After decades of oppression by the Castro regime, the Cuban people are on the cusp of rebellion. This month’s protests against the island’s communist dictatorship are the largest in the country since the turn of the century, and with the internet, they’re certainly unlike any other in the nation’s history.
Cubans have only had modern and mobile internet (as opposed to older, broadband web) for the past few years. And even with expanded access, the Cuban government has maintained intense surveillance and control over mobile and online communications, as evidenced by the government’s temporary shutdown of internet service amid the protests. But thanks to social media and the unrelenting passion of a people tired of consistent and considerable persecution, the communist stranglehold over the country seems more tested than ever before.
Since 1492, when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, Cuba has spent most of its time in the control of oppressive powers. During his maiden voyage, Columbus landed on Cuba’s shores following a brief stop in the Bahamas. He nominally claimed the island as property of Spain, and in 1511, a formal Spanish settlement began to subject the native Taino population to forced labor. Between this encomienda system and the native population’s lack of immunity to measles and smallpox, the Spanish effectively decimated indigenous Cubans, replacing lost labor with sub-Saharan African slaves. This blend of Taino, African, and Spanish bloodlines formed the base of the extraordinarily diverse, and resilient, demographic population that continues through today.
In the 1760s, during the Seven Years’ War, Cuba briefly came under control of the British Empire; the Redcoats quickly traded the island back to the Spaniards in exchange for the territory of Florida. When slaves in Haiti freed themselves during their turn-of-the-century revolution, the Spanish increased imports of slaves out of fear the Haitians would inspire their own slaves in Cuba and other colonies to revolt. Despite decades of attempted revolutionary movements throughout the 19th century, Cuba remained under Spanish control until the latter was forced to withdraw following the conclusion of the Spanish-American War.
After achieving independence in 1902 (following a brief period of U.S. rule), the Cuban people were subjugated yet again a little more than a half-century later — this time by the communists in their midst. But with the Cuban Revolution long over, Che Guevara rotting in hell, and the murderous Castro family on their last legs, the Cuban people look poised to strike a blow for freedom yet again. They may not win yet, but history says they won’t stop trying.
