Spanish-American war: a conflict motivated by the minority.

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Based on the results of the commission appointed by himself, US President McKinley attended the congress and said: “we owe it to our citizens in Cuba to afford them that protection and indemnity for life and property which no government there can or will afford...” and "[T]he Spanish government cannot assure safety and security to a vessel of the American Navy in the harbor of Havana on a mission of peace, and rightfully there..."[5] With this argument, the President requested permission from Congress to end the war in Cuba, stating that Cuba was claiming independence from Spanish forces. McKinley advised the congress that it would be essential to mobilize the military and naval forces to the island. In April 19 of 1898, the US Congress passed a resolution where the use of its armed forces were urged to ensure the pacification of Cuba, since the independence war was affecting the lives of American citizens in Cuba whose lives had to be protected.

In the history of humanity there have been situations as the one attempted to the Maine, sometimes judged as irrelevant that have triggered processes of great importance and significance for a country’s course. To understand the reality we live in, it will always be necessary to review the tangled context of events whose roots many try to hide amid the distortion of the truth. In short, the repercussion on the explosion of Maine and its immediate aftermath, puts us against the much debated argument if "the end justifies the means”. This requires us to no longer be silent witnesses or bystanders of the actions motivated by a small group of people silently acting towards their own interests, operating behind the pretext of maintaining and promoting the established order, which ignores all the interests of the vast majority of men and women who inhabit this planet.

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Lee, Fitzhugh. Fitzhugh Lee, US Consulate-General in Cuba, to Assistant Secretary of State Day, 3 December, 1897. In Message from the President of the United States, transmitting, in response to the resolution of the House of Representatives, Dated February 14, 1898, Calling for information in respect to the condition of the reconcentrados in Cuba, the state of the war and the country, and the prospects of projected autonomy in that island. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1898. 11-12.

Lee, Fitzhugh. Fitzhugh Lee, US Consulate-General in Cuba, to Assistant Secretary of State Day, 27 November, 1897. In Message from the President of the United States, transmitting, in response to the resolution of the House of Representatives, Dated February 14, 1898, Calling for information in respect to the condition of the reconcentrados in Cuba, the state of the war and the country, and the prospects of projected autonomy in that island. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1898. 10-11.

"Destruction of the War Ship Maine was the Work of an Enemy," New York Journal and Advertiser (Feb. 17, 1898): 1.

"Maine's Hull will decide," New York Times (Feb. 17, 1898): 1.

Wikipedia contributors, "Yellow journalism," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yellow_journalism&oldid=702247161 (accessed February 20, 2016).

McKinley, William. "War Message." (April 11, 1898). In United States Department of State. Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States. Vol. 1. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1870-1946. 750-760.

Monroe, James. "Seventh Annual Message to Congress." (December 2, 1823). In Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Vol. 2. Edited by J.D. Richardson. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1907. 287.

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