During World War I, US overall investment increased by 50%, and by 1929, the US was the main purchaser of Latin American minerals and tropical food products. As US had taken Britain’s position as the industrial and financial leader of the world, more than 30% of Latin America’s exports went to the new hegemonic power. The US would import raw materials from Latin America and then export excess manufactured commodities back to the region. This made Latin America very dependent on the US, which gave the US economic and political influence and allowed for military intervention. In fact, 80% of Cuba’s materials were exported to the US. As a result of this dependence, the Latin American nations had little choice but to listen to American requests and submit to its pressure. Essentially, the US gained ownership of the very means of production of Latin America, leaving the region completely tied to the Americans and their corporations.

Among the American corporations, the United Fruit Company had an enormous amount of dominance in Latin America. It created many jobs and exported a high percent of Latin American countries’ goods, but it was also guilty of corruption for reasons such as unreasonably cheap labor, poor working conditions, and basically exploitation of the people. Ultimately, these corporations were good for the US but a tyranny for the common Latin American people.

Because the United States had a large influence on international economies, much of the world was affected by the Wall Street Crash in 1929, which brought on the Great Depression. The Cuban dictator, Gerardo Machado, was unable to control the uprisings of discontent on the island that resulted from the Depression, and so he fled from the country in 1933 when mobs began to loot his house. The US made a provisional government in Cuba, but Sergeant Fulgencio Batistá overthrew it and then became the new dictator in 1934.

Under Batistá’s direction, Cuba remained very dependent on the United States. By the 1950’s, 75% of Cuba’s imports were from the US, and 65% of its sugar exports—Cuba’s main commodity—were being sold to the US. Unfortunately, this was not to the Cuban people’s benefit. Batistá’s US-backed dictatorship created high unemployment, illiteracy, poverty, and a lack of access to healthcare. The injustices of Cuba’s situation inspired revolutionaries, such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, to rid the island of the old ways and to create a better Cuba.