Cuban and Mexican Revolutions

Revolutions mark very important milestones in the history of every country. These revolutions are very crucial as they tell the story of a country and its population making an important transition, whether it is political or social. Robert Taber describes a revolution as "the whole of a radical process, the product of long drawn social, political, and economical developments brought to maturation in a powerful mass movement, expressing the deepest aspirations and most urgent needs of a people, charged with the momentum of their collective experience, articulating their desires, channeling their energies in a common cause, and, once set in motion, irresistible." . Therefore, revolutions are important historical accounts that can help one understand the contemporary culture and attitudes of a particular society. Latin America has seen many such revolutions throughout the history. The revolutions in question are Cuban and Mexican revolution. Comparing and contrasting between these revolutions can lead to a very insightful perspective about the history and politics of both the countries. Although both the revolution took place at different times, there are many similarities and differences between them.

Mexican revolution is one of the first and most important revolutions of Latin America. The beginning of the revolution or at least the reason causing this revolution can be traced during "the Profiriato"(1976-1910) which can be defined as the time period in which Porfirio Díaz was in power. Although during this period Porfirio Díaz did bring about economic and industrial development however, this was done on the expense of the masses of Mexico. A far more remarkable story is told by the exports, which, in 1900-1901, amounted to nearly $150,000,000: just five times their value only eighteen years before." This shows the immense economic development seen in Mexico during his rule. Moreover, one of the policies advocated by Diaz during his first election was that of "no re-election" for the presidents in consecutive years. He honored this policy after his first election and stepped down for Manuel González. However, after this election he got re-elected and stayed in power until 1910 and resultantly, he ignored his own policy. Furthermore, Loprete mentions that Diaz stayed in power fraudulently by rigging the votes in subsequent elections and by compelling citizens to vote in favor though violence. His "dictatorship" further cracked due to the high levels of inequality in the distribution of wealth. The workers, peasants and the entire lower class suffered due to this inequality, exploitation and also the changes in land reforms which made it almost impossible for this class to claim any land. "By the outbreak of the revolution in 1910, almost half of Mexico's land belonged to less than three thousand families" These few families included the elites and excluded the millions of farmers and workers that rightfully deserved the land. Another factor that should be considered was the heavy dependence of Mexico and its economy on foreign investments such as US and Great Britain. All of the aforementioned factors led to a strong opposition and hence loosened Diaz's grip on the nation. Due to all the pressures, overconfidently, Diaz promised free and fair election in 1910. However, when Diaz realized that he was losing the election, he had his opponent, Francisco I. Madero, arrested for false charges. Eventually Madero received bail and went to San Antonio, Texas. As a result, Diaz had no real competition and he was "re-elected". These events further lead to Madero gearing towards a rebellion against Diaz. In the article Knudson, Madero was quoted ". .. I knew that General Diaz could only be defeated by means of arms, but the democratic [ electoral] campaign [of 1910] was indispensable in order to make a revolution because this would prepare public opinion and justify the armed uprising." His call for revolution in "Plan de San Luis" received support from Zapata who was a peasant leader and advocated a land reform as a result of the revolution, Pascual Orozco and bandit chieftain Pancho Villa. They joined forces with Madero and let to the downfall of Diaz's rule. However, this did not mark the end of the revolution as Madero soon lost control as he faced many rebellions as the infamous congress and supporters of Diaz disliked him and he also lost support of his allies i.e. Orozco and Zapata. Another key player of this revolution was General Victoriano Huerta who was a soldier from the Diaz's regime. Huerta and Villa joined forces on Madero's command against Orozco who fled to United States of America. Upon return, Huerta along with his allies and Diaz's army, removed Madero from power and executed him. Huerta then claimed presidency for himself however, he too soon lost control due to international pressures. He was challenged by a former governor Venustiano Carranza and Alvaro Obregón. Furthermore, Orozco also returned from his exile and joined forces with Huerta. On the other hand, Carranza, Obregón, Villa and Zappata who all shared hatred for Huerta joined to remove Huerta from power. Huerta lost this battle and soon after Orozco had to give up as well and both were exiled. The four remaining player lacked unity due to different motivations to remove Huerta and lack of a common cause. They soon turned their back against each other and actually got into conflicts with each other. The resulting leader was Carranza who won due to the support of Obregón. However, he promised Obregón to succeed him as a president. Carranza did not do as previously promised and lost the support of Obregón who still enjoyed ties with the military. He marched to the capital and compelled Carranza to flee. On May 21,1920, the supporters of Obregón assassinated Carranza. Obregon was then elected as a president in 1920 and served his four year term. According to many scholars, this marks the end of Mexican Revolution.

Another important revolution in Latin America is the one that took place in Cuba. Cuban revolution was very different from Mexican Revolution but also shared some striking similarities. Similar to Mexican, This revolution was also a rebellion against an existing leader who in this case was Fulgencio Batista. Ferguson describes Batista as a dictator who was a man of extreme cruelty and corruption who was determined to remain in power. The beginning of this revolution