-misogyny laws, mixed marriages and mulatto children were common in the island's cities and countryside.

I chose to incorporate the story of race relations in Cuba in my novel, Rebels on the Mountain, by having my Caucasian hero, Nick Andrews, court and marry a Cuban mulata, Lucia Comas.