When, in mid-March, Donald Trump said “I think I could do anything I want with it,” he was repeating a long American preoccupation with Cuba, historian Michael Zeuske of the University of Bonn reminds us. US interest in the island reaches back to the mid-19th century.
Early ambitions
Long before the 20th century, prominent US leaders viewed Cuba as strategically vital. In 1820 Thomas Jefferson urged seizing any chance to annex the island. Three years later John Quincy Adams predicted a political “gravitation” that would draw Cuba into the North American sphere if it separated from Spain. In 1848 President James K. Polk offered Spain $100 million for Cuba; Spain reportedly replied it would rather scuttle the island than sell it. US diplomats even sketched a secret plan to seize Cuba by force if Spain refused, though that plan was never implemented.
Monroe Doctrine and the ‘ripe apple’
These ambitions rested on the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which declared the Americas a sphere for American influence. While intended to deter European colonialism, the doctrine also dovetailed with US expansionism — and Cuba, only about 160 km (99 miles) from Florida, was a tempting prize. As Cuba’s prolonged struggle against Spanish rule intensified, the United States increased its naval and military presence under the pretext of protecting American lives and property.
From war to protectorate
The explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, which killed more than 250 sailors, became the immediate trigger for the Spanish-American War. Whether the blast was accidental or deliberate remains debated, but the US declared war on Spain. The brief conflict ended with Spain losing Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines and relinquishing control over Cuba. The US stopped short of formally annexing Cuba — in part because of Senate opposition — but it imposed limits on Cuban sovereignty. American troops remained until Cuba accepted the Platt Amendment, which was written into the Cuban constitution and allowed the United States considerable control over Cuban foreign policy, debt, public health, and the right to intervene militarily. It also secured US naval installations, most notably Guantánamo Bay.
Economic influence and organized crime
US economic power soon followed political influence. By the mid-1920s American companies dominated much of Cuba’s sugar industry and invested heavily in Havana’s hotels, casinos and tourist infrastructure. Prohibition in the United States in the 1920s boosted tourism to Cuba and drew organized-crime figures who turned parts of Havana into hubs for gambling, narcotics, money laundering and prostitution. Dictator Fulgencio Batista cultivated close links to American mobsters; Meyer Lansky, in particular, was a major partner and informal adviser.
Revolution and Cold War rupture
Deep social inequality and poverty fed unrest. Fidel Castro’s first 1953 attack failed, but his 26th of July Movement waged guerrilla warfare until Batista fled in 1959. Initially Castro sought to maintain working relations with the United States, but Washington’s reluctance to engage a socialist revolutionary, and Castro’s nationalization of US-owned refineries and sugar estates, pushed Havana toward Moscow.
The Eisenhower administration imposed a trade embargo in 1960. In 1961, a CIA-backed invasion by Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs collapsed, embarrassing the United States and tightening Castro’s ties to the Soviet Union. In 1962 the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba precipitated the most dangerous moment of the Cold War. The crisis was defused when the Soviets agreed to withdraw the missiles in exchange for a US pledge not to invade Cuba.
US plots and Cuban resilience
Washington continued covert efforts to remove Castro, including well-documented assassination plots and bizarre schemes — from poisoned cigars to tampered diving suits and explosive shells — that ultimately failed and often strengthened domestic support for the regime. Despite economic hardship and recurrent crises, the Cuban government has maintained control over leadership, the military and territory.
Periods of thaw and renewed pressure
Diplomatic relations eased at two notable moments: under Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s and again during Barack Obama’s presidency in the 2010s. Both rapprochements expanded engagement, but many of those changes were later reversed during Donald Trump’s administration. In early January Trump asserted that Cuba was “ready to fall,” and his administration stepped up pressure, including actions that limited foreign oil shipments routed through Venezuela, where the US had taken military action. In March he added on camera, “I think I will have the honor of taking Cuba.”
Cuba’s response and current strains
Havana pushed back. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío told NBC News that Cuba is a sovereign nation and will not accept control by another state. At the same time the island has experienced worsening material conditions: energy shortages and frequent blackouts, declining tourism, overflowing refuse, and perishable food spoiling during outages. Historian Zeuske notes that while the regime remains resilient at the institutional level, popular dissatisfaction is widespread — especially among young people, many of whom now seek to leave the country.
This article has been translated from German.