First Occupation of Cuba During the U.S. Government's
First Occupation of Cuba, the
occupation government led by
John R. Brooke and
Leonard Wood oversaw the formation of a new
constabulary. Amid the
Spanish–American War and the withdrawal of the Spanish troops, the
United States Military Government in Cuba sought to address ongoing criminal activity, with
Santiago de Cuba being the most affected by
banditry. As a substitute to the
Spanish Civil Guard in Cuba, the need arose to utilize the disbanded
Cuban Liberation Army for local policing duties.
Santiago de Cuba In
Santiago de Cuba Province on July 11, 1898, 20 men under Capt. Manuel A. Martínez were organized into a
paramilitary composed of
cavalry known as the "Rural Guard". The Rural Guard covered the four districts of
Santiago de Cuba,
Guantánamo,
Manzanillo, and
Holguin. By the end of the month, the guard had expanded to 40
guardsmen, tasked with law enforcement, dismantling bandits, and safeguarding landowners' rural properties. Once the Rural Guard was formed in the province of Santiago de Cuba, similar companies were organized for police
supervision of the rural districts in each province. It was later established in the provinces of Puerto Príncipe, Santa Clara, Pinar del Rio, and La Habana, where a chief of the Rural Guard managed the organization in each province.
Holguín In
Holguín, on December 1, 1898, the Military Governor of Santiago de Cuba Col. Duncan Norbert Hood, son of
John Bell Hood, established the province's Rural Guard to combat the bandits operating in the area.
Reorganization By April 11, 1901, the Rural Guards of all provinces were reorganized and consolidated into the National Rural Guard by order of the Military Governor. A commission was appointed on May 7, 1901, with Major Rafael Rodríguez, Acting
Inspector General of the Rural Guard, Captain Federico Rasco, formerly Captain and Adjutant in Santa Clara, and Captain Ramon Martin,
Adjutant in Havana and Pinar del Rio. On May 20, 1901,
Pablo García Menocal was appointed by the Military Governor of Cuba
Leonard Wood as Major and
Quartermaster of the Rural Guard of the Island of Cuba and Lt. Col. José de J. Monteagudo as
Inspector General of the Rural Guard with the rank of
Colonel.
End of First U.S. Occupation The first U.S. occupation of Cuba ended on May 19, 1902, when the
Republic of Cuba was established. The U.S. ceded control the next day while keeping intervention rights under the
Platt Amendment. The first Cuban Republic under the first elected Cuban president
Tomás Estrada Palma inherited the Rural Guard in the form of a force commanded by Brig. Gen. Alejandro Rodriguez, consisting of 1,604 officers stationed at 247 posts across several provinces. In Military Governor Wood's final 1902 report, he included that the Rural Guard was found sufficient to enforce respect for law in the rural districts of Cuba. In 1904, with the guard totalling 3,020, President
Tomás Estrada Palma suggested a 1,000-man increase in April 1904. The Cuban President, on August 20, 1906, issued an increase of 2,186 officers and men and the merger of the Cuban Artillery Corps with the Rural Guard.
Second Occupation of Cuba In September 1906, persistent economic challenges and political unrest in the country forced U.S. president
Theodore Roosevelt to take charge of Cuba. On July 11, 1908, The Cuban Shoemakers' League lodged a protest with Provisional Governor
Charles Edward Magoon over the awarding of a $60,000 shoe contract for the Rural Guard to an American factory representative, despite Cubans offering lower prices. In 1909, additional U.S. intervention resulted in the Rural Guard being placed under U.S. control. From 1909 to 1912,
Frank Parker of the U.S. Army rendered services as a military instructor of the cavalry in the Rural Guard of Cuba. The
Afro-Cuban revolt of 20 May 1912 involved the intervention of the Rural Guard of Cuba in its suppression. In June 1912 a combined Government force, made up of the Monteagudo Rural Guard and regular troops, defeated the main rebel force in a major clash. The Rural Guards then pursued the remaining guerrilla bands for several weeks.
Subsequent history 1915-1959 In 1915 legislation was passed to merge the
Guardia Rural and the Permanent Army into the
Ejercito Nacional numbering 13,628 men. The
Guardia Rural however retained its constabulary role, organised in separate detachments distributed throughout each of the eight Military Areas. The Guardia totalled 38 squadrons, still generally horse-mounted as late as 1940. By this date the regular army totalled 8,000, against 6,000 Rural Guards. The latter were expected to provide ad hoc
Tercios to support the army if required. In 1952 measures were taken to firmly separate the Rural Guard from the National Army. The
Guardia Rural was confirmed as a static
gendarmerie style force with law enforcement and internal security responsibilities outside the major urban districts. Mechanised and mounted
Guardia cavalry, plus infantry units provided provincial garrisons, as well as augmenting the concentration of regular army troops at Havana. During the
Cuban Revolution the 44 Rural Guard squadrons still nominally in existence played a generally passive garrison role, leaving field action to the anti-guerrilla battalions of the Constitutional Army. With the collapse of the Batista regime the Rural Guard was disbanded, being replaced initially by the Revolutionary Militia and subsequently by the
National Revolutionary Police Force plus the Border Troops and the Interior Special Forces. ==Uniforms==