Duration - 2:46

[a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

May 20 is celebrated in Miami as Cuba’s “Independence Day.” In Cuba, people don’t care about the date because it wasn’t really about Cuban independence. It was about U.S. control over Cuba.

On May 20, 1902, a four-year U.S. military occupation ended and Cuba officially became a republic. But Cuba was still controlled by the United States. For example, Cuba’s Constitution allowed the U.S. to invade militarily whenever it wanted. It’s no surprise then that the Trump administration chose May 20 to announce an indictment against Cuba’s former President Raúl Castro, which could be used as a pretext to try to take control of Cuba, just as it did more than a century ago.

Belly of the Beast journalist Liz Oliva Fernández breaks it down