I | INTRODUCTION |
Cuba, largest and westernmost island of the West
Indies. It forms, with various adjacent islands, the Republic of Cuba. Cuba
occupies a central location between North and South America and lies on the
lanes of sea travel to all countries bounded by the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf
of Mexico. For most of its history, Cuba’s fertile soil and abundant sugar and
tobacco production made it the wealthiest island of the Caribbean.
The Republic of Cuba is an archipelago, or
group of islands, consisting of the main island (named Cuba); Isla de la
Juventud, the second largest island; and numerous other islands. Havana is the
capital city with a population of 2,168,255 in 2007. In 2008 the nation’s
population was estimated to be 11,423,952.
Cuba’s proximity to Haiti, the United States,
Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, and Jamaica has allowed people to migrate easily
onto and off of the island. This movement contributed to the rich mixture of
people and customs in Cuba and throughout the Caribbean area. Although
agriculturally rich, Cuba exports only a few products, such as sugar, tobacco,
citrus fruits, and several manufactured products.
Cuba’s rich soil, abundant harbors, and
mineral reserves enticed foreign powers such as Spain, the United States, and
the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to use Cuba for their own
interests for many years. For 400 years Cuba was a colony of Spain. Spain’s
conquistadores (Spanish for “conquerors”) launched their invasion of Mexico
and South America from the island. In the mid-19th century, the Cuban people
formed an independence movement, decades after most of Spain’s other colonies
had become independent. By 1868 Cubans began to fight the first of three wars of
independence. In 1898 the United States entered the war against Spain and
declared Cuba independent but under the protection of the United States.
In 1902 Cubans began to rule themselves,
although U.S. influence remained strong on the island. The United States still
operates a naval base at Guantánamo Bay on Cuban territory under agreements
dating back to 1903. Throughout most of the first half of the 20th century, the
Cuban government functioned under a series of corrupt presidents and dictators.
Beginning in 1934 army officer Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar governed either
directly or indirectly as a military strong man, a civilian president, and a
military dictator. By the mid-1950s many Cubans opposed the corruption and
political repression that developed under Batista’s dictatorship. Opposition to
Batista developed into a revolt known as the Cuban Revolution.
In 1959 Fidel Castro and a number of other
revolutionaries, including his brother Raúl Castro, overthrew the Batista
government. From that time until 2008, Fidel Castro was the head of state and
the ultimate authority on all policy decisions. In the 1960s Castro split with
the United States and became an ally of the USSR, then the world’s leading
Communist nation. In 1961 Castro formally embraced Marxism-Leninism, the
political philosophy that forms the basis for communism.
Cuba adopted the form of Marxism that had
been practiced up to that time in the USSR, where a highly organized Communist
Party controlled the government. Cuba has since been governed according to
socialist economic and political principles, with a centralized economy and a
government under the control of the Cuban Communist Party. Under socialism,
individual freedoms were sacrificed for the social advancement of all Cubans. In
addition, religion was discouraged, although not forbidden, so that the
allegiance of citizens would belong solely to the state. However, Cuban
socialism could not and did not directly mimic the Soviet model because Cuban
history and culture were entirely different from that of Eastern European
nations. Governing offices and agencies were similar, but in Cuba, Castro
personally retained ultimate control over the Communist Party, all governing
bodies, and the military until he resigned as president of Cuba in 2008 and was
succeeded by his brother Raúl. Although no longer president, Fidel remained the
head of the Cuban Communist Party.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
The main island of Cuba covers 105,006 sq
km (40,543 sq mi). It is 1,199 km (745 mi) long and 200 km (124 mi) across its
widest and 35 km (22 mi) across its narrowest points. Isla de la Juventud, or
the Isle of Youth (formerly known as Isla de los Pinos or the Isle of
Pines), off Cuba’s southwest shore, covers 3,056 sq km (1,180 sq mi). Four sets
of smaller archipelagos—the Sabana, the Colorados, the Jardines de la Reina, and
the Canarreos—and numerous other islands make up the rest of the republic.
