 I guess we should start recording. Is that all right with you? Because for all the participants for the people who are on, these programs are recorded and then they're shown later on CCTV, which is channel 17. And I'll send you out. Notice of when that happens. Okay. Is that all right? Hi, Joanne. Hi, Tim. So I guess Megan will start recording if that's okay. My name is Sandy Barrett and welcome to our Vicki presentation tonight in the Spanish-American War and the decision I think on the part of the United States to extend its destiny to the Pacific and to all of Latin America. The Spanish-American War was in 1898 and continued really probably until 1902 or 1903 when there was an agreement made to actually get Guantanamo and to have an American base in Cuba. So I welcome everybody's participation and conversation. This is mainly, I hope, an evening that we can converse about that very important manifest destiny. I call manifest destiny two. Manifest destiny first on the part of the United States or at least the anglophone areas of the United States was to extend those 13 English-speaking colonies to the coast, to the West Coast. And remember that was more or less successful by 18, certainly by 1898, although there were states, I think, that came into the United States after that point, mainly Alaska and also Hawaii. But in 1898 I wanted just to mention that the United States was still competing with world powers for ascendancy, I think, in the Pacific and also in China and also in all of Latin America. There were two remaining colonies in Latin America and the Caribbean that were owned by Spain at the time. Those two colonies were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States in this war took advantage of the Cuban struggle for independence in Cuba against Spain and the United States took advantage of that and interceded supposedly on behalf of the Cuban independentistas. But at the end of that war, which was concluded fairly quickly, the United States retained a hold over Cuba and Puerto Rico both. The results of that, the consequences of that for both of those former, while also colonies were different, however. Cuba more or less became an independent nation at that time at the end of the Spanish-American war and threw off the Spanish colonial empire. However, they were left by being rather crippled by the then powerful United States. In a series of amendments, a series of laws, the United States through the Platt Amendment kept control over the foreign policy of Cuba so that Cuba could not be an independent actor on the world stage in any way. Cuba had to remain more or less loyal to the American Empire. Secondly, in Puerto Rico, and I hope that Jorge addresses himself more to this, Ari Johan and Tim also, who both come from Puerto Rico or grew up there. Puerto Rico, we was more or less incorporated into the United States and made what was called a Commonwealth of the United States, which I believe left Puerto Rico in a less independent state certainly than Cuba and became part of the United States, but not clearly a state, not clearly a colony either. Puerto Ricans are left in a sort of a limbo position of not either being an independent country or not fully incorporated as a state into the United States. At the same time, if you regard the Spanish-American war as a context for Spain with Spain to basically replace the Spanish empire in the world, more or less, the United States also sought to control the Pacific at that time and began a slow march, I believe, aimed at China, aimed at having influence in China. It was at the same time that the other superpowers of the world were also competing for China, for the markets of China, the superpowers at that time being England, France, Germany, and the rising Japan as well. So the United States had to basically replace the Spanish empire in Latin America, but also the Pacific began to try a march toward being hegemonic in the Pacific. That included Hawaii. That included that's when Hawaii was conquered by the United States and onto the Philippines when the United States essentially got to spend the Spanish empire out of the Philippines and the United States became the powerful in the Philippines. With us tonight to speak more about this march to empire with the consequences of that are Jorge Rodriguez from Puerto Rico, Armando from Cuba, and Gran Crisriel who'll talk a little bit about Hawaii as well. People don't, I think, realize anything much about the conquest of Hawaii. I don't think Americans really know either about Puerto Rico or Cuba, but I don't. I think that the whole situation in Hawaii was rather unknown to most Americans. Hawaii now is a state. It became a state, I think in 1959, is that correct? 58 Puerto Rico is not a state and Cuba is an independent country, but it's paid a very heavy price for that. You're at 59 Hawaii came in at 59. The Cuba has paid a very heavy price because in 1959, the Cubans had a socialist revolution in Cuba, and they have since that time, paid the heavy price of the United States through an embargo against Cuba and through an attempt to, I think, change the regime in Cuba to have a regime in Cuba that's more friendly to the United States. But anyway, maybe we'll start with maybe Puerto Rico. Is that okay with everybody? And maybe Jorge can talk a little bit about the situation in Puerto Rico. Okay, go ahead. I'm going to put a presentation up, but I don't know that you're going to see it, but it's just going to put it for me. Can you see me? Yes, we can see you. Okay, perfect, perfect. So I'm seeing a presentation that I prepared, but you're not seeing it, but it's okay. I'll just give you, in a nutshell, what I see the Spanish-American War, especially in the Caribbean, is a consolidation of US expansion, you know, which started like Sandy says to the West, and then continued in the Caribbean. And of course, the countries that were targeted were Cuba and Puerto Rico, I'm going to talk more about Puerto Rico, but I'll just say a few things, because this was part of a grand plan. Between 1898 and 1924, there were nine countries, eight countries that were intervened by the US, okay? And most of them multiple times during between the 1920s and they were Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico during the second, you know, in revolution, Haiti, the American Republic, and Honduras, and