The Platt Amendment of 1901 was a rider appended to the Army Appropriations Act presented to the U.S. Senate by Connecticut Republican Senator Orville H. Platt replacing the earlier Teller Amendment. Approved on May 22, 1903,[1] it stipulated the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba at the end of the Spanish-American War and defined the terms of Cuban-U.S. relations until the 1934 Treaty of Relations. The Amendment ensured U.S. involvement in Cuban affairs, both foreign and domestic, and gave legal standing (in U.S law) to U.S. claims to certain economic and military territories on the island including Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
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During the Spanish-American War, the United States maintained a military arsenal in Cuba to protect U.S. holdings and to mediate Spanish-Cuban relations.[2] In 1899, the McKinley administration settled on occupation as its response to the appearance of a revolutionary government in Cuba following the end of Spanish control.[3]
In an effort to turn Cuba into a "self-governing colony",[3] the United States established a Rural Guard composed of ex-rebel fighters to maintain public order, reduce theft, and protect foreign property.[2] American General Leonard Wood, using the financial resources of the Cuban treasury, oversaw the development of sanitation systems, road works, and an education system.[3] The franchise was extended to literate, adult, male Cubans with property worth $250, which excluded the largely Afro-Cuban population from participation.
The Platt Amendment was formulated by the American Secretary of War Elihu Root. It passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 43 to 20.[2] Though initially rejected by the Cuban assembly, the amendment was eventually accepted by a vote of 16 to 11 with four abstentions and integrated into the 1902 Cuban Constitution.[2]
The amendment stipulated that Cuba would not transfer Cuban land to any power other than the United States, mandated that Cuba would contract no foreign debt without guarantees that the interest payments could be met from ordinary revenues, and permitted U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs when the United States deemed necessary. It also prevented Cuba from negotiating treaties with any country other than the United States that would either "impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba" and from allowing "any foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgement in or control over any portion" of Cuban territory.[4]
The Platt Amendment restricted Cuba in the conduct of foreign policy and commercial relations. It established that Cuba's boundaries would not include the Isle of Pines (Isla de la Juventud) until its title could be established in a future treaty. Cuba also agreed to sell or lease to the United States "lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon." The amendment leased Guantánamo Bay to the United States and provided for a formal treaty detailing all the foregoing provisions.
After U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt withdrew federal troops from the island in 1902, Cuba signed the Cuban-American Treaty (1903) outlining the role of the U.S. in Cuba and the Caribbean. Tomás Estrada Palma, who had once favored outright annexation of Cuba by the United States, became President of Cuba on May 20, 1902.
Following acceptance of the amendment, the United States ratified a tariff pact that gave Cuban sugar preference in the U.S. market and protection to select U.S. products in the Cuban market. As a result, sugar production dominated the Cuban economy while Cuban domestic consumption became increasingly dependent on U.S. producers.
With the exception of U.S. rights to Guantánamo Bay, most provisions of the Platt Amendment provisions were repealed in 1934 when the Treaty of Relations between the U.S. and Cuba was negotiated as a part of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Good Neighbor policy" toward Latin America. José Manuel Cortina and other members of the Cuban Constitutional Convention of 1940 eliminated the Platt Amendment from the new Cuban Constitution.
The long-term lease of Guantánamo Bay continues. That lease can be revoked by the consent of both parties or by American abandonment of the site. The Cuban government under Castro has strongly denounced the treaty as a violation of article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which declares a treaty void if procured by the threat or use of force. However, Article 4 of the Vienna Convention states that its provisions shall not be applied retroactively.
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