The liberation of Cuba – Frederick Lauritzen

The British occupation of Cuba (14th August 1762-6th July 1763) opened Cuba to trade with the rest of the world. This is what the USA is planning for the island of Cuba. The key changes due to the Keppel administration of Cuba in 1762 were the following:

• Liberalization of the economy
• Export oriented economy
• Production of sugar

These three main provisions changed the island and were the backbone for the growth of wealth of some and the rise of inequality for many. More recently, some critics of this outcome ultimately promoted the Cuban revolution of 1959. Nevertheless, economic isolation of Cuba today reminds one of pre 1762 era. Trump wishes to break up the current Cuban stagnation in the same way the three Keppels did in 1762. This episode is central to US history. The father of the three Keppel brothers was William Keppel, Earl of Albemarle. He had been governor of Virginia (1737-1754) when it was a British Colony. His reputation was such that a county was named after him, County Albemarle. There the future US president, Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809), completed his house, Monticello, around 1809.

The British conquest of Cuba, crucial for the subsequent economy of the island, was part of a wider conflict, the Seven Years War (1757-1763). The peace of Paris (1763) which ended the war had long lasting effects: France lost Canada to the UK, Spain lost Florida to the UK, Grenada and Tobago became part of the British Empire.  The UK minister for war during the war, William Pitt the Elder claimed that he would win Canada on the battlefield of Germany. Indeed, the victories of Frederick the Great of Prussia in the Seven Year war helped his, the United Kingdom.

Pitt was popular in North America, and the city of Pittsburgh was named after him. Those who worked in government or the military under him were known as ‘Pitt’s boys’. Among them, the Keppel brothers were part of his strategy to secure the UK’s position by weakening rival countries’ control of distant lands or colonies. Trump’s strategy towards Cuba could have been written in 1762.