of course, Cuba and Puerto Rico. I'll say a little bit about Puerto Rico, it's about 3,500 square feet, square miles, I think it's about 15 times smaller than Cuba. So it's really was an unimportant economic colony for Spain. In those years Cuba was the king. But I have to remind you that in the 500 years of history, both Cuba and Puerto Rico were completely unimportant because the money was in the gold and the silver in Mexico and Peru and Bolivia. So, you know, so it was later than when actually the Spaniards took the advantage of the Haitian revolution and the growth of the Spaniards, you know, learning that the sugar production was super, you know, important and they started their empire in the 1800s. And that's where the sugar boom came for Cuba, which probably meant about 50% of the Spain's economy, which is huge. So Puerto Rico as compared to that was much smaller, much less important. And there's a few things that are important about Puerto Rico, and especially as different from Cuba is that Puerto Rico really had a multi crop, you know, they weren't heavy into sugar gain because it wasn't big enough. And it wasn't important enough. So we, you know, in Puerto Rico, there was more crops and that was tobacco and coffee. Okay. And so that is a difference. So when, you know, I'll just say a few things just before, before the occupation in 1868 was a kind of like a series of rising in lattice about 600 people got involved. And then just half a year before the occupation, the 1897 Carta Autonomica gave Puerto Rico a legendary, you know, kind of like autonomy. Really, if you look at it, it wasn't complete autonomy, but the Puerto Ricans had a lot more rights under these new conditions granted a lot of liberties that that they didn't that we didn't have in the previous 400 years. And that lasted about three months. And then July, the US occupation started July 13, it lasted a month. Okay. In December 10, there was a treaty of Paris that granted Puerto Rico, you know, to the US. I just say a few details. It was General Denzel Mainz with 18,000 troops that invaded the southwest coast of Puerto Rico in Guanica, but it quickly spread all the way through on the way to San Juan. And again, in one month, they took over the island. So a few things, immediately, there was a law that was called the Foraca Law. Basically, after the about six or seven months of military occupation, you know, at the there was the imposition of a civilian government with an appointed governor by the by the president of the US Supreme Court appointed by the president. And there were 35 elected representatives in quotes. I mean, you know, it was kind of like the first House of Representatives. But all federal laws apply. Okay. Another blow that's not talked too much. That was more important economically, was the Hollander law. The Hollander law in 1901 imposed a 1% tax on all land. So imagine all the landowners in Puerto Rico now had to pay 1%. But not only that, they devalued the Puerto Rican peso, which was a Spanish peso 40%. So everybody who had, you know, $100, they now they had $60 instead of 100. And so what that made is what happened is that was a heavy expropriation of land. Basically, the US wanted to reestablish a sugar mono crop economy, capitalist plant plantations, mega plantations. So they had a few landowners that were able to grab land from small landowners. And that immediately created a large labor force. All these former, you know, small farm owners that whether they were labor laborers they could be laborers for these large plantations. Okay. And that lasted for about 30 years. Now in between, well, of course, they changed to mono crop now, sugar plantations versus multi crops. And the small farmers becomes workers. In 1917, the Jones Act grant us US US citizenship to Puerto Ricas, but that didn't come, you know, cheap, you know, we also had to sign an agreement that we had to use the US Marine naval merchant marines. So we are, you know, Puerto Ricas were not a liberty to choose, you know, who was going to transport the goods. And in an island, well, you need to transport everything that is key, you know, as like the live block. And well, in the 1930s, nationalist movement rolls, and they, you know, they've been, you know, significant, but very, very little, but they were very hard hit by the US government and the FBI. Of course, we all remember the attacks on the Blair House, and Congress by Puerto Ricans, that was part of all that movement. And in 1948, for the first time, you know, we could elect a government, a governor, okay? And then that, that followed what 1952, the new constitution, which like Sandy says, is the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in Puerto Ric, in Puerto Rican words, it's called the Free Associated State, the Estado Libre Associado, but it's still, you know, we still have federal courts, you know, we still have some army bases, although most of them are gone. And, you know, of course, the US post office, you know, we are under federal authority. Politically, today, we can't vote for a president unless I move to this country, like I did, and you can do it easily, you just move, but you can't live in Puerto Rico, reside there, and vote for the president. Oddly enough, you can vote for the candidate. So you, you on the primary, the primary, you know, all the presidents, they love Puerto Ricans, they want to, they want to get nominated, they go there and get the few delegates that we got. We have a representative on the Congress, and I don't know if you, you, you know, I can go on, but, you know, I think time is of the essence, and I don't know if you wanted me to expand to what's the situation now. Yeah, I think maybe we could maybe leave that for questions or just any, maybe we can ask Armando and also. Exactly, I thought that would be better because the other part is, it's more complicated, it has other things. Okay, Armando, about Cuba. Did we lose him? No, I'm muting, but you can have some, I want, I am interested in hearing about, about the current situation. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? No, hold it. Sure, I can hear you. Yeah, right. So Mike, I'm not going to get into a lot of things other than starting with the US, basically the impact of the war on Cuba was early on, where Cuba became a protectorate of the US, which meant basically Cuba was under the control of the US for four years, from 1898 to 1902. And in that time, obviously, the Cuban, the Cuban was not necessarily in control of anything, the US was there and actually that's where some of the businesses started getting their hands in there. But the most important part of that was that they then became part of writing the Cuban Constitution. And particularly in the Cuban Constitution, when you look about impact, the biggest impact was the requirement that the Platte Amendment be in an annex to the Constitution. And basically the Platte Amendment gave the US complete authority over any treaty or deals that the US was making with other countries, the US could turn it down. The US could intervene in Cuba at any time they felt that their democracy, if you will, was at risk elections. And they did, on two separate occasions, in 1916 and 1928, the US became involved in the outcomes of Cuban elections to basically overturn them for the candidate that they wanted. Another big part of this was the militaries able to stay, which had a huge impact on Cuba. And of course, with the military staying, they needed a location. So part of it was that the Cuba would lease them land for a military base and that land ended up being Guantanamo. And that basically Cuba was only Cuba, the island, but not being that is that a Bino, which is now the island of youth, was not considered part of Cuba, Cuba, when it was independent only the island. And then eventually, because there were more Americans actually living in the Bino than were than Cubans. So the Cubans had a lot of people move there and then they they were able to say, oh, this is really part of Cuba. But nevertheless, it was that type of a thing that the US had power over, as well as Cuba, US being able to intervene in any issue that they felt they wanted to. And back to the original pieces they wanted because of the Panama Canal was being was built. They wanted Puerto Rico and Cuba on the on the Caribbean Atlantic side, and they wanted the Philippines, Hawaii on the Pacific as a protectorate for that. And that's where Cuba came, you know, obviously Cuba came in. And, you know, during that time, Cuba got the voting of everybody in Cuba, except only for males, women or blacks were not allowed to vote. The economy became very dependent on sugar. It truly became a mono production. And were one spike prices of depression down. So it was an up and down economy with many of the Cuban owners of those central is going bankrupt and then being bought out by US companies. So the economy then became very much dependent on US on US influence and Cuban money that was involved with hurricane poverty was was was, you know, everywhere there was over half a million people in a small population that were unemployed. But one of the main things that the US wanted out of Cuba is they didn't want to annex Cuba because annexation then meant you had to deal with like Puerto Rico. You had to deal with all these issues were. But if you made them independent and just an extension of the US system, you can have the best of both worlds without having to deal with all the issues. And that's ultimately what they got all the way through the revolution in the 50s, which again was part of which was started as a result of this student group started to see the inequalities. They started to see the influence of the US on Cuba, the applied amendment and that led to the communist the Cuban Communist Party, youth organizations at the University of Havana that eventually led to to but working with Batista, if you can believe it, but he's to work with the students, but then eventually became a dictator and the rest is history as Cuba became independent. But the impact of the of the initial impact of the Spanish American War was huge on Cuba and not necessarily in a good way. And I mentioned one thing before we turn to Hawaii and that is that neither one of you mentioned that both Cuba and Puerto Rico were populated by slaves by black slaves and that Havana in particular was a huge market actually where slaves are transported to Havana. Some came to North America and some didn't. But it was slavery really built the well, the wealth of Cuba and Puerto Rico, but the wealth was that was before that was before the US. That was yeah, not post Cuba was as you're right, saying the every I mean, just about every slave that came into the Americas passed through Cuba, Cuba control. Fifty percent of the slave travel, the whole Atlantic state. Right. Exactly. And that's what I don't think people really in the United States understand the whole connection with Africa in the Caribbean that they don't. I don't think Americans even think of Cuba as a black country or as a people of color country made mainly made up of people of color because they don't they see people like Armando in this country and they think that's that Cubans are basically white, but they are the majority of Cubans immediately, even now it's still not over 50 percent black in Cuba. But there as far as I can tell, there are a lot of people of color. Oh, yeah, there's a lot of people. Yeah, anyway, that was very profitable also for the new world. Of course, was a slave trade. OK, but Grant will maybe say a few words about Hawaii. OK, so I just come at this because at Burlington College, I taught a course on cultural encounter and we did a week on Hawaii and that's why I learned a lot of this history of Hawaii, which I think maybe people don't know too much. Just a word first of all about the location, which is maybe we all know, but it's basically the latitude of Mexico West into the Pacific and sort of a third of the way across the Pacific between the Americas and the Philippines and Asia. And geology, geography turns out to be a very important factor for what happened to Hawaii. It's a very interesting story because in Hawaii, there are profound changes going on exactly at the same time as the encounter with the Americans and the Europeans. Within Hawaii, in the 18th century, this all started, there was a reorganization going on. There had been wars and wars and wars going on between groups in the islands. Finally, there was an overall conservative monarchy installed over all the islands except Kauai. And for the first time, it was a unified government, a unified conservative monarchy. At that time exactly, Captain James Cook