During President Barack Obama’s first term, when the U.S. and Cuba initially made attempts to thaw our icy relationship, I visited the island country as part of an educational delegation. We met with government officials including Mariela Castro, the daughter of then-President Raul Castro, as she was working on pro-LGBTQ+ legislation. We visited the burial site of national hero José Martí, who is credited with sparking the revolution that freed the nation from Spain. And we spent time at San Juan Hill, site of the most significant battle in the Spanish-American War, after which the U.S. essentially took Spain’s place. So when President Donald Trump floats the idea of a “friendly takeover of Cuba” or “taking Cuba in some form,” do keep in mind we did that already, back in 1898. Soon after Spain withdrew its troops from Havana, U.S. forces began an occupation that would last three years under the guise of stability. Meanwhile the large sugar and tobacco plantations that once belonged to former colonizers were quickly being absorbed by American corporations — not by Cubans. That’s why,
