How did Valeriano Weyler’s reconcentration policy affect Cuban civilians?

General Valeriano Weyler’s "reconcentration" policy was a brutal military strategy designed to deprive Cuban revolutionaries of the rural support they required to sustain their insurgency. Under this program, hundreds of thousands of Cuban civilians were forcibly removed from their homes and herded into designated "reconcentration areas" in and around larger cities.12

The impact on the civilian population was devastating. Spanish authorities failed to provide adequate shelter, food, sanitation, or medical care for those confined in these camps. Consequently, tens of thousands of reconcentrados died from exposure, hunger, and disease. Those who remained outside the designated areas were treated as enemies by Spanish forces.21

These humanitarian atrocities were widely reported in the United States, where they were used by sensationalist newspapers to fuel public outrage and build support for American intervention in the Spanish-American War.12