who you've probably heard of who was an explorer came to Hawaii. And from a European point of view, kind of discovered it. Of course, it was always there. But the Europeans weren't much familiar with it at all. This was 1778 and 1779 that he made two visits to Hawaii and published an account of his travel and travels and an account of what he found in Hawaii. And this was widely read and widely known. And this sort of started this whole European and American influx into the islands. As part of this consolidation of the islands into a monarchy, probably enough from my point of view, the what had been the religion of the Hawaiian Islands, the religions plural in the Hawaiian Islands and all of their symbolism and all that was suppressed and eliminated basically. So Hawaii was sitting there with no religious factor to their society. And this created a religious void, which was important because into this religious void rushed knowing missionaries. Very largely congregationalists, now known as the United Church of Christ. And they of course wanted to convert all these people who suddenly didn't particularly have their own religion anymore into Christianity. And set about also becoming active in social and political spheres of the island life. And did one side that they did was they created a written form of Hawaiian language, which I never had been one of before. It was taught widely by them. And it's taught by mid 19th century, about 100% of native Hawaiians were literate. In 1848, the mid century again, the Mahelei was introduced and the Mahelei was the change of drastic changes. There's a history of drastic changes for Hawaii for about a century. A drastic change in land use. So we'd go from collective ownership of land to private ownership of land. Meaning of course, an individual can own the land, can do whatever he or wants or consolidated. This of course was favored by the growing class of plantation owners and farmers. And sort of like Cuba, Hawaii became hugely dependent on sugar. And of course also pineapple, the two things we all probably know of is that agricultural products of Hawaii. Another factor we don't hear less about a lot are the whalers who discovered that if they were overwintered in Hawaii, they avoided their whole return trip to other South America, back up to New England and back again the next year. So of course it saved them fantastic amounts of money and effort. So that toward the middle of the 1824 to 43, there were maybe 85 whalers ships overwintering in Hawaii by 1846 up to 600. Now this is not nothing to have all of these ships with their crews spending several months of the winter not outwailing but on land, drinking and carousing and creating all kinds of mayhem. And it had a big effect on the Hawaiian society. Some of these ports and cities turned into little hell holes to live in for the Hawaiians. And there was a huge amount of people because of them. But of course what it really was important for us, I think also is that in addition to the social instability that that led to, it also established Hawaii as an important and possible and convenient stopping over points between the Americas and Asia and the whaling grounds stopping over and resupplying on Hawaii. And that becomes very, very important for pretty soon. The foreigners in Hawaii had a drastic effect there as they did in the Caribbean, as they did in North America, especially through disease and the Hawaii, the native Hawaiian population, the indigenous population was thought to have been about 400,000 to 800,000 in the 18th century for a cap and cook. A century later in 1898, it's down to 40,000. So it's a decrease from hundreds of thousands to 40,000 or only a quarter of the total population anymore of their own islands, because there were foreign workers brought in and were taking over it kind of really. And by the 1980s, there only are 2,000 speakers of native Hawaiian anymore. Now, a quick run through the US takeover of the islands. It's a familiar story in a way, but it's a story also of striking while the Hawaiians themselves are at their weakest point. Their population has been decimated since the 18th century. The forms of government have been radically changed. A lot of social forms have changed. The religious forms have changed. In the end of the 19th century in 1887 is the Bayonet Constitution. The monarchy established in the 18th century continues. It's King Mil. Well, it will be. It's King David Calakona, first of all, who signs a new constitution. He doesn't willingly sign it. He signs it literally under gunpoint. And of course, the forces who want this are the planters in the agricultural class. Then the monarchy changes because he died and Queen Liliu Kalani is queen. And the planters and businessmen set up a provisional revolt against her and set up a provisional government, which changes its name into the Republic of Hawaii. This is 1894 now. The next year, the queen is imprisoned in her own palace, in Yolani Palace in Honolulu. Next year, the Hawaiian language is banned as a language of instruction. And in 98, the big year that we're all talking about here, Hawaii is annexed by proclamation of the United States Congress. And she, the queen, protested vigorously about this in prison in her palace. She couldn't really do it in an armed way when she wrote to the Congress or the presidents or everybody protesting hugely. And you can get this in the UVM library and other places, you can get these documents and read them, which I have read some of. So under protest, Hawaii is taken over by the United States. They simply declare your hours now. 1900, Hawaii becomes a territory, 1959, it's admitted as the 40, 50th state upon a vote in Hawaii, but the voters should become a state or not a state. Nothing about independence or anything else, of course. And in 1993, President Bill Clinton signs the apology bill, which is a proclamation by the U.S. Congress, apologizing to the Hawaiian people for what the United States did to them, meaning taking over their government, their property, and with no input from the Hawaiians except for resistance. And this proclamation is interesting because it enumerates explicitly what the United States did, how they promulgated a coup d'etat, how they took over, how they did that, recompense the Hawaiians at all. And this is a say, gee, oh, we're sorry, because