Historical connections

A unique collection of articles drawing on primary sources which illuminate earlier relations between Cuba and the UK.

Running from Albion

Jonathan Curry-Machado examines the motives and experiences of migrants to Cuba from the British Isles in the 19th Century

The Cuban crossroads

Jorge Renato Ibarra Guitart relates how the US managed to wrest economic control of Cuba from the UK at the beginning of the 20th century.

British economic presence in Havana, 1900-1930

Michael Cobiellas looks at how UK and Canadian capital investments into the Cuban urban economy also contributed to strengthening the prevailing dependent and underdeveloped structure of the economic system.

British diplomacy from WWII to Revolution

Chris Hull provides some original insights into Britain's post-war commercial interests in Cuba

Organised labour under Batista

Steve Cushion reflects on how, in the years immediately prior to the Cuban revolution, British diplomacy supported Batista’s attempts to increase productivity and reduce costs through repression of the labour movement.