Three-quarters of Cuba’s land area is
fertile, rolling country consisting of plains and basins with sufficient
naturally occurring water to allow for intensive cultivation. The soil mostly
consists of red clay with some sand and limestone hills. Cuba is unique among
the Caribbean islands because so much of its land area is arable and accessible
to harbors. The access to harbors enables Cubans to transport agricultural
products easily for shipment to foreign markets.
Cuba has three major mountain ranges. In
the west the Sierra de los Órganos range rises to the height of 800 m (2,500 ft)
above sea level. In the south central region, the Sierra de Trinidad, or the
Escambray mountains, tower 1,150 m (3,800 ft) above sea level and overlook the
colonial city of Trinidad. In the east, Cuba’s tallest mountains are in the
Sierra Maestra, topped by Real de Turquino peak at 2,005 m (6,578 ft) above sea
level. The Sierra Maestra soar near the Caribbean’s Windward Passage, a strip of
water that separates Cuba and Haiti.
Cuba has several other prominent mountains
and hills. Lying north of the Sierra Maestra are the Baracoa Highlands, which
climb to 1,230 m (4,050 ft) above sea level. In the far western end of the
island are large, haystack-shaped eruptions called mogotes in Spanish.
These unique hills form the Sierra de los Órganos, which rise steeply from flat,
lush valleys to heights of more than 300 m (1,000 ft).
Cuba’s 3,735-km (2,321-mi) coastline has
deep harbors, coral islands, and white, sandy beaches to the north. On the
southern shore are coral islands, reefs, and swamps. The largest harbors are
Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Nuevitas, Guantánamo, and Santiago de Cuba. Since
the arrival of European explorers in 1492, Cuba’s harbors have served
transatlantic fleets in trade, ship repair, and naval defense.
A | Rivers and Lakes |
Of Cuba’s 200 rivers, only 2 are
navigable. The Cauto, located in the southeast and 343 km (213 mi) long,
provides only 120 km (75 mi) of transport waterway. The Sagua la Grande, in
central Cuba, is large enough to provide hydroelectric power and is navigable
for short stretches. Several waterfalls throughout the island provide small
amounts of hydroelectric power. The rest of the rivers are small and shallow,
but several are internationally known for their trophy-sized fish.
B | Plant and Animal Life |
Cuba has a wide variety of tropical
vegetation. Cuba’s varied habitats enable more than 3,000 species of tropical
fruits and flowers to grow on the island. Extensive tracts of land in the
eastern portion of the island are densely forested. The predominant species of
trees are palms, of which Cuba has more than 30 types, including royal palms.
Other indigenous plants are mahogany, ebony, lignum vitae, cottonwood, logwood,
rosewood, cedar pine, majagua (a member of the hibiscus family), granadilla,
jagüey, tobacco, papaya trees, and the ceiba, which is the national tree.
Only two land mammals, the hutia, or cane
rat, and the solenodon, a rare insectivore that resembles a rat, are known to be
indigenous. The island has numerous bats and nearly 300 kinds of birds,
including vultures, wild turkeys, quail, finches, gulls, macaws, parakeets, and
hummingbirds. The bee hummingbird of Cuba is the smallest bird in the world.
Among the few reptiles are tortoises, caimans, the Cuban crocodile, and a
species of boa that can attain a length of 3.7 m (12 ft). More than 700 species
of fish and crustaceans are found in Cuban waters. Notable among these are land
crabs, sharks, garfish (see Halfbeak), robalo, ronco, eel, mangua, and
tuna. Numerous species of insects exist. Of these, the most harmful are the
chigoe, a type of flea, and the Anopheles mosquito, bearer of the malaria
parasite.
C | Natural Resources |
The land and climate of Cuba favor
agriculture, and some 28 percent of the land is cultivated. Only about one-fifth
of the island is still forested. The country also has significant mineral
reserves. The nickel mines located in northeastern Cuba are the most important
reserves, along with deposits of chromium, copper, iron, and manganese. Reserves
of sulfur, cobalt, pyrites, gypsum, asbestos, petroleum, salt, sand, clay, and
limestone are also exploited. All subsurface deposits are the property of the
government.