they're a state by now. So in that same year of 1898, so this of course brings up numerous questions of issues of sovereignty, of indigenous rights within Hawaii, and there's a lot of movement about that, especially since the 1970s. There are associations and movements formally organized that will take for real statement of all things Hawaiian, and there are now other movement also of, which you might call, total immersion Hawaiian schools where the entire day is taught only in Hawaiian, has a lot to do with the Hawaiian culture and so on. And there was a constitutional convention in the 1970s also to redo the constitution and revalorize a lot of this Hawaiian. And finally, my final word is that the annexation happened in 1898, but it wasn't by fiat, by the president or something, it was the Congress, and as a result of... Yeah, the United States Congress and the result of the hot debate between those who are pro-expansion and pro-annexation and those who are anti-expansion and anti-annexation, and these opinions kind of held sway back and forth for a couple of years until finally there was a period when the pro-annexation people were in power and there was always annexation going on in the year of 1898 and so it carried and the place was annexed. So that's what I'd like to say. I would mention a few words about what happened also in the Philippines. At that time in 1898, the Spanish-American War, the United States also established a presence in the Philippines and sort of began, I believe this manifest destiny defined by our leaders at that time of becoming an empire rather than staying as a continental republic. The Anglophone part of the United States, of course the English-speaking part of the United States had already spread itself to the coast of California, defeating the Spanish and Mexico in the War of 1846, but essentially by this war after the English-speaking parts of the continent had succeeded in its first destiny of controlling a continental republic, defeating the Native Americans, defeating the other empires, Spain that held that held grasp of part of North America and the French. We can't forget the French as well. The United States then had established its grasp on the whole continent of North America, essentially with the exception of Canada and then it had also set the borders with Mexico. But then, and what many historians call manifest destiny to the United States really turned to overseas expansion by taking the last remaining Spanish parts of Latin America, Cuba and Puerto Rico. And I guess what you said Jorge was there or other places though that were still controlled by Spain in South America, is that correct? No, no, no, no, what I said is no, no, everything in South America was liberated in the 1820s. Right, by Bolivar, right? Yeah. Bolivar and San Martín and O'Hagan and all the guys down there, okay? But the only two colonies left were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The many Republican Haiti were problematic and they were let go many, many years before. And the only, so one of them was an economic empire which was Cuba. The other one was a leftover island that was at the entrance of the Atlantic. It had, you know, some strategic importance but not much economics, okay? So, but the US occupied or militarily intervened in because they were establishing a mono crop like Chiquita banana, you know, in Nicaragua and in Panama because of Panama Canal. And so in all these countries there was a boom of, you know, export agricultural products, usually mono crops. So they, they went in and approved and supported, you know, big American companies going in and buying large pieces of land so that this agricultural economy started going. So that's where all these interventions went, you know? Right. And in some of them were not even interventions but they were economically influencing the economies. Can I mention one other very important date in this history? And that's 1823 and the Monroe Doctrine, right? Of course, that's the worst thing. In 1823, it wasn't clear about what country nation would be hegemonic in the Americas. In 18 by 1823, if I'm not mistaken, however, all of South America had thrown off Spain. Is that true by 1823? And they had established themselves as independent republics in Latin America, correct? Most of them. But the United States at that time issued a rather rash it appeared at the time decision to say to the European powers in 1823, we're not gonna let you back here to colonize any of the Americas anymore. And if you try, we will defend the independence of those republics. So it kind of cut both ways. It put the United States in the position of being hegemonic in all of the Americas, but it also meant that the United States had become so powerful that it could actually tell those independent republics that they couldn't either go on their own way really, that the United States was gonna decide foreign policy for them as well. And I believe that so the Monroe Doctrine had, it was a very important date, it appears to me. It's when the United States really announced itself as the most powerful nation in all of the Americas, right? Yes, and that was followed up by the Roosevelt Corollary. Exactly. Like Teddy Roosevelt Corollary, which further imposed that there was not even any relationship with Europeans here. As you know, Teddy was one of the colonels in the Rough Riders in Puerto Rico. Right. Was he in Cuba also, Teddy Roosevelt? I don't think so. Was he? Yeah. They stormed San Juan Hill, which most Americans think is this, they assume it's in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but it's actually a hill in Santiago de Cuba. In Santiago. Yeah. Oh, right, right. Okay, are there any other questions or thoughts? Can I just say one thing is I do believe though, that as the war extended US power in the Pacific, the United States had designs at that point on China. And these were kind of stepping stones to get involved in China as well, which continues, well, not anymore, because the Chinese said forget it, but anyway, Kurt, Kurt. Yeah, just the interesting little tidbit as you're talking about the Pacific portion of the manifest destiny doctrine, with respect to the Philippines, after the Spanish-American war was over, the United States was engaged in its first real foray into guerrilla warfare, as we know, as we knew from Vietnam