Cuban Revisionist Interpretations of Cuba's Struggle for Independence

S LATE AS 1927 history texts in use in Cuban schools A were still presenting the island 's struggles for independence in much the same manner as they were treated in history textbooks in this country; that is, (1) early plots, conspiracies, and attempts at invasion down to about 1865 which aimed at cutting Cuba loose from Spain (often thought of as aiming at annexation to the United States); (2) the reformist movement of the late Fifties and Sixties when Cubans hoped for freedom within the Spanish connection; (3) the failure of the reformist efforts followed by the first war for independence, known as the Ten Years' War, 186878; (4) the Guerra Chiquita of 1878-80 led by Cuban generals who refused to accept the Peace of Zanjon; (5) the autonomist movement once more aiming at liberty within the Spanish Empire; (6) its failure followed by the War for Independence, 1895-98; and, finally, La Guerra Hispanoamericana in 1898 (Cuban texts still used the Spanish version of "Spanish-American War, "' which term has since become anathema to Cuba historians as well as politicians). Most school texts as well as larger histories had good words for the administration of General Leonard Wood2 during the First Intervention (1899-1902), saying little about his predecessor in that position, General John R. Brooke. There were expressions of regret and even resentment over the failure of the United States government to recognize the government of the "Repuiblica en Armas" which had directed Cuban efforts in the War for Independence, but for the most part, criticism of this policy was soft-pedaled, censure being reserved for the imposition of the Platt Amendment and later inter-