D | Climate |
Cuba’s geographical expanse and the
varieties of mountain ranges, savannas, caves, swamps, beaches, and tropical
rain forests produce microclimates, small regions that exhibit differing
temperatures, rainfalls, soil conditions, wildlife, and vegetation. The climate
of Cuba is semitropical, the mean annual temperature being 25°C (77°F). The
temperature ranges from an average of 23°C (73°F) in January to an average of
28°C (82°F) in August. The heat and high relative humidity (80 percent) of the
summer season are tempered by the prevailing northeasterly trade winds. The
annual rainfall averages 1,320 mm (52 in). More than 60 percent of the rain
falls during the wet season, which extends from May to October. The island lies
in a region traversed occasionally by violent tropical hurricanes during August,
September, and October.
E | Environmental Issues |
Some of Cuba’s indigenous plants and
animals are threatened. Over the years, sugar has been Cuba’s main export, and
native plants have been cleared for sugarcane. For example, more than 30
different kinds of bananas grew on the island before 1959, but most of the
banana trees have been replaced by sugarcane. Pests and diseases introduced from
abroad, particularly the blue mold fungus and swine flu, have affected the
island’s crops and animals. Coastal pollution and excessive hunting also present
severe threats to wildlife populations. Cuba experiences little air pollution
because sea breezes move airborne pollution off the island.
Although Cuba was once almost entirely
forested, by the late 1950s only 14 percent of the country remained under forest
cover. As a result of reforestation efforts, this figure had risen to 24.5
percent by 2005. Reforestation efforts are still under way. Deforestation and
agriculture contribute to soil erosion, another environmental challenge in Cuba.
Agriculture is vital to Cuba’s economy. Cuba’s integrated pest management
program, an alternative to pesticide use, has made environmental gains while
maintaining agricultural output and reducing costs.
III | PEOPLE |
The Cuban population has grown slowly and
consistently, from 7,027,210 people in 1960 to 11,423,952 in 2008. However,
population growth was affected by emigration, especially between 1959 and 1964
when about 1 million Cubans left following the Cuban Revolution. The early flood
of emigrants belonged largely to the professional classes. As a result, the
revolutionary government was left with the task of filling their positions with
recent graduates from socialist schools and with foreign advisers. Subsequent
waves of emigrants belonged to all levels of professions, from the least
powerful to high-ranking officers. In 1980 the government allowed another
120,000 Cubans to depart. Since 1994 the U.S. State Department and Cuba’s
Foreign Ministry have agreed to allow 20,000 Cubans to emigrate to the United
States per year.
Since 1959 Cuba’s birth rate has slowed,
partially due to the availability of contraceptives (see Birth Control)
and abortion. The death rate has also declined due to improved health facilities
and their distribution throughout the island. In 2005, 76 percent of the
population was urban, concentrating in the capital, Havana (2,168,255 people,
2007 estimate), and in Santiago de Cuba (494,430 people, 2007 estimate).
A | Ethnic Groups and Languages |
The Spanish conquest eliminated the
indigenous people in Cuba but introduced enslaved Africans from the Congo,
Guinea, and Nigeria. In the 19th century, Chinese laborers joined the working
class. In the 20th century immigrants from the United States, Spain, and the
USSR added to the ethnic mix. In 2000, mulattoes (people of mixed white
and black ancestry) made up 51 percent of the population, whites 37 percent, and
blacks 11 percent. Almost all of the inhabitants of Cuba were born there. Since
1959 racial distinctions have blurred as the Castro government has worked to
eliminate race and class prejudices.
The official language of Cuba is
Spanish, but immigration has left pockets of Haitians and Jamaicans in Cuba who
speak French-based and English-based creoles (hybrid languages created by the
mixture of European and African languages). Both English and Russian are spoken
and understood in major cities.