in the Philippines. It was a brutal occupation, but the Filipinos, because of the number of islands they were very difficult to subjugate. And they fought back using guerrilla warfare tactics that we saw several decades later in some of the islands during the Second World War in Japan against the Japanese army. And then 20, 30 years later, again in Vietnam. Right. Where they, can I ask you a question, Kurt? Those Filipinos who fought back and led that struggle, I think they might have been Muslim, were they Muslims? There was a small portion of them that were Muslim because of their proximity to Indonesia, but they were mostly Catholic. The Spanish had Catholicized. Most people from the Philippines, if you look at their names, they sound like Spanish names. Right, right. They speak their own language, a language called Tagalog, but Spanish is pretty widespread in the Philippines, and they worship in a Catholic-style liturgy in the Philippines. And they're very, very dedicated Catholics. Most times, most years around Easter, you'll hear stories about a lot of people, again, on the extreme, but they actually get involved in crucifixions the way Jesus Christ was with the nail and the whole thing to show their loyalty and their love for Christ and what he did and what he went through. So it's a very Catholic, Catholicized country, except for certain areas where apparently in the last 20 years, Al Qaeda was actually able to create a presence in the Philippines, and the U.S. military as well as the Filipino military had a couple of small-sized battles in some of these islands to root out Islamic extremism. Right, that's what I kind of thought. Okay, are there any other questions or thoughts? I have one. How does Brazil fit into this whole business that goes on in South America? Brazil has a political history that's completely different. Brazil didn't have a war of independence. Brazil, I think it is that because of the Napoleonic Wars, the Portuguese who control Brazil had to move, they were invaded, so they had to move the whole kingdom to Brazil. So when the wars were over, the old king went back to Portugal and he left his son and then later he sons independence. But Brazil is nevertheless, isn't it also correct that all of the South American countries are republics? There are no monarchies left. No, no, they are not there, but Brazil remained a monarchy. Right, right. They lived 1800s when they independence themselves. Right. They actually become a republic. Right, the Caribbean islands, some of them are still connected to monarchs. Well, yeah. Like Jamaica, right? Well, it's part of the British, you know. Right, yeah. There's one monarchy in. Aruba is one line. Right, and there's a French too, Martin. No, no, no, the French are right. Yes. The French are right. Well, I love it. Yeah. Yeah. We have one monarchy left though in the Americas. I used to have big fights with my students about this, which is what? Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Yeah. I used to have huge fights because everybody is, of course, of the opinion that the Canadians are so much more progressive than we are. Right. They do have a monarchy. Right. Back in the middle of the meeting. Any other, Earhart. Welcome. How are you? Hi, Earhart. What's your name? Hi, Robin. Thanks for the presentations. Yeah, I thought this topic sounded really interesting. I've been meaning to zoom in on one of your conversations. Sandy, you really raised the point that I wanted to raise, which was, if you want to look at the roots of manifest destiny, I mean, they go back to the Louisiana Purchase. They go back to the Monroe Doctrine. And frankly, our supposed American revolutionaries were they were sort of, I always think of them as to be truly revolutionary. You have to liberate yourself. They were part of the, basically, the British, kind of, they were not far from the British ruling class. And they were just another ruling class. And they basically imposed, ultimately imposed themselves on their will and the will of the country on the Americas as a whole. Yes and no, but the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are very important documents. Yes, our founding fathers are deeply flawed. I don't want to downplay that, but... Please don't, because you'll really get me going on that one. I don't want to downplay that, but I always think about, to be truly liberated, you've got to liberate yourself. And they were slaveholders and all of that. And a lot of their great ideas came from, you know, the Eroquois Nation and, yeah. A lot of their great ideas too came from the Enlightenment ideas that were promulgated in Europe as well. So yes, you're right, but nevertheless, read the Declaration of Independence again. Okay, Kurt. No, just as a follow-up to that point, maybe we're going off on a tangent, but in addition to the Enlightenment, it's also very important if you look at the buildings in Washington, D.C., and really, most government buildings in the United States, the founding fathers also relied heavily on the Greek democracy. Yes, yeah. And Greek democracy was consistent, you know, even though it was the first of its kind. There was slavery and they were able to be okay with that. And also, you know, women didn't have a right to participate in Greek democracy. And a lot of the founding fathers were of that opinion also. We understand that. However, again, read the Constitution and read the Declaration of Independence. That's, those documents were aspirational. Very few other countries have such aspirational documents or aspirations to be a democracy or even a republic. Most of the countries at that time, remember, were despots, ruled by despots or monarchs. I'm just taking a class right now, actually, in history since 1500, global history since 1500. And when you get to the age of revolutions, it's astounding what those revolutions really did accomplish. Here, in the United States, followed by France, followed by Haiti, which was probably the most radical of revolutions, was probably Haiti, and then the Bolivarian revolutions throughout South America. Those were truly progressive moments in history, at least aspirationally, with all of the problems. The biggest problem for me was the extermination of Native Americans and also slavery, of course. But anyway, that's my pitch about history. The New World is a revolutionary