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| economic crisis in cuba: Cuban Economists on the Cuban Economy Al Campbell, 2013-07-09 Cuban Economists on the Cuban Economy was written, in part, to reveal the rigorous research conducted within the country and to clarify the different factors that Cubans emphasize in examining their place on the world economic stage. It also provides unique insights into the island’s fight against poverty, its aging population, and its trade unions. This book will be an invaluable resource for years to come. |
| economic crisis in cuba: We Are Cuba! Helen Yaffe, 2020-04-06 The extraordinary account of the Cuban people’s struggle for survival in a post-Soviet world In the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba faced the start of a crisis that decimated its economy. Helen Yaffe examines the astonishing developments that took place during and beyond this period. Drawing on archival research and interviews with Cuban leaders, thinkers, and activists, this book tells for the first time the remarkable story of how Cuba survived while the rest of the Soviet bloc crumbled. Yaffe shows how Cuba has been gradually introducing select market reforms. While the government claims that these are necessary to sustain its socialist system, many others believe they herald a return to capitalism. Examining key domestic initiatives including the creation of one of the world’s leading biotechnological industries, its energy revolution, and medical internationalism alongside recent economic reforms, Yaffe shows why the revolution will continue post-Castro. This is a fresh, compelling account of Cuba’s socialist revolution and the challenges it faces today. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Entrepreneurial Cuba Archibald R. M. Ritter, Ted Henken, 2015 During the presidency of Raúl Castro, Cuba has dramatically reformed its policies toward small private enterprises. Archibald Ritter and Ted Henken consider why¿and to what effect. After reviewing the evolution of policy since 1959, the authors contrast the approaches of Fidel and Raúl Castro and explore in depth the responses of Cuban entrepreneurs to the new environment. Their work, rich in ethnographic research and extensive interviews, provides a revealing analysis of Cuba¿s fledgling private sector. |
| economic crisis in cuba: On Location in Cuba Ann Marie Stock, 2009-05-15 The 1990s were a time of dramatic transformation for Cuba. With the collapse of its Cold War relationship with the Soviet Union, the island nation plummeted into an era of scarcity and uncertainty known as the Special Period, a time from which it emerged only slowly in the new century. On Location in Cuba views these pivotal decades through the lens of cinema. Ann Marie Stock conducted hundreds of interviews and conversations in Cuba to examine individual artists' lives and creative output--including film, video, and audiovisual art. She explores the impact of the Cold War's end, the economic crisis that ensued, and the decentralization of the state's political, economic, and cultural apparatus. Stock focuses on what she calls Street Filmmaking--the production of emerging audiovisual artists who work outside the state film industry--to examine the island's transformation and changing notions of Cuban identity. Employing entrepreneurial approaches to producing art and to negotiating the exigencies of globalization, this younger generation of filmmakers offers fresh perspectives on what it means to be Cuban in an increasingly complex and connected world. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Women’s Work in Special Period Cuba Daliany Jerónimo Kersh, 2019-02-14 The abrupt loss of Soviet financial support in 1989 resulted in the near-collapse of the Cuban economy, ushering in the almost two decades of austerity measures and severe shortages of food and basic consumer goods referred to as the Special Period. Through the innovative framework of individual and collective memory, Daliany Jerónimo Kersh brings together analysis of press sources and oral histories to offer a compelling portrait of how Cuban women cleverly combined various forms of paid work to make ends meet. Disproportionately impacted by the economic crisis given their role as primary caregivers and household managers and unable to survive on devalued state salaries alone, women often employed informal and illegal earning strategies. As she argues, this regression into gendered work such as cooking, sewing, cleaning, reselling, and providing sexual services precipitated by the post-Soviet crisis to a large extent marked a return to pre-revolutionary gendered divisions of labor. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Social Policies and Institutional Reform in Post-COVID Cuba Bert Hoffmann, 2021-08-09 The economic crisis in the wake of the COVID pandemic is putting Cuba's socialism to a severe test. The government in Havana has added a fundamental reform of the economy, institutional structure and social policies to the agenda. This volume brings together contributions from leading international experts as well as from the island itself, analysing the economic, political and social challenges Cuba is facing today. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba's Second Economy Jorge Perez-Lopez, 2018-02-06 Without doubt, Cuba is facing its most serious economic challenge in nearly thirty-five years of revolutionary rule. There is consensus that as the official, centrally planned economy has faltered, ordinary citizens eke out a living only by engaging in under-the-table, unrecorded, and mostly illegal activities. In fact, this second economy is growing by leaps and bounds. This volume sketches the contours of the very complex phenomenon of the second economy of socialist Cuba, and discusses its evolution over time, as well as the role that it may play in the transition to a market economy on the island. The economic crisis of the 1990s has propelled the second economy from behind the scenes to center stage. Not only have black markets mushroomed, but second economy activities connected to the free-market that the Castro government has traditionally discouraged or even prosecuted are now being incorporated into the government's own economic strategy. Self-employment, cultivation of individual plots, and the use of foreign currencies to buy or sell goods, are now promoted with considerable enthusiasm by the leadership. Perez-Lopez examines different ways of thinking about unregulated economic activities that have been set forth in the literature and concludes that the concept of the second economy is the most appropriate for Cuba. He brings together available information from a multitude of sources on the manifestations of the second economy in Cuba and of its operation. Cuba's Second Economy is a timely study of an economic system in crisis. It will be of interest to economists, political scientists, policymakers, and Latin America area scholars. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Economic Conditions in Cuba Paul L. Edwards, 1923 |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba After Castro Edward Gonzalez, Kevin F. McCarthy, Louay Constant, Gabriella Gonzalez, Jeffery C. Tanner, Bruce Hoffman, 2004-06-29 When the end of the Castro era arrives, the successor government and the Cuban people will need to answer certain questions: How is Castro's more than four-decade rule likely to affect a post-Castro Cuba? What will be the political, social, and economic challenges Cuba will confront? What are the impediments to Cuba's economic development and democratic transition? The authors examine Castro's political legacies, Cuba's generational and racial divisions, its demographic predicament, the legacy of a centralized economy, and the need for industrial restructuring. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize) Ada Ferrer, 2021-09-07 WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE IN HISTORY “Full of…lively insights and lucid prose” (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United States—from before the arrival of Columbus to the present day—written by one of the world’s leading historians of Cuba. In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continued—through the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country’s future. Meanwhile, politics in Washington—Barack Obama’s opening to the island, Donald Trump’s reversal of that policy, and the election of Joe Biden—have made the relationship between the two nations a subject of debate once more. Now, award-winning historian Ada Ferrer delivers an “important” (The Guardian) and moving chronicle that demands a new reckoning with both the island’s past and its relationship with the United States. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba: An American History provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade. Along the way, Ferrer explores the sometimes surprising, often troubled intimacy between the two countries, documenting not only the influence of the United States on Cuba but also the many ways the island has been a recurring presence in US affairs. This is a story that will give Americans unexpected insights into the history of their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new relationship with Cuba; “readers will close [this] fascinating book with a sense of hope” (The Economist). Filled with rousing stories and characters, and drawing on more than thirty years of research in Cuba, Spain, and the United States—as well as the author’s own extensive travel to the island over the same period—this is a stunning and monumental account like no other. |
| economic crisis in cuba: the Cuban Economy Archibald R.M. Ritter, 2004-05-09 Cuba faced an economic meltdown of catastrophic proportions in the early 1990s when covert subsidies from the former Soviet Union disappeared. Policies instituted by the island republic's government to handle the worst problems have had inconsistent results. Opening the economy to foreign enterprise has resulted in positive growth in tourism and nickel and cigar exports. However, remnants of the older economy, including the sugar and biotechnological industries, have only experienced a decrease in capital and importance. Basic educational and health services have been maintained surprisingly well, but the standard of living is still far below the highs of the 1980s. With contributions from many leading Cuba scholars, The Cuban Economy offers not only an analysis of the economy since 1990, but also a look towards future prospects. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959 Samuel Farber, 2011-12-13 “Frequent insights, stimulating historical comparisons, and command of the data relating to Cuba’s economic and social performance.” —Foreign Affairs Uncritically lauded by the left and impulsively denounced by the right, the Cuban Revolution is almost universally viewed one dimensionally. In this book, Samuel Farber, one of its most informed left-wing critics, provides a much-needed critical assessment of the Revolution’s impact and legacy. “The Cuban story twists and turns as we speak, so thank goodness for scholars such as Samuel Farber, an unapologetic Marxist whose knowledge of Cuban affairs is unrivalled . . . In this excellent, necessary book, Farber takes stock of fifty years of revolutionary control by recognizing achievements but lambasting authoritarianism.” —Latin American Review of Books “A courageous and formidable balance-sheet of the Cuban Revolution, including a sobering analysis of a draconian ‘reform’ program that will only deepen the gulf between revolutionary slogans and the actual life of the people.” —Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums |
| economic crisis in cuba: Inside the Cuban Revolution Julia Sweig, 2009-06-30 Sweig shatters the mythology surrounding the Cuban Revolution in a compelling revisionist history that reconsiders the revolutionary roles of Castro and Guevara and restores to a central position the leadership of the Llano. Granted unprecedented access to the classified records of Castro's 26th of July Movement's underground operatives--the only scholar inside or outside of Cuba allowed access to the complete collection in the Cuban Council of State's Office of Historic Affairs--she details the debates between Castro's mountain-based guerrilla movement and the urban revolutionaries in Havana, Santiago, and other cities. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuban Revelations Marc Frank, 2013-10-22 In Cuban Revelations, Marc Frank offers a first-hand account of daily life in Cuba at the turn of the twenty-first century, the start of a new and dramatic epoch for islanders and the Cuban diaspora. A U.S.