In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Jose Maria Aznar wrote that “Cuba wasn’t a mere colony, but part of Spain’s territory.”[1]
On the other hand, Professor Carlos Boix of Princeton University points out that a young Winston Churchill in 1895 “briefly joined the Spanish army fighting Cuban pro-independence guerrillas. In his first dispatch from the island, he wrote: “The insurgents gain adherence continually. There is no doubt that they possess the sympathy of the entire population.” Then, later, in his autobiographical book, My Early Life, he noted that Spaniards “felt about Cuba, it seemed, just as we felt about Ireland,” adding that “I thought it rather cheek that these foreigners should have just the same views and use the same sort of language about their country and their colonies as if they were British.”[2]
And Michal Bezek in a letter adds,“Mr. Aznar fails to reflect on how colonial misrule cost Spain the possession of Cuba. The Spanish may have considered Cubans to be an integral part of their country, but the Cubans certainly didn’t seem to think so. They fought against their colonial masters in the brutal Ten Years’ War (1868-78) and rose up in rebellion again in 1895.”[3]
“It was the constant flood of news about the brutal tactics of Valeriano Weyler—the colonial governor of Cuba, nicknamed “the Butcher,” who depopulated large swathes of the island and put inhabitants in concentration camps—that turned many Americans against Spain and convinced them that something had to be done about the festering sore 90 miles off our southern coastline.”
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[1] Aznar, McKinley, TR and Trump, A Spaniard Reflects, W.S.J. (Mar. 15, 2025).
[2] Letter by Professor Carlos Boix, Id.
[3] Letter by Michael Bezek, Id. Bezek might be the Analytics Director at Health Catalyst in Colorado Springs.