New World still, at least contradicted by places which have no freedom at all. Yeah, Robin, Robin. Yeah, yeah, sorry, my battery died and I had to re-ignite myself. Yeah, well, I'm glad you're getting to Haiti. I wanted to just say that this all became real to me when I was in Haiti and I was interviewing President Aristide in 1991. And he said, my goal in my administration in 14 years is to bring alphabetization to all the people and to have a real examination of the slave trade in 2004. And he was working on alliances with Brazil and back with Sierra Leone and the countries in Africa to really show people what that whole trade was like and help people understand it. And of course, he was overthrown and then he came back again. And then right on 2004, he was overthrown the second time. So the powers that be the white powers the United States didn't want to give Haiti any chance to celebrate the 200th anniversary of their revolution and to talk about the slave trade at that time. So Haiti has been suffering for decades. Right, and continues to to this day. By the way, we're hoping in this series to have a presentation on Haiti, on the revolution in Haiti, which was, I mean, it's so astounding to me that the revolution in Haiti, the revolution in France and the Bolivarian revolutions looked to the revolution in the United States as key that they were following the example of the most to them radical parts of the US revolution. And we so seldom think that that revolution was radical in any way. But of course, at that period of time, at least in its aspirations, it was a very radical movement. But Haiti after that point was totally shunned by the United States. Is that true Robin? Yes. And penalized for being the first black republic in the world. Tim, Tim. Yeah, I just wanted to maybe ask Jorge since we have some time if he could comment on the current situation in Puerto Rico. Because it clearly remains the oldest colony in the world over 500 years of being a colony and has never attained independence. And the United States has imposed on it that financial junta, which is now making all the financial decisions and taking the power away from the Puerto Rican legislature to oversee its own economy. So it's tremendous debt in which it's... Killing it. Yeah. Killing it, yeah. I don't really see what the exit strategy is for Puerto Rico, which has been in a depression for the last decade and more. Jorge. Well, you know, regarding the current events, I know that it's an attempt to renegotiate the debt. But the problem is the cash flow situation in Puerto Rico. And my understanding is that ever since Maria and now the pandemic, you know, there's an outflux of population. I don't know if you know, but the population is decreasing in the last 10 years. And tremendously, and who goes is really the professionals that should say, you know, if you want to rebuild the country. So my understanding is that right now it is in there. Of course, we all know there's a junta or there is a, you know, a governing body. But that's just part of colonialism. You know, it's like a bank. You know, if you don't pay the mortgage, then the bank tells you, well, you know, we're gonna take control of your house. So that's what's happening. It's a Puerto Rico. It's like the property. And it's owned by the banks of the United States, you know, or by the investors of the United States. So we're treated like a, you know, like a property. And that's what it is. Now, you know, in terms of, you know, is that right or not? You know, I'm not to, you know, everybody has their own opinion. I'm just saying the fact is that we are under the US control. And you know, if a big company, you know, goes to Nicaragua, American company, and it has billions of dollars, well, and then the Nicaraguan government expropriates it, then the US will invade, you know? It's, because you take their money. And that is basically what's happening in Puerto Rico, in my view, you know? It's already invaded. Puerto Rico has already invaded. Yes. Exactly, well, exactly. There's nothing to invade already. But now, you know, investors put money in bonds and they were badly administered. The funds and the transactions, because they were both badly administered, you know? And so now how do you go after it? You know, you can invade, but you still own the country. So you can force them to pay because you cannot put a junta, like there is one in Puerto Rico to France because they owe you money. You couldn't do that, you know? You could do it to Puerto Rico because it's a colony. So, you know, that is now, you know, if you wanted, you know, I mean, there's a series of events that happen prior to this, you know? Puerto Rico, you know, as it changed from agriculture to manufacturing in the 40s and 50s, operation bootstrap. But what happened there to incentivize in 1976, there was a 936 tax incentive law that led companies not have to repatriate their funds. So that was an incentive and there was a lot of manufacturing and that's how the economy of Puerto Rico, you know, was really good, you know, up to the 1970, 76. And then that law came out, you know, later in the 80s and, you know, it phased out in 2000 and basically the economy of Puerto Rico, which was manufacturing, is pretty much dead. So you don't have, we don't have the multi-crop economy that we had prior to occupation. Then that got replaced by a monocrop in sugar and that got replaced by a manufacturing with incentives and none of that is there. So how do you go from being on 500 years of colony to revamp or restart or jumpstart an economy that has nothing left? I mean, it has to start from scratch. And I mentioned another thing that happened as a result, I think, of the Spanish-American War and that is the establishment, as someone said, of Guantanamo. Right? And that was, I think, in 1902 and the United States demanded and got a military base, a naval base in Cuba. That remains true to this day. That was supposed to be a lease, if I recall, for a hundred years and then- You know, Sandy, not for a hundred years, it's in perpetuity and there is rent. Oh, right, but- The rent that the US owes the Cuban government, the Cuban government, since Castro has never accepted the payment. Right, right. And it was established as a calling station. Right. And if you read the treaty carefully, since it is no longer a calling station, because ships don't operate on coal anymore, in a sense, the treaty could be abrogated. It could be declared void because it is not performing the function on which it was established. But I'm sure that Fidel Castro tried to get us out of there and then the United States said, make us go and that can't happen without a war. I mean- There you go. There you go. But we played a good role for Fidel. It's a prison, right? Having Guantanamo there was also good for Fidel. He could use that as a symbol of, you know. I know all that. The problem is, is that I can't believe in a way that the United States has foreign bases at all, anywhere, but especially Cuba, that now is a prison and that has not been given up by the United States. Randy, how many countries as the US have- Bases. About 700. 