auspices of the Platt Amendment, Washington established proprietary authority over the Cuban national system. Little escaped the purview of U.S. intervention."
Among other objectives, the United States used the Platt Amendment to assure that no other European power would replace Spain in Cuba. Cuba, thus, became "the first American protectorate."
The Platt Amendment was the forerunner of an even broader policy that was developed to justify American intervention throughout Latin America. This policy was initiated by President Theodore Roosevelt when the United States "took over the administration of Dominican customs receipts. To protect U.S revenue officials, Roosevelt sent a contingent of marines." Roosevelt contended that the Dominican intervention was intended "to safeguard the Monroe Doctrine and the approaches to the Canal Zone." The actions of Roosevelt in the Dominica, however, laid "the groundwork for later large scale intervention in Central America."
Eventually, the actions taken by Theodore Roosevelt in Dominica were formulated into the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Initially, the Roosevelt Corollary was used to proscribe European warships from entering Caribbean waters. Soon, however, the "Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine was used to justify intervention by the United States in Latin American countries."
Under the guise of the Platt Amendment, the United States never ceased to intervene in Cuba from 1898 through 1934. That assertion does not mean that American military troops were always on the ground in that part of the island titularly under the control of the Cuban government. They were not. That assertion does mean, however, that the United States, through the American ambassador to Cuba did continually influence Cuban governmental policy, and in many cases actually established Cuban governmental policy during the 1898 1934 period. Further, Cuban dissidents "learned quickly...