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Militarism versus Civil Society
Armando Soler Hernandez
Havana, Cuba

T

he Foundations of Militarism in
the Isle
The subordination of the civil
society under the jackboot is not a new
phenomenon in the Cuban history. It started in the earlier times of the colonial regime, when Havana1 was a Spanish strategic position at the entrance of the Gulf of
Mexico. Throughout the whole term of
domination over the island by the peninsular authority, nothing changed that ominous sprit de corps, despite the facts that
this Spanish possession became the world's
leading producer of "the white gold" of the
time: sugar, and also the richest colony left
in the metropolitan hands. While covering
less than 1% of the Iberian imperial territory in the Americas, Cuba brought to the
moribund Spanish Empire around a sixth
of all the wealth it drew from the continent
in four centuries. The national independence wars of the nineteenth century reinforced the military presence among the
population, with a vast number of colonial
troops and their local auxiliaries, as well as
numerous freedom fighters.2 Thus, the
military spirit accompanying the colony
was further reinforced after the war concluded. Their ominous presence hung like
a heavy fog on the national reality, and
worst, on the civilian character of the
nascent republic, which in many occasions
was relegated to the background. During
the first 57 years of republic, the militaristic viciousness inherited from the past
conflicts manifested itself intensely in
national politics through the figures of exgeneral-presidents and, with greater impact, through outbursts like military coups

in order to bring law and order to disrupted
civil governments. This created a loophole
for gun violence that would ensue as "the
true birth of the mountains".
The Permanent Militarization
With the advent of the Castro regime, the
model of militarized society was enthroned
and consolidated itself. In this first stage of
the absolute leadership by a warlord,
which repeated a continental phenomenon
with certain historical delay, the militarization cancelled any autonomy of civil society. It disappeared from the national landscape. Thusly, a tenacious historical claim
of how to govern the country was thus
fulfilled. It was imposed since the times of
the mambi manigua, although it did not
managed to prevail completely until 1959.
Despite all the historical legends to legitimize its permanent shape and constant
improvement, this new political-military
class in power, which declared itself the
natural heir of the wars and the history, has
not enough foundation to consolidate a
steady guiding presence in society and to
prevent the loss of credibility in mediumterm. After all, it was an attempt to confine
in a cloister a sybaritic society very prone
to the benefits of consumption and modernity coming as manna from their constant
economic and cultural relations with the
United States. Does anyone know how
such a society could be transformed into a
kind of bellicose and austere Sparta? It was
something quite unthinkable and difficult
that could not last too long as something
attractive for the cosmopolitan Cuban
society. A credible enemy and a permanent
threat were needed to justify the entrench-

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