800. 800. 800. Yeah. 700. Bases are not 700 countries. But they don't. You're at 700 countries. Bases. Oh, not on a basis. Bases. Bases. Sorry to go out of space. 700 foreign bases. Well, we're gonna have a base on Mars to explain the truth. Yeah, Robin, Robin. Yeah, I just wanted to explain, I'm leaving because I'm going to see the premiere of Jetline voices from the F-35. This is a new film made by Juan Peterman. And you can just, you can, it's starting at seven, and you can just type in jetlinefilm.com and you will get the link to go to see this premiere of this film. By the way, I noticed, why, Robin, but I noticed Earhart works for Bernie Sanders now. Is that right, Earhart? I had to take that. I'm not here in my official capacity, but yes I do. Okay, so now, then you can bring all this up with Senator Sanders, I'm sure. The F-35, the occupation of Puerto Rico, the occupation of the embargo, right? I'm his eyes and ears now, so. From earlips to. Well, you can wish him well, but. Thanks. Yeah. I've got to go too. I have a neighborhood planning assembly coming up, but I really appreciated the presentations. Thank you, Jorge and Armando and Grant. And it's too bad I want to mention Robin's left, but one of the things that's kept Haiti down is the reparations that they paid to France, I know folks mentioned that. Unbelievable. But if I'm not mistaken, they didn't end until the early 70s, I think they continued to pay into the early 70s. To France. To France. To France. To France. They had to pay for the wrong liberation. That's right, they paid for the slaves that they became free, they're no longer part of it. I saved those. Well, Joanne and I would like to meet Jorge sometime. Oh, my pleasure. Thank you for that, you take care. When is he going to be back in this day? Anybody know when they invite me? Let's see. Where are you? Yeah. Labor Day. Why, where are you, Jorge? I'm in Miami, Miami. Oh, okay, okay. I see, I see. Let me ask you a question. Did anybody know that the first Haitian government that wasn't a colony was a kingdom? Oh. Yeah. No, you didn't know that. Well. It was a black king. There was a black king there. That's right, that's right. Right after independence, after they killed the, to send over to work, there was the Salines. Yeah. And then after the Salines, there was a king there that's mentioned in a book called, by a Cuban called The Kingdom of This World. And that's the first kingdom that was from an African, you know, born in Haiti, in Haiti, right after independence. Right. I heard that, I mean, Haiti is in terrible shape again, always is, but it's especially bad right now. Is that right? Of course. I heard. After that, there was the earthquake. The earthquake. But Sandy, most recently, apparently there's the phenomenon of gangs in hundreds of gangs, literally gangs that kidnap people. Right. That's, I heard that on the news tonight. Cause I mentioned that because last semester, this semester we had an interview for Vicki and for our session with Tim Reiser, who's the advisor to Senator Leahy. And he talked a great deal about Cuba. I don't know if you guys join that, but we're gonna ask him because he's been in negotiations also about Haiti. And I'm going to, we're gonna ask him to come next semester, maybe even next month to give us. And the negotiations, he was saying the negotiations are specifically about a kidnapping, Tim, back to what Tim was saying. The negotiations that Tim is involved with in Haiti is of a Haitian student studying in New Jersey. I think it was at Rutgers, whose family was somebody was kidnapped. So my point is that Tim is mentioning kidnapping and that's what Tim was working on. The other Tim, Tim Reiser was working on when we were on the call with him. When will Biden move on Cuba? Never. He reversed, he reversed all of the Trump. Especially Biden won't. He said he was going to, but now he's- So you mean to authorize travel or what? Yes. Yeah, to open up the way it was on you. Well, you can travel, it's just you can't, right now, Tim, there's only one yet, like you only fly to Havana, they can't do any remittances yet. The embassy, the consulate office is closed in Havana, so you have these thousands of Cubans who've had appointments or visa applications that are in limbo. So I mean, that hurts the Cubans in Miami, the same Cubans who say that they, you know, they want to tighten the grip on Cuba. You know how you can send remittances, Armando? If you do a recarga for a telephone in Cuba. They can now convert it. Yes, I do. Yes, I do that. I've been doing that for a long time. I think Western Union, maybe it's not back yet, but- I'm not worried, but they're going to be, I think. Well, you charge your 150 bucks and they get, they sell it over there. They can do that. Yes, yes, exactly. He's telling me to say that. Exactly. The Cuban American Friendship Society wants to go back as soon as possible. We have a friend there who is ahead now at the Motar Festival. Did I send you the latest message from Michael Dabrowski? All right, all right, life. It's amazing, right? He's going to tell us. Anyway, there is- He's got money. What? He's got dollars. Well, well, I know that I know, but he also is getting to teach a lot, which is really- Yeah. He teaches the violin, right? Yeah, yep. Okay, well, I don't know. Any further questions? All right. Thank you, Armando, and Jorge. Thanks. Thank you guys. Thanks, everyone. What did he tell you? Was I seeing you again? Joanne, Tim. See you again soon. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. We had Jorge. Bye-bye.