-born journalist who has called Havana home for almost a quarter century, Frank observed in person the best days of the revolution, the fall of the Soviet Bloc, the great depression of the 1990s, the stepping aside of Fidel Castro, and the reforms now being devised by his brother. Examining the effects of U.S. policy toward Cuba, Frank analyzes why Cuba has entered an extraordinary, irreversible period of change and considers what the island's future holds. The enormous social engineering project taking place today under Raúl's leadership is fraught with many dangers, and Cuban Revelations follows the new leader's efforts to overcome bureaucratic resistance and the fears of a populace that stand in his way. In addition, Frank offers a colorful chronicle of his travels across the island's many and varied provinces, sharing candid interviews with people from all walks of life. He takes the reader outside the capital to reveal how ordinary Cubans live and what they are thinking and feeling as fifty-year-old social and economic taboos are broken. He shares his honest and unbiased observations on extraordinary positive developments in social matters, like healthcare and education, as well as on the inefficiencies in the Cuban economy. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuban Currency Esther Katheryn Whitfield, 2008-01-01 With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, during an economic crisis termed its “special period in times of peace,” Cuba began to court the capitalist world for the first time since its 1959 revolution. With the U.S. dollar instated as domestic currency, the island seemed suddenly accessible to foreign consumers, and their interest in its culture boomed. Cuban Currency is the first book to address the effects on Cuban literature of the country’s spectacular opening to foreign markets that marked the end of the twentieth century. Based on interviews and archival research in Havana, Esther Whitfield argues that writers have both challenged and profited from new transnational markets for their work, with far-reaching literary and ideological implications. Whitfield examines money and cross-cultural economic relations as they are inscribed in Cuban fiction. Exploring the work of Zo Valds, Pedro Juan Gutirrez, Antonio Jos Ponte and others, she draws out writers’ engagements with the troublesome commodification of Cuban identity. Confronting the tourist and publishing industries’ roles in the transformation of the Cuban revolution into commercial capital, Whitfield identifies a body of fiction peculiarly attuned to the material and political challenges of the “special period.” Esther Whitfield is assistant professor of comparative literature at Brown University. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Fighting over Fidel Rafael Rojas, 2015-11-24 How New York intellectuals interpreted and wrote about Castro's revolution in the 1960s New York in the 1960s was a hotbed for progressive causes of every stripe, including women's liberation, civil rights, opposition to the Vietnam War—and the Cuban Revolution. Fighting over Fidel brings this turbulent cultural moment to life by telling the story of the New York intellectuals who championed and opposed Castro’s revolution. Setting his narrative against the backdrop of the ideological confrontation of the Cold War and the breakdown of relations between Washington and Havana, Rafael Rojas examines the lives and writings of such figures as Waldo Frank, Carleton Beals, C. Wright Mills, Allen Ginsberg, Susan Sontag, Norman Mailer, Eldridge Cleaver, Stokely Carmichael, and Jose Yglesias. He describes how Castro’s Cuba was hotly debated in publications such as the New York Times, Village Voice, Monthly Review, and Dissent, and how Cuban socialism became a rallying cry for groups such as the Beats, the Black Panthers, and the Hispanic Left. Fighting over Fidel shows how intellectuals in New York interpreted and wrote about the Cuban experience, and how the Left’s enthusiastic embrace of Castro’s revolution ended in bitter disappointment by the close of the explosive decade of the 1960s. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba Professor Jorge I Doma-Nguez, Jorge Dominguez, 2009-06-01 Upon publication in the late 1970s this book was the first major historical analysis of twentieth-century Cuba. Focusing on the way Cuba has been governed, and in particular on the way a changing elite has made claims to legitimate rule, it carefully examines each of Cuba's three main political eras: the first, from Independence in 1902 to the Presidency of Gerardo Machado in 1933; the second, under Batista, from 1934 until 1958; and finally, Castro's revolution, from 1959 to the present. Jorge Domínguez discusses the political roles played by interest groups, mass organizations, and the military. He also investigates the impact of international affairs on Cuba and provides the first printed data on many aspects of political, economic, and social change since 1959. He deals in depth with agrarian politics and peasant protest since 1937, and his concluding chapter on Cuba's present culture is a fascinating insight into a society which--though vitally important--remains mysterious to most readers in the United States. Cuba's role in international affairs is vastly greater than its size. The revolution led by Fidel Castro, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the missile crisis in 1962, the underwriting of revolution in Latin America and recently in Africa--all these events have thrust Cuba onto the modern world stage. Anyone hoping to understand this country and its people, and above all its changing systems of government, will find this book essential. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba Rex A. Hudson, 2002 Describes and analyzes the economic, national security, political, and social systems and institutions of Cuba.--Amazon.com viewed Jan. 4, 2021. |
| economic crisis in cuba: How Latin America Weathered The Global Financial Crisis José De Gregorio, 2013-10-05 Why has the economy of Latin America responded more positively than Asia, Europe or the United States after being hit by the recent global financial crisis? Three years after the worst of the crisis, Latin America's GDP is 25 percent higher than its precrisis level. José De Gregorio, Governor of the Central Bank of Chile from 2007 to 2011, tells the story of how Latin America has responded to the crisis with a perspective that only an insider can have. De Gregorio focuses on the seven largest economies of the region, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela (90 percent of the region's output). He argues that Latin America was resilient because of good macroeconomic policies, strong financial systems, and a bit of luck. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba After the Cold War Carmelo Mesa-Lago, 1993-08-15 Ten original essays by an international team of scholars specializing in Cuba, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Latin America focus on the fall of communism in Europe and the transition to a market economy. Major themes of this study are the impact of the USSR's collapse on Cuba, how the historic events in Europe have affected the Central and South American Left, their implications to Cuba, Cuba's policies for confronting the crisis, and potential scenarios for the political and economic transformation of Cuba. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Post-Stabilization Politics in Latin America Carol Wise, Riordan Roett, 2003-07-28 Over the last twenty years Latin America has seen a definitive movement toward civilian rule. Significant trade, fiscal, and monetary reforms have accompanied this shift, exposing previously state-led economies to the forces of the market. Despite persistent economic and political hardships, the combination of civilian regimes and market-based strategies has proved to be remarkably resilient and still dominates the region. This book focuses on the effects of market reforms on domestic politics in Latin America. While considering civilian rule as a constant, the book examines and compares domestic political responses in six countries that embraced similar packages of reforms in the 1980s—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. The contributors focus on how ambitious measures such as liberalization, privatization, and deregulation yielded mixed results in these countries and in doing so they identify three main patterns of political economic adjustment. In Argentina and Chile, the implementation of market reforms has gone hand in hand with increasingly competitive politics. In Brazil and Mexico, market reforms helped to catalyze transitions from entrenched authoritarian rule. Finally, in Peru and Venezuela, traditional political systems have collapsed and civilian rule has been repeatedly challenged. The contributors include Carol Wise (University of Southern California), Karen L. Remmer (Duke University), Carol Graham (Brookings Institution), Stefano Pettinato (United Nations Development Programme), Consuelo Cruz (Tufts University), Juan E. Corradi (New York University), Delia M. Boylan (Chicago Public Radio), Riordan Roett (Johns Hopkins University), Martín Tanaka (Institute for Peruvian Studies, Lima), and Kenneth M. Roberts (University of New Mexico). |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba on the Brink James G. Blight, Bruce J. Allyn, David A. Welch, 2002 With the disintegration of the Soviet Union and international socialism, Cuba now finds itself isolated as the United States continues to press for its economic and political collapse. How Fidel Castro sees Cuba's plight and what he hopes to do about it emerge from this account of a unique conference held in Havana in 1992. The meeting brought together participants in the Cuban missile crisis from the former Soviet Union, Cuba, and the U.S. to discuss its causes and course. This account is now available for the first time in paperback, on the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This first meeting between Castro, his ex-Soviet allies, and his American foes produced startling revelations about his dealings with the Soviets, chilling details of the number and kind of Soviet nuclear arms that Cuba possessed in 1962, and an illuminating account of Castro's view of the American threat--then and now. The dramatic exchanges between Castro and such conference participants as Anatoly I. Gribkov, former head of the Warsaw Pact; former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara; and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Special Assistant to John Kennedy, reveal misperceptions on all sides that led us to the brink of nuclear war. An extraordinary examination of an international crisis, Cuba on the Brink illustrates the ongoing Cuba problem, and will help guide our actions toward other countries deemed hostile to our national interest. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba in Revolution Antoni Kapcia, 2008-11-15 The recent retirement of Fidel Castro turned the world’s attention toward the tiny but prominent island nation of Cuba and the question of what its future holds. Amid all of the talk and hypothesizing, it is worth taking a moment to consider how Cuba reached this point, which is what Antoni Kapcia provides with his incisive history of Cuba since 1959. Cuba In Revolution takes the Cuban Revolution as its starting point, analyzing social change, its benefits and disadvantages, popular participation in the revolution, and the development of its ideology. Kapcia probes into Castro’s rapid rise to national leader, exploring his politics of defense and dissent as well as his contentious relationship with the United States from the beginning of his reign. The book also considers the evolution of the revolution’s international profile and Cuba’s foreign relations over the years, investigating issues and events such as the Bay of Pigs crisis, Cuban relations with Communist nations like Russia and China, and the flight of asylum-seeking Cubans to Florida over the decades. The collapse of the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991 catalyzed a severe economic and political crisis in Cuba, but Cuba was surprisingly resilient in the face of the catastrophe, Kapcia notes, and he examines the strategies adopted by Cuba over the last two decades in order to survive America’s longstanding trade embargo. A fascinating and much-needed examination of a country that has served as an important political symbol and diplomatic enigma for the twentieth century, Cuba In Revolution is a critical primer for all those interested in Cuba’s past—or concerned with its future. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, Andro Nodarse-Leon, 2017-09-29 This book is a study of Cuba's economic development under communism over the last fifty-five years. The authors find that Cuba's socioeconomic development has gone backward since the Cuban Revolution in 1959. The authors conclude that Fidel Castro's revolution has been an economic disaster for Cuba. The book first outlines Cuba's economic position prior to the revolution. It reviews Cuba's rankings with respect to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the 1950s and examines the strength of pre-Castro Cuba's foreign reserves and the health of its monetary system. It also presents pre-Castro Cuba's investments in health care and education and documents the island's development potential in the 1950s. The last few chapters describe the precipitous decline in all of these areas of Cuba's economy under Castro. Despite the socioeconomic catastrophe of the Castro years, the authors envision a post-Castro Cuba, where this book can provide a benchmark to measure the developmental success that the Cuban work-ethic and entrepreneurial spirit can generate in a free-market system. |
| economic crisis in cuba: The Economic War Against Cuba Salim Lamrani, 2013-03 It is impossible to fully understand Cuba today without also understanding the economic sanctions levied against it by the United States. For over fifty years, these sanctions have been upheld by every presidential administration, and at times intensified by individual presidents and acts of Congress. They are a key part of the U.S. government’s ongoing campaign to undermine the Cuban Revolution, and stand in egregious violation of international law. Most importantly, the sanctions are cruelly designed for their harmful impact on the Cuban people. In this concise and sober account, Salim Lamrani explains everything you need to know about U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba: their origins, their provisions, how they contravene international law, and how they affect the lives of Cubans. He examines the U.S. government’s own official documents to expose what is hiding in plain sight: an indefensible, vicious, and wasteful blockade that has been roundly condemned by citizens around the world. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba Today and Tomorrow Max Azicri, 2000-01-01 Covering the turbulent period of the 1990s, this book examines such issues as the impact on Cuba of the Soviet Union's collapse, the country's social malaise under economic scarcity, the reorganization of its economy, changes in its political system, problems in its relations with the United States, and the renaissance of Cuban religious life in the aftermath of the pope's visit. Azicri offers an objectively researched study that addresses many of the assumptions made by partisan participants. Demonstrating how Cuba's ongoing reform process has allowed it to avoid the fate of other Soviet bloc regimes, he maintains that Havana has continually reinvented the nature of Cuban socialism. Drawing on original sources and scholarly studies from Cuba, the United States, and elsewhere, he argues that a more restrained and limited socialism is suitable to today's Cuba and explains why such a system probably will prevail beyond Castro. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Sustainable Urban Agriculture in Cuba Sinan Koont, 2011 Sinan Koont has spent the last several years researching urban agriculture in Cuba, including field work at many sustainable farms on the island. He tells the story of why and how Cuba was able to turn to urban food production on a large scale with minimal use of chemicals, petroleum, and machinery, and of the successes it achieved--along with the continuing difficulties it still faces in reducing its need for food imports-- |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know Julia E Sweig, 2009-06-06 Ever since Fidel Castro assumed power in Cuba in 1959, Americans have obsessed about the nation ninety miles south of the Florida Keys. America's fixation on the tropical socialist republic has only grown over the years, fueled in part by successive waves of Cuban immigration and Castro's larger-than-life persona. Cubans are now a major ethnic group in Florida, and the exile community is so powerful that every American president has kowtowed to it. But what do most Americans really know about Cuba itself? In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia Sweig, one of America's leading experts on Cuba and Latin America, presents a concise and remarkably accessible portrait of the small island nation's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years. Yet it is authoritative as well. Following a scene-setting introduction that describes the dynamics unleashed since summer 2006 when Fidel Castro transferred provisional power to his brother Raul, the book looks backward toward Cuba's history since the Spanish American War before shifting to more recent times. Focusing equally on Cuba's role in world affairs and its own social and political transformations, Sweig divides the book chronologically into the pre-Fidel era, the period between the 1959 revolution and the fall of the Soviet Union, the post-Cold War era, and-finally-the looming post-Fidel era. Informative, pithy, and lucidly written, it will serve as the best compact reference on Cuba's internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba's Second Economy Jorge F. Pérez-López, 1995-01 The economic crisis of the 1990s has propelled the second economy from behind the scenes to center stage. Not only have black markets mushroomed, but second economy activities connected to the free-market that the Castro government has traditionally discouraged or even prosecuted are now being incorporated into the government's own economic strategy. Self-employment, cultivation of individual plots, and the use of foreign currencies to buy or sell goods, are now promoted with considerable enthusiasm by the leadership. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba and Revolutionary Latin America Dirk Kruijt, 2017-01-01 The Cuban revolution served as a rallying cry to people across Latin America and the Caribbean. The revolutionary regime has provided vital support to the rest of the region, offering everything from medical and development assistance to training and advice on guerrilla warfare. Cuba and Revolutionary Latin America is the first oral history of Cuba’s liberation struggle. Drawing on a vast array of original testimonies, Dirk Kruijt looks at the role of both veterans and the post-Revolution fidelista generation in shaping Cuba and the Americas. Featuring the testimonies of over sixty Cuban officials and former combatants, Cuba and Revolutionary Latin America offers unique insight into a nation which, in spite of its small size and notional pariah status, remains one of the most influential countries in the Americas. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance Fernando Funes, 2002 This is a story of resistance against all odds, of Cuba's remarkable recovery from a food crisis brought on by the collapse of trade relations with the former socialist bloc and the tightening of the U.S. embargo. Unable to import either food or the farm chemicals and machines needed to grow it via conventional agriculture, Cuba turned inward toward self-reliance. Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, urban gardens, smaller farms, animal traction and biological pest control are part of the successful paradigm shift underway in the Cuban countryside. In this book Cuban authors offer details-for the first time in English-of these remarkable achievements, which may serve as guideposts toward healthier, more environmentally friendly and self-reliant farming in countries both North and South.--Publisher's description |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba Under Raul Castro Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Jorge F. Pérez-López, 2013 What led to the dramatic social and economic reforms introduced by Cuba¿s president Raul Castro. How effective have those reforms been? And what obstacles does Castro face in overcoming the country¿s chronic socioeconomic woes? Cuba Under Raul Castro addresses these questions, offering a comprehensive analysis of the president¿s efforts during his first six years in office. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuban Health Care Don Fitz, 2020-06-22 How the Cuban health care system became the blueprint for accessible medical care around the world Quiet as it’s kept inside the United States, the Cuban revolution has achieved some phenomenal goals, reclaiming Cuba’s agriculture, advancing its literacy rate to nearly 100 percent – and remaking its medical system. Cuba has transformed its health care to the extent that this “third-world” country has been able to maintain a first-world medical system, whose health indicators surpass those of the United States at a fraction of the cost. Don Fitz combines his deep knowledge of Cuban history with his decades of on-the-ground experience in Cuba to bring us the story of how Cuba’s health care system evolved and how Cuba is tackling the daunting challenges to its revolution in this century. Fitz weaves together complex themes in Cuban history, moving the reader from one fascinating story to another. He describes how Cuba was able to create a unified system of clinics, and evolved the family doctor-nurse teams that became a model for poor countries throughout the world. How, in the 1980s and ‘90s, Cuba survived the encroachment of AIDS and increasing suffering that came with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and then went on to establish the Latin American School of Medicine, which still brings thousands of international students to the island. Deeply researched, recounted with compassion, Cuban Health Care tells a story you won’t find anywhere else, of how, in terms of caring for everyday people, Cuba’s revolution continues. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Cuba's Aborted Reform Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Jorge F. Pérez-López, 2005 This volume analyzes Cuban socioeconomic policies and evaluates their performance since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist camp. It provides a brief historical background to the crisis and analyzes in detail the deterioration and incomplete recovery since 1990. Comparing Cuba's performance with that of other Latin American and former socialist countries, it summarizes the views of noted Cuban economists and proposes policies that architects of the Cuban transition might wish to put in place after the passing of Castro.Focusing on economic and social policies and performance during the “Special Period in Time of Peace” (1990-2004), the authors draw on an impressive array of statistics (synthesized in 28 tables) to show that in 2005 Cuba has yet to return to economic levels of the late 1980s, and the access and quality of many of the highly touted social services--education, health care, social security, housing--also have not been restored to the levels achieved prior to the economic crisis triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, they argue, poverty has expanded and unequal access to foreign remittances combined with expanding income differences have exacerbated social inequalities and widened the consumption gap between those with access to hard currency and those without.The authors demonstrate that governmental concerns about a strengthening private sector resulting in loss of political control finally prompted the Cuban leadership to prioritize political over economic ends. It aborted the modest market-oriented reforms of 1993-1996 and actually reversed them in 2003-2004, recentralized the economy, drastically reduced the limited spaces for private economic activity, exerted increasing control over hard currency, prohibited the circulation of the dollar, and stepped up repressive measures on peaceful dissidents. Centralized economic control has been fully restored, even though it will undoubtedly result in further deterioration of economic conditions and declining standards of living. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Conceiving Cuba Elise Andaya, 2014-05-30 After Cuba’s 1959 revolution, the Castro government sought to instill a new social order. Hoping to achieve a new and egalitarian society, the state invested in policies designed to promote the well-being of women and children. Yet once the Soviet Union fell and Cuba’s economic troubles worsened, these programs began to collapse, with serious results for Cuban families. Conceiving Cuba offers an intimate look at how, with the island’s political and economic future in question, reproduction has become the subject of heated public debates and agonizing private decisions. Drawing from several years of first-hand observations and interviews, anthropologist Elise Andaya takes us inside Cuba’s households and medical systems. Along the way, she introduces us to the women who wrestle with the difficult question of whether they can afford a child, as well as the doctors who, with only meager resources at their disposal, struggle to balance the needs of their patients with the mandates of the state. Andaya’s groundbreaking research considers not only how socialist policies have profoundly affected the ways Cuban families imagine the future, but also how the current crisis in reproduction has deeply influenced ordinary Cubans’ views on socialism and the future of the revolution. Casting a sympathetic eye upon a troubled state, Conceiving Cuba gives new life to the notion that the personal is always political. |
