The Cuban government has announced that it will now officially celebrate independence day El Grito de Yara / Cry of Yara on October 10, 1868, as a declaration of Cuban independence, which began the Ten Years' War. That morning, after sounding the bell that indicated to his slaves it was time for work, they stood before him waiting for orders, and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes announced they were all free men and were invited to join him and his fellow conspirators in a war against the Spanish government of Cuba. He was then called Father of Cuba and chosen President of the Republic of Cuba in Arms in April 1869.
However, May 20th, 1902 has been the original anniversary of Cuban independence, the day celebrating the heroic efforts of the people who forged the Cuban Republic.
Cubans banded together and, after a long brutal struggle, built their own republic. Cuba’s fight for freedom has been long and arduous. For more than 30 years from 1868, the island fought Spain for its independence. By the end of 1897, the Spanish army had virtually been defeated by the Cuban Liberation Army. In January 1898, a rebellion in Havana led the United States to send its warship, the USS Maine, in order to protect the country’s interests in Cuba.
On 15 February 1898, the USS Maine exploded, killing 260 of the 400 crew members. An inquiry found that the explosion was caused by a mine and, although the inquiry report did not specifically name them, Spain was thought to be responsible for the explosion.
The explosion led the United States to join Cuba in its fight for freedom. The Spanish-American War ended on December 12, 1898, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The United States was given Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines in the treaty. Cuba was to gain independence, but the island was not part of the negotiations for the treaty. In essence, the treaty also gave the United States control of Cuba.
Elections were held in 1900, but the restrictions placed by the United States on who could vote meant that less than ten percent of the Cuban citizens were eligible. Voter fraud was rampant and two of the three candidates for president dropped from the race. Only Tomas Estrada Palma remained as a candidate.
In 1901, the Platt Amendment was proposed, giving Cuba the choice to become a territory of the United States or remain under military occupation. The amendment also gave the United States the right to military intervention on Cuba’s behalf. It was the United States who declared Cuba independent on 20 May 1902, something many Cuban’s did not believe.
Freedom demands sacrifice. And the battle for freedom draws upon people's most heroic instincts and abilities. Jose Marti, a hero of freedom, the father of Cuban independence, said, To witness a crime in silence is like committing it. So we reiterate a commitment to a free and democratic Cuba.
City Images asks the Cuban government to make this an Independence Day to remember by ending political repression in Cuba and allowing the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to investigate violations. We challenge Cuba's new president to live in peace with its neighbors, to follow the examples of Panama, Paraguay, and Chile in their achievement of democracies.
Put democracy to a test: permit political parties to organize and the free press to thrive. Hold free and fair elections under international supervision. Ninety-nine percent of the people of this hemisphere live either in a democracy or a country that is on the road to democracy. One percent live under the hemisphere's last dictatorship.
On this Cuban Independence Day, our goals for all Cubans everywhere are freedom and democracy. Sadly, days ago a tragic airplane crash unnecessarily took the lives of over one hundred individuals.
After a crash in Havana, airline releases names of 110 people who died, 3 who survived http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/articl…
Cuba plane crash: Damojh company 'had safety complaints' http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44188469
The company behind Cuba plane crash was subject of 2 previous performance complaints https://ti.me/2rXEjob?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_camp…