B | Social Structure |
Prior to the Cuban Revolution of 1959,
Cuba had sharp class divisions. The largest class was made up of peasants, who
could barely support their families on the small plots of land they farmed. At
the opposite end of the social scale was a handful of sugar mill owners, who
enjoyed all the advantages of great wealth. Unlike most other Latin American
countries, however, Cuba had a substantial middle class of lawyers, doctors,
social workers, and other professionals. Industrial workers organized into very
active unions, and they had a higher living standard than many workers in other
Latin American countries. There was also a large group of fairly prosperous
colonos, sharecroppers and tenant farmers, who grew sugarcane for the
large mills under government protection. While Cuba’s social hierarchy allowed
for some racial fluidity, the vast number of the poor and uneducated were people
of color. The poorest were women of color.
Under the government of Fidel Castro,
class divisions and social differentiations, such as elite education and
membership in country clubs, disappeared. More equitable salaries, guaranteed
housing, nationalized medicine and education, and employment for all leveled the
social and economic hierarchy formed between 1902 and 1958. In protest, middle-
and upper-class professionals left Cuba in large numbers between 1959 and 1962,
which hastened the advent of a more socially level society. The income gap
between peasants and urban workers narrowed as the government controlled wages
and prices, and rationed commodities. After 1959, the highest-paid
professionals, such as physicians who both practiced medicine and taught in
universities, earned around 750 pesos per month, while unskilled laborers earned
around 100 pesos per month. Prior to the revolution, successful sugar and
tobacco growers were millionaires, while workers in their fields barely earned
160 pesos per month, and female domestic servants earned under half that
amount.
However, the Cuban revolution did not
eradicate all forms of privilege. Under the Castro government, people involved
in the government, military, and the Communist Party formed a new privileged
group. Although their salaries were maintained at a moderate level, they had
access to better hospitals, homes, cars, and commodities.
Cuba’s success in creating a more even
distribution of wealth became skewed when the government briefly loosened
economic restrictions during the late 1970s. The government loosened
restrictions again in the 1990s when it reintroduced small private enterprises
and allowed Cubans to possess and spend U.S. dollars, which previously had been
illegal in Cuba. Differences in wealth then became more noticeable, as
some Cubans could purchase a wide variety of goods at special stores that
accepted only dollars. Luxury items were also more accessible to citizens with
dollars.
C | Religion |
It is difficult to accurately assess
religious affiliation and political ideology in Cuba. Before the revolution,
Cuba was a predominantly Roman Catholic nation, although a fairly sizeable
proportion of the people were Roman Catholic in name alone and no longer
practiced their religion regularly. The revolutionary government has wavered on
religion’s official position in Cuba. Beginning in the 1960s, the government
harshly condemned and deported many Catholic officials. The government rarely
gave attractive career appointments or promotions to Catholics who continued
attending church. In addition, the government often imprisoned and imposed
social sanctions on those Catholics who actively opposed government policy on
religious matters.
During the 1980s, however, the
government’s position changed somewhat, allowing the faithful to worship without
penalty. In 1998, at the invitation of Castro, Pope John Paul II paid a four-day
visit to Cuba. During his trip, the Pope encouraged the spread of Christianity.
He challenged Marxist ideology as the dominant belief system in Cuba by
encouraging people to put their faith in Catholicism and not in secular
ideology.
A significant portion of the
population, including some who profess Catholicism and others who are high
officials of the government, practice Santería, a mixture of Catholicism and
African religions. The Castro government has attempted to accommodate this
religion, allowing Santería priests, known as babalaos, to hold parades
and sell their predictions to foreigners in designated temples. Many Cubans see
no conflict in being a Catholic, a believer in Santería, and a Marxist. About 30
percent of the population professes no religious faith, officially classifying
themselves as Marxists.
D | Education |
The government controls the educational
system and provides education for essentially all Cuban children. School
attendance is compulsory for children ages 6 through 14, and Cuba has one of the
highest literacy rates in the world, claiming 97 percent adult literacy,
compared to only 54 percent in 1952. Estimates are that virtually all eligible
children attend the first six years of school.
