I'm not a fan of Cuba or Venezuela but am a fan of history and reality. The Spanish American War was started on a pretext the blowing up of the battleship Main in Havana Harbor. The purpose of the war was to drive S
pain out of the western hemisphere so US capitalist could dominate central America for its natural resources. And to acquire the remnants of the Spanish colonial Empire. The US granted Cuba a degree of independence with the reservation that if things did not go the way the capitalist wanted the US retained the right to intervene.


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I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”
― Smedley D. Butler, War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier