Chapter 130 Colonial Issues

This cabinet meeting is not just about the technical school. The implementation of the two previously promulgated bills is also within the scope of discussion of this cabinet meeting.

Of course, there are also some new problems in the colonies, including the construction of railways, etc. In short, the meeting is still very long, and there are dozens of issues discussed.

Carlo listened to the cabinet government meeting throughout, but rarely expressed his own opinions. After all, the current cabinet government is still controlled by Prime Minister Primo. Although he is happy to see Carlo attend that meeting, he may not be happy to see Carlo pointing his finger at the government meeting.

Prime Minister Primo must have his own plans in mind to promote the reform of the Spanish government. Regardless of whether such a plan is in line with the future development of Spain, it is not the time for Carlo to intervene in government reform.

When Carlo gradually gains a certain amount of power in the future, he will participate more in the government's decision-making, and make larger-scale modifications to the reforms of Prime Minister Primo and the earlier system of the Spanish Kingdom Government to ensure that the Spanish ship can move forward at a stable speed.

In addition to the development and reform in Spain, the most talked about issue in the current colonies in the cabinet meeting was the current problems in the colonies.

The Cuban colony did successfully suppress the rebellion, but the Spanish government also made a big concession to the Cuban government for this. The Cuban government currently has more power, and the large number of Cubans who hate Spain also make the situation in Cuba not so stable.

Perhaps it can be stable for a few years with this suppression of the rebellion, but there will definitely be new problems in Cuba in the future, and it is not impossible that the rebellion will break out again in a few years.

Compared with Cuba, Carlo is actually more concerned about the newly established South Morocco colony in Spain.

Although Cuba provides the Spanish government with dozens of times more income than the South Morocco colony every year, there are also frequent problems in Cuba.

No matter how big the problem is in the South Morocco colony, the cost of suppressing the rebellion is relatively low because it is close to the Spanish mainland.

But the Cuban colony is different. Even if Cuba is just an internal rebellion, it will require the Spanish army to cross the Atlantic Ocean to suppress the rebellion.

The cost of transporting materials across the ocean is enough to give the Spanish government a headache, not to mention that there is another country coveting Cuba on the other side of the ocean.

Even if it is just to deal with the rebellion in Cuba, it is enough for the Spanish government to waste a lot of money and manpower and material resources, which is not a good thing for the development of Spain.

If the Americans are still involved, the cost of Spain's rebellion will increase exponentially, and the difficulty will increase exponentially.

For Carlo, the Cuban colony is not a question of whether it can be defended, but whether it is necessary to defend it.

The role of the Cuban colony to Spain is that it is the only remaining American colony, and it is also the only colony that can obtain positive benefits and has a relatively high income.

The Cuban colony has only one economic industry pillar, that is, the sugar industry. According to the Spanish government's intelligence control of the Cuban colony, Cuba's current annual sugar production is about 600,000 tons, and there are more than 2,500 factories specializing in sugar production.

You must know that the total population of Cuba is only about 1 million, of which the real core population of Cuba, that is, Hispanics and Spanish mixed-races, accounts for only about 55%.

Only relying on a population of hundreds of thousands of people to support more than 2,000 factories engaged in sugar production, is enough to prove how important the sugar industry is to Cuba.

The sugar industry not only created a lot of wealth for Cuba, but also allowed Spain, as the sovereign of Cuba, to obtain a lot of financial income every year.

But no matter what, the scale of Cuba's colonies and the scale of its economic pillar industries are ultimately limited.

And with the desire of a large number of Cubans for independence, it will become more difficult for Spain to control Cuba in the future.

Rather than being trapped in a small place like Cuba, it is better to find a suitable opportunity to take Cuba into your own hands, and at the same time, open up colonies in Africa as much as possible to carry out a new round of colonial exploitation.

The era of the Spanish Empire is relatively long, which makes many people not familiar with Spain's colonial policy.

People only know about the cruel exploitation of African colonies by European powers in the 18th and 19th centuries, but they don't know that in the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain's exploitation of colonies was far more cruel than that of European powers at this time.

Although Europeans generally ignore the lives of indigenous people in the colonies, they will not be so cruel as to kill people like crazy.

