ABSTRACT
The independence movements in the early part of the nineteenth century did not provide freedom and independence for all Latin Americans. In fact, millions of people still lived under colonial rule. Despite efforts by the United States to purchase the island of Cuba in the mid-nineteenth century, and the United States’ growing interest in the Caribbean basin as expressed through the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, Cuba and Puerto Rico remained Spanish colonial possessions until 1898. Puerto Rico and Cuba were “liberated” from Spain by the United States in 1898; Puerto Rico never gained complete independence and Cuba’s path to independence was complicated. The independent nation of Guyana was colonized by the British and gained independence in 1966. In most of the Caribbean today, true independence eludes the vast majority of the citizens, and the variety of political structures present in that region is a clear reflection of the long-lasting, damning consequences of centuries of colonial rule.