| economic crisis in cuba: The Oxford Handbook of Latin American Political Economy Javier Santiso, Jeff Dayton-Johnson, 2012-05-09 Understanding Latin America's recent economic performance calls for a multidisciplinary analysis. This handbook looks at the interaction of economics and politics in the region and includes a number of contributions from top academic experts who have also served as key policy makers (a former president, ministers of finance, a central bank governor), reflecting upon the challenges of reform. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Invisible War Joy Gordon, 2010-04-15 The economic sanctions imposed on Iraq from 1990 to 2003 were the most comprehensive and devastating of any established in the name of international governance. In a sharp indictment of U.S. policy, Gordon examines the key role the nation played in shaping the sanctions. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Sanctions as War , 2021-12-20 Sanctions as War is the first critical analysis of economic sanctions from a global perspective. Featuring case studies from 11 sanctioned countries and theoretical essays, it will be of immediate interest to those interested in understanding how sanctions became the common sense of American foreign policy. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Back Channel to Cuba William M. LeoGrande, Peter Kornbluh, 2015-09-14 History is being made in U.S.-Cuban relations. Now in paperback and updated to tell the real story behind the stunning December 17, 2014, announcement by President Obama and President Castro of their move to restore full diplomatic relations, this powerful book is essential to understanding ongoing efforts toward normalization in a new era of engagement. Challenging the conventional wisdom of perpetual conflict and aggression between the United States and Cuba since 1959, Back Channel to Cuba chronicles a surprising, untold history of bilateral efforts toward rapprochement and reconciliation. William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh here present a remarkably new and relevant account, describing how, despite the intense political clamor surrounding efforts to improve relations with Havana, negotiations have been conducted by every presidential administration since Eisenhower's through secret, back-channel diplomacy. From John F. Kennedy's offering of an olive branch to Fidel Castro after the missile crisis, to Henry Kissinger's top secret quest for normalization, to Barack Obama's promise of a new approach, LeoGrande and Kornbluh uncovered hundreds of formerly secret U.S. documents and conducted interviews with dozens of negotiators, intermediaries, and policy makers, including Fidel Castro and Jimmy Carter. They reveal a fifty-year record of dialogue and negotiations, both open and furtive, that provides the historical foundation for the dramatic breakthrough in U.S.-Cuba ties. |
| economic crisis in cuba: Diplomacy Meets Migration Hideaki Kami, 2018-06-28 Between revolution and counterrevolution -- The legacy of violence -- A time for dialogue? -- The crisis of 1980 -- Acting as a superhero? -- The two contrary currents -- Making foreign policy domestic? |
CUBA’S ECONOMY IN TIMES OF CRISIS: 2020–2022 AND …
analyzes the causes of the crisis; measures its magnitude with economic statistical series, especially in 2020–2022; briefly describes the citizens’ reaction to it; offers some perspectives …
Cuba’s Economic and Societal Crisis - American University
Cuba is currently facing a complex economic crisis characterized by stagnation, macroeconomic instability, and significant social repercussions. Decades of dependence on a centralized, …
CUBA’S REPORT - cubaminrex.cu
Cuban economy. They deceitfully repeat that the dificulties experienced by our economy are the consequences of the distortions of a socialist model under construction and the mistakes of gove.
THE CUBAN ECONOMIC CRISIS OF THE 1990s AND THE …
The purpose of the paper is to analyze Cuba’s exter-nal sector during the economic crisis, policies adopt-ed by the government to improve its performance, results and prospects. It begins with a …
The Impact of the Global Crisis on Cuba’s Economy and Social …
This article reviews the literature, summarises Cuba’s domestic socio-economic strengths and weaknesses prior to the crisis, evaluates the effects of the crisis on the macro-economic and …
EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD ECONOMY IN 2021 AND ITS …
EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD ECONOMY IN 2021 AND ITS IMPACT ON CUBA. OUTLOOK FOR 2022. ut there are signs that the Biden administration plans to continue Trump's …
Country Office Annual Report 2022 Cuba - UNICEF
During 2022, the country continued to go through a deep economic crisis, which has marked the Cuban context for several decades. This structural economic crisis, coupled with the …
BTI 2024 Country Report
Firstly, Cuba grappled with a profound economic downturn, exacerbated by the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its tourism industry. Additionally, the country faced a …
THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IN CUBA
Cuba is facing the worst economic crisis since the Special Period—the extended economic decline on the island primarily due to the collapse of the Soviet Union (particularly between …
A Reflection on Cuba’s Current Economic Situation and …
Mismanagement within the economy exacerbates the situation, rooted in the lack of socioeconomic rationality in decision-making processes. The Cuban economy is fundamentally …
Updated November 17, 2021 Cuba: U.S. Policy Overview
Cuba adopted a new constitution in 2019 that introduced some reforms but maintained the state’s dominance over the economy and the PCC’s predominant political role. The Cuban economy is …
The Cuban Economy: The Current Crisis, Its Causes, and …
cuba is currently facing the worst economic crisis since the one in the ˜˚˚˛s following the collapse of the soviet union. this paper evaluates the economic situation, analyzes the three major …
THE CUBAN ECONOMY AFTER SIX DECADES OF SOCIALISM: …
1990s provoked the worst Cuban economic crisis since the Great Depression: GDP shrunk 35% in 1989–1993 (Mesa-Lago, 2000). At its peak in 2012, Venezuelan trade of goods and services …
Report on Cuba - marxistschool.org
The Economic Crisis With the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern European regimes in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Cuban economy experienced a severe external shock. As a …
THE INTERNATIONAL SITUATION AND THE CUBAN …
the macroeconomic evolution in Cuba, which in 2021 expected a growth of 6%, reached 1.3%, while during 2022 it reached a growth of 2% compared to a planned 4%.
