John R. Brooke, the first governor of Cuba

The story of an occupation should also be measured by what the occupier did, but above all by the space left for those who had fought for freedom.

On January 1, 1899, as Spanish authorities withdrew permanently, Cuba came under the military administration of the United States. Major General John Rutter Brooke was appointed to lead this initial phase, serving as the military governor of the island until December 23, 1899, when he was replaced by Leonard Wood.

Brooke received a devastated Cuba. The war had destroyed a large part of the economy, thousands of families had been left without resources, and the administrative apparatus inherited from Spain needed a thorough reorganization. The Liberation Army remained armed, while a significant portion of the population hoped that the victory over Spain would quickly lead to independence.

That scenario explains the contradictory nature of his mission: Brooke was not a governor of an independent Cuba, but rather the head of a foreign military occupation; however, he did not act as if the Cubans were mere spectators of their own destiny.

One of his earliest challenges was precisely the Liberating Army. Demobilizing the fighters was necessary to avoid further confrontations and establish civil order. Brooke took part in the discharge process, facilitating payments and compensations for the surrendered weapons. The American army understood that this measure could prevent thousands of men from being armed and without means of sustenance.

The matter, however, was far from simple. There were resistances among veterans who deemed the offered compensation insufficient. Documentation from that time shows that some fighters refused to hand over their weapons and rejected the established payment.

Brooke also understood that governing Cuba solely through American officials could turn the occupation into an administration lacking legitimacy in the eyes of the Cuban people. Therefore, he reorganized the administrative structure and created a cabinet of Cuban secretaries to engage in essential areas of governance.

Among them were Pablo Desvernine, in Agriculture; José Antonio González Lanuza, in Justice and Public Instruction; and Adolfo Sáenz Yáñez, in Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce.

The measure had evident political importance. Brooke was placing prestigious Cubans in positions from which they could participate in the administration of the country. A historical source from that period summarized the situation with a revealing expression: the American governor reigned while the Cuban secretaries governed. However, the same source notes that this participation also created problems, as those officials inherited centralizing practices from the Spanish administration.

Here, one of the most interesting aspects of Brooke's political profile emerges: his relationship with the Cuban patriots was one of limited cooperation, not of power relinquishment.

The American general understood that he needed to work with the Cubans, but he never ceased to be a representative of a foreign authority. Effective sovereignty remained in American hands. The military system itself stipulated that fundamental decisions belonged to the American administration, even though numerous functions were carried out by Cuban authorities.

He also had to confront a social issue of great importance: the misery caused by years of war. The occupying administration organized food distribution and assistance mechanisms, while Brooke promoted measures aimed at alleviating the economic situation. The problem of debts and rural properties became particularly severe in a society where numerous estates had been destroyed.

His fiscal policy also demonstrated some sensitivity toward the Cuban population. Brooke considered it unjust to maintain certain burdens inherited from the colonial system when large sectors of the population lacked the capacity to bear them. In January 1899, he expressed his opposition to continuing the application of certain Spanish tax collection mechanisms and advocated for tax remissions and relief for properties affected by the war.

A significant institutional transformation also took place. During his administration, the Supreme Court of Cuba was established, created by decree on April 14, 1899, to assume judicial functions that had previously been under Spanish jurisdiction. The 1899 census also described the inherited situation: numerous prisoners had remained incarcerated for years without trial, and the colonial justice system had been deeply deteriorated.

Brooke also allowed for a significant presence of Cubans in the provincial administration. Generals and figures from the independence movement began to take on civil responsibilities, while police and security services were reorganized. This policy helped to gradually transform a purely military administration into a structure that incorporated Cuban officials.

What was the scope of his management, then?

It would be a mistake to present Brooke as the founder of Cuban independence. He was not. Independence remained a Cuban aspiration, and ultimate authority continued to rest in the hands of the United States. However, it is also historically unfair to reduce his administration to a mere colonial domination operation.

Brooke inherited a devastated island and set in motion several administrative, judicial, and police structures that would be utilized in the following years. He contributed to the demobilization of the Liberation Army, incorporated Cubans into the government apparatus, promoted economic relief measures, and participated in the reorganization of justice and public services. The U.S. military government also maintained a policy of administration through local authorities that would later be expanded.

Its main limitation was also the fundamental contradiction of its role: it aimed to establish a stable administration for Cuba while still not granting sovereignty to the Cubans. This contradiction would accompany the entire American occupation.

Conclusion: The figure of John R. Brooke deserves to be examined beyond the extremes of propaganda. He was not the liberator of Cuba, as Cuba did not obtain its independence from him. Nor was he simply an indifferent occupant of the Cuban reality. He was an American military officer tasked with administering an island that had just emerged from a devastating war and that still did not have a fully organized national state.

His greatest merit was probably understanding that the reconstruction of Cuba needed to involve the Cubans themselves. His greatest limitation was that this involvement occurred under foreign authority that retained sovereign power.

His management in 1899 was, therefore, a period of transition: it helped dismantle part of the Spanish colonial structure and build new institutions, but did not resolve the fundamental question that dominated the fate of the island: who should truly exercise sovereignty over Cuba?

The definitive answer would have to wait until May 20, 1902, when the military occupation ended and the Republic of Cuba was formally established.

And precisely for that reason, studying Brooke does not mean studying just an American governor. It means studying the first chapter of the difficult transition between colonial Cuba, occupied Cuba, and republican Cuba.