Brief History of Cuba

During the 1800s Cuba was controlled by Spain. Slaves were used to harvest the main island crop of sugar. As the century came to an end slavery was abolished and Jose Marti was stirring up Cuban pride and cry for independence. So who came to the rescue? Teddy Roosevelt and the rough riders, maybe John Wayne was there too, anyway they rode up San Juan Hill, had a great time fighting for a free Cuba and won the Spanish American War. (Why wasn't it the Spanish Cuban War) The US also scooped up Puerto Rico, the Phillipines and Guam while they were at it and Spain no longer sailed around conquering countries in the name of the church scooping up gold and precious gems while they were at it. Since Cuba had all that sugar, yummy, the U.S. set up a quota to buy lots of sugar from Cuba so the island became a one crop wonder with huge plantations creating huge fortunes for the owners who didn't really have to hang around to do anything. The crop was a seven year wonder. The bamboo like stalks were hacked down by illiterate peasants (guajiro), the harvest took about 4 months, then the stalk would grow again during which time the peasants were unemployed. The plantation owners would give them rations to feed their families but they would be in constant debt to these plantation owners. Almost everything else the island needed was purchased from the US. The island was a big sugar plantation for the US. while Havana became one big playground for the US. Is it any wonder they were ready for a man like Castro? Can he all that bad if one of the first things he did was educate everyone. They now have a higher literacy rate than we do.
That is an over simplification of why things are like they are in Cuba. Please add any facts you know regarding the island.