Contemporary Crises in Cuba: Economic, Political, and Social
Through their joint leadership, Cuba managed to survive the deep economic crisis that intensified with the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in 1989, a crisis that Fidel dubbed “el …
What AreWe Talking bout? Crisis in Cuba - American University
The economic crisis in Venezuela severely affected Cuba, reducing joint programs and crude oil shipments. From over 90,000 bpd a decade ago, deliveries fell to 50-55,000 bpd in 2023.
Social and economic problems in Cuba - Comisión Económica …
In the following sections, this article presents a summary of Cuba’s economic evolution (section II), an evaluation of social problems — poverty, income distribution, unemployment, nutrition, …
The Impact of the Global Post-2007 Economic Crisis and …
crisis. Three recent examples illustrate how this central commitment affects the economic policies adopted. When, at the beginning of the 1990s, Cuba entered its deepest economic cri.
GREENING FOR SURVIVAL: THE ECONOMIC CRISIS, URBAN …
May 5, 2013 · With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba suffered severely from loss of income and subsidies that had been consistent since the early 1960s. Gone was the annual …
CUBA’S ECONOMY IN TIMES OF CRISIS: 2020–2022 AND …
analyzes the causes of the crisis; measures its magnitude with economic statistical series, especially in 2020–2022; briefly describes the citizens’ reaction to it; offers some perspectives …
Cuba’s Economic and Societal Crisis - American University
Cuba is currently facing a complex economic crisis characterized by stagnation, macroeconomic instability, and significant social repercussions. Decades of dependence on a centralized, …
CUBA’S REPORT - cubaminrex.cu
Cuban economy. They deceitfully repeat that the dificulties experienced by our economy are the consequences of the distortions of a socialist model under construction and the mistakes of gove.
THE CUBAN ECONOMIC CRISIS OF THE 1990s AND THE …
The purpose of the paper is to analyze Cuba’s exter-nal sector during the economic crisis, policies adopt-ed by the government to improve its performance, results and prospects. It begins with …
The Impact of the Global Crisis on Cuba’s Economy and …
This article reviews the literature, summarises Cuba’s domestic socio-economic strengths and weaknesses prior to the crisis, evaluates the effects of the crisis on the macro-economic and …
EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD ECONOMY IN 2021 AND ITS …
EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD ECONOMY IN 2021 AND ITS IMPACT ON CUBA. OUTLOOK FOR 2022. ut there are signs that the Biden administration plans to continue Trump's …
Country Office Annual Report 2022 Cuba - UNICEF
During 2022, the country continued to go through a deep economic crisis, which has marked the Cuban context for several decades. This structural economic crisis, coupled with the …
BTI 2024 Country Report
Firstly, Cuba grappled with a profound economic downturn, exacerbated by the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its tourism industry. Additionally, the country faced a …
THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IN CUBA
Cuba is facing the worst economic crisis since the Special Period—the extended economic decline on the island primarily due to the collapse of the Soviet Union (particularly between …
A Reflection on Cuba’s Current Economic Situation and …
Mismanagement within the economy exacerbates the situation, rooted in the lack of socioeconomic rationality in decision-making processes. The Cuban economy is …
Updated November 17, 2021 Cuba: U.S. Policy Overview
Cuba adopted a new constitution in 2019 that introduced some reforms but maintained the state’s dominance over the economy and the PCC’s predominant political role. The Cuban economy …
The Cuban Economy: The Current Crisis, Its Causes, and …
cuba is currently facing the worst economic crisis since the one in the ˜˚˚˛s following the collapse of the soviet union. this paper evaluates the economic situation, analyzes the three major …
THE CUBAN ECONOMY AFTER SIX DECADES OF SOCIALISM: …
1990s provoked the worst Cuban economic crisis since the Great Depression: GDP shrunk 35% in 1989–1993 (Mesa-Lago, 2000). At its peak in 2012, Venezuelan trade of goods and …
Report on Cuba - marxistschool.org
The Economic Crisis With the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern European regimes in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Cuban economy experienced a severe external shock. As a …
THE INTERNATIONAL SITUATION AND THE CUBAN …
the macroeconomic evolution in Cuba, which in 2021 expected a growth of 6%, reached 1.3%, while during 2022 it reached a growth of 2% compared to a planned 4%.
Contemporary Crises in Cuba: Economic, Political, and Social
Through their joint leadership, Cuba managed to survive the deep economic crisis that intensified with the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in 1989, a crisis that Fidel dubbed “el …
What AreWe Talking bout? Crisis in Cuba - American University
The economic crisis in Venezuela severely affected Cuba, reducing joint programs and crude oil shipments. From over 90,000 bpd a decade ago, deliveries fell to 50-55,000 bpd in 2023.
Social and economic problems in Cuba - Comisión …
In the following sections, this article presents a summary of Cuba’s economic evolution (section II), an evaluation of social problems — poverty, income distribution, unemployment, nutrition, …
The Impact of the Global Post-2007 Economic Crisis and …
crisis. Three recent examples illustrate how this central commitment affects the economic policies adopted. When, at the beginning of the 1990s, Cuba entered its deepest economic cri.
GREENING FOR SURVIVAL: THE ECONOMIC CRISIS, URBAN …
May 5, 2013 · With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba suffered severely from loss of income and subsidies that had been consistent since the early 1960s. Gone was the annual …
