“Although a handful of progressive individuals favoured independence from Spain, Cuba's economic elite was conservative, fearful of the economic and social consequences of a break with the colonial motherland. Without Spanish support, the planters would not be able to sustain the slave system on which their economic power was based, nor would they be strong enough to crush slave revolts” RacismSlaveryHuman TraffickingCuban History Book:Cuba: A New History Source: Cuba: A New History
“He often reflected on his reluctance to extend the struggle to the Caribbean, and wrote in one of his many letters that it was 'more important to have peace than to liberate these islands. An independent Cuba would take a great deal of work.' Even Bolívar was not immune to the belief that a liberated Cuba might become another 'Republic of Haiti.” RacismCubaLatinoamérica Book:Cuba: A New History Source: Cuba: A New History
“Later in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, progressive Cubans were happy to downplay the survival of the Indians since those who promoted indigenismo, and sought to praise and promote Cuba's Indian heritage, were usually conservative racists who wanted to glorify the Indian past and downgrade the contribution of the black African element in the population. Novelists in the nineteeth century, anxios to preserve Hispanic culture, often sought Indian images for their historical fiction as a counterweight to the arguments of those who exalted Cuba's African heritage.” RacismIndigenismo Book:Cuba: A New History Source: Cuba: A New History