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Description and Holding Information
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1924, United States. Committee on Foreign Relations. Isle of Pines: Papers Relating to the Adjustment of Title to the to the Ownership of the Isle de Pines
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Isle of Pines; Papers relating to the adjustment of title to the ownership of the Isle of Pines: n.a., (3)+319p, 86th Cong., 2d Sess., Sen. Doc. No.
166, Wash.., GPO, 1924. TOC follows title page. Lacks index. In 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, Spain renounced all claims to Cuba and
the U.S. “protective occupation” began. A treaty in 1901 restored sovereignty to most of Cuba, but the sixth clause of the Platt Amendment reserved the
question of the status of the Isla de Pines for later negotiation. The island, with a land area of ca. 900 sq. mi. is the 7th largest island in the
West Indies. It lies south of the west end of Cuba, and under Spanish rule usually had been administered as part of the Province of Havana. It seems
that it had never been the intent of the U.S. Executive to retain ownership of the island, but a complicating factor was that a community of Americans
(variously estimated to number from 1,000 to 3,000 in number) had begun settling on the island even before the Spanish reign ended. Though small in
number, these settlers, and the American real estate speculators who were sponsoring more settlement on the island, had a great deal of clout with U.S.
politicians; in particular with Henry Cabot Lodge, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a man whose imperialist sympathies made him loath
to “give anything back.” Following the terms of the Platt Amendment, further negotiations resulted by 1904 in the signing by the U.S. Executive of the
Hay-Quesada Treaty, which recognized Cuban ownership of the island. President Harding submitted the treaty to the Senate for ratification that same
year, but Lodge and the other settler allies in Congress managed to hold things up for the next two decades. The Isle of Pines affair provides an
illuminating case study on the ability of a small but well placed group to influence American foreign policy directions. This senate document reprints most
of the official correspondence generated in response to the evolving situation over the years, along with a wealth of subsidiary correspondence and
petitions volunteered by the settler community. The Hay-Quesada treaty was finally ratified in 1924 and was implemented in 1925. In 1978 the Isla de
Pines was officially renamed by the Cuban government as the Isla de Juventude (the Isle of Youth). One frequent use for the island was for incarceration
of enemies of the current regime. Fidel Castro and his colleagues did time there, as, subsequently, did many of their political opponents. The
Presidio Modelo, built under the dictator Gerardo Machado {in office 1925-33}, with its groundbreaking cylindrical cell structure, the “Panopticon,” is
famous and sometimes copied in the worldwide correctional industry.)
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Title:
Isle of Pines : papers relating to the adjustment of title to the ownership of the Isle of Pines.
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OCLC Number:
834614841
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Available Volumes
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| Name | Fiche Count | Online | Paper Backup |
| Volume 1 | | Yes | No |
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