hinder the resolution of the Cuban proletariat for an
             independent nation. In the words of one author,
             The Cubans' ability to wage a costly, protracted struggle against
             Spain demonstrated that proindependence sentiment was strong
             and could be manifested militarily. On the other hand, before any
             effort to terminate Spanish control could succeed, differences over
             slavery, political organization, leadership, and military strategy had
             to be resolved. In short, the very inconclusiveness of the war left a
             feeling that the Cubans could and would resume their struggle
             until their legitimate political objectives of independence and
             The years following the Ten Years' War were harsh and austere. The countryside,
             ravaged and desolate, bankrupted Spanish sugar interests in Cuba, virtually destroying the
             industry. The Spanish owners sold out to North American interests, a process accelerated by the
             final abolition of slavery in Cuba in 1886.4 The end of slavery, naturally, meant the end of free
             labor. The sugar growers, therefore, began to import machinery from the United States.
             Essentially, Cuba deferred its economic dependence from Spain directly to the U.S. What
             became known as the American Sugar Refining Company supplied from seventy to ninety
             percent of all sugar consumed by the United States, thus mandating the direction of the Cuban
             agricultural industry and thereby controlling its economy.
             Moreover, the United States' interventionism in the Cuban-Spanish war in 1898,
             motivated primarily by interests in the Cuban market, led the surrender of the Spanish army
             directly to the United States, not Cuba. This war later became known as the Spanish-American
             War. The leader and organizer of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, Jose Marti's, goal of true
             independence was buried without honor in 1898.5
             In the years from 1902 to 1959, following the institution of the Platt Amendment, which
             was a...