For example, the Belgian king who later obtained Congo, because of his cruel colonial policy in Congo, eventually under the intervention of the great powers, Congo was transformed from the private territory of the Belgian king to a colony controlled by the Belgian government, and finally ended the cruel colonization of King Leopold II of Belgium.

Spain's rule in the American colonies is similar to Leopold II's rule in Congo. Basically, it only does four things, namely mining, plantations, slavery and genocide.

The indigenous people of Cuba are Indians, but so far, Spaniards, Spanish mixed-race people and blacks are the three major ethnic groups in Cuba, and even Asians later, and the indigenous Indian population ranks last.

The fact that the Indians have become one of the smallest ethnic groups in Cuba is inseparable from the cruel colonial policy during the Spanish rule of Cuba.

Spain carried out a mass genocide in Cuba, slaughtered most of the Indians, and forced whites to become the main ethnic group in Cuba.

As for why there are so many blacks, in fact, most of these blacks are slaves on plantations. They have no human rights, just like livestock raised by whites.

Although the Spanish government had already promulgated laws and regulations to abolish slavery during the interim government period, that is, in 1869.

But the Spanish decree did not affect the colonies. Slavery in the Cuban colony still existed. Most blacks were slaves of whites, and only a small number of blacks had freedom.

However, this does not mean that blacks with freedom can become normal Cuban citizens. Whether in a colony like Cuba or in Europe, blacks will be discriminated against by whites regardless of whether they have the so-called freedom.

This phenomenon also exists in the United States and is very common. Although the United States abolished slavery and liberated blacks through the Civil War, the actual human rights of blacks have not been effectively improved.

Blacks in the United States have only gained legal freedom, but they are still at the bottom of the United States in terms of politics, economy and society.

The so-called black citizens in the United States are subject to extremely strict restrictions on the right to vote and be elected, which also makes it difficult for an official of black descent to appear in the United States.

And those easy positions in factories and enterprises basically do not recruit blacks. The only jobs that blacks can apply for are those that are hard, tiring, and low-paying.

In addition to these, blacks and their children are also subject to greater restrictions in education and medical care.

Although they are all citizens of the United States, it is impossible for blacks and their children to go to school with whites. They can only crowd into black schools with worse conditions, and even have difficulty completing a complete elementary school.

A large number of blacks are restricted to a certain range and cannot move freely in the United States. These areas where blacks gather have gradually evolved into slums in the United States. The order in the slums is quite chaotic, and criminal incidents occur from time to time.

In fact, even in later generations, there are still black slums in the United States. In addition, because the United States does not ban guns, not only are various crimes frequent in the slums, but they are also often involved in murders.

In this era, white people's discrimination against blacks is unprecedented. Because most of the police in the United States are white, when black people meet white policemen, their life and death can only be decided by that policeman.

However, white policemen generally do not go to black gathering areas, after all, those black people can do anything when they are forced into a corner.

But if a black person is found to have left the gathering area without permission, he may be greeted by an empty magazine.

Let's talk about the situation of Spanish colonies.

In fact, compared with African colonies, Cuba and Puerto Rico, including the previously independent Mexico and Argentina, have more white populations, and they are all Spanish or Hispanic.

However, due to the cruel exploitation of the colonies by the Spanish government, these colonies have a strong desire for independence, and many Spanish mixed-race people do not have much good feelings towards Spain.

Those who really love this country are those Spaniards with pure blood and who have not been in the colonies for a long time.

But the fact that these people can immigrate abroad proves that they can no longer survive in Spain, or that they have higher incomes and opportunities abroad.

It is very difficult to get them to return to Spain, at least in a short period of time. Since we cannot absorb too many people from Latin America, we might as well focus on assimilating the Moroccan population.

Moroccans are also white, and they look similar to Spaniards.

The biggest difference between Spaniards and Moroccans is the difference in language and religion, but these differences can be eliminated in a long period of assimilation.

Compared with the Cuban colony far away in America, Morocco, which is only separated from the Spanish mainland by a strait, is obviously a better choice.

In any case, Morocco's development potential is still greater than Cuba. Morocco's population is several times that of Cuba, and its land area is more than ten times that of Cuba.

Although Cuba can create economic value that Morocco cannot match at present, if we talk about the impact and role it will have on Spain in the future, two Cubas may not be as good as one Morocco.

I wish you all a happy National Day and a happy birthday to the motherland!