Castro’s government attempted to narrow
the gap between the educated and uneducated by allowing all children to attend
school free of charge and by sending literacy brigades throughout the country
during the early 1960s. These brigades, composed of teachers and trained
students, taught reading and writing to Cubans in remote regions of the country
that previously had no schools. As a result of their work, Cuba’s literacy rate
increased dramatically.
Adults may attend basic education
courses. High-level courses are offered to college graduates in specialty majors
such as business, medicine, nursing, and technical engineering. Membership in
the Young Communist League or the Cuban Communist Party is an important
determinant of student enrollment in one of the three universities and the
dozens of polytechnic schools. The University of Havana is the preeminent
university, but the University of Santa Clara and the University of Santiago de
Cuba are also highly regarded.
The curriculum in primary and secondary
schools is based upon Marxist-Leninist principles that honor collective work and
that identify capitalism as an opposing world organization. Instruction on
public health, elementary education, cooking, moral standards, and revolutionary
loyalty are transmitted through television and radio. These programs are
strictly controlled by the Cuban Communist Party and are used to communicate
national, international, and political information.
E | Health and Social Services |
The quality of Cuban medical services
was highly esteemed before 1959, but health services for the majority of the
population were limited. Since 1959 the government has extended health services
throughout the island, using neighborhood polyclinics for minor ailments and
hospitals for treatment of serious injuries and illnesses. Health education is
communicated in school and through the media. Sophisticated medical procedures
are not available to everyone, leaving those who know important officials in
better positions to receive advanced care than those without such connections.
In addition, the trade embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba since the
early 1960s has made it difficult for the country to receive medicines. The
social security system provides for retirement, work disabilities, unemployment
compensation, maternity care, and child-care centers.
F | Way of Life |
Prior to 1959 Cuba had a weak
democratic political system, a capitalist economy dependent on trade with the
United States, and a nominally Catholic society. The revolution replaced those
traditions with socialist values, including a strong central government with
indirect citizen participation in policy decisions, a centrally controlled
economy, and a secular society that discouraged the practice of religion.
Since 1959 families have been both
aided and hindered by revolutionary provisions and demands. In 1975 the Family
Code described the roles of each family member, maintaining that parents are
obliged to support their children, whether the parents were married or not. No
child in Cuba is considered illegitimate. Men and women are mutually responsible
for the maintenance of the home. Gender and racial discrimination is illegal,
although individual prejudices continue, and male dominance remains a tradition
that has been hard to change.
For the first 30 years after the
revolution, all Cubans who wanted to work were able to do so. Women who remained
at home with families were not considered as revolutionary as those who worked,
since making an extra effort to produce commodities for economic development in
addition to maintaining a home and caring for a family was seen as evidence of
revolutionary loyalty. Children of working couples could attend day-care centers
of generally high quality. Women were guaranteed a living wage whether they
worked or not, so they did not have to remain married out of financial
considerations.
After 1990, when Soviet aid sharply
declined, shortages of fuel and consumer goods altered daily work patterns.
Transportation was difficult at best and at times impossible. The black market,
in which items are sold illegally to bypass government controls, provided
necessary subsistence products no longer available through government rationing
or in the local stores. Often one member of a family devoted his or her time to
resolving problems of food, clothing, and extremely scarce luxury items.
The government made some policy changes
in an attempt to relieve economic hardships. Since 1994 food shortages have been
resolved by permitting paladares, in-house restaurants, to serve the
paying public. Farmers’ markets, in which people with small farms sold food for
profit, opened to bring scarce produce into the cities. The government also
allowed small private businesses, such as bicycle repair shops, beauty salons,
and car repair garages. However, it was reluctant to allow the widespread
development of private businesses. To cut down on the explosion of private
enterprises, the government began a harsh taxation system, and it required that
every business produce bills of sale for all items acquired to run the business.
As a result, most of these businesses have closed or opted to operate
illegally.
Cuba attempted to address a number of
its needs through minibrigades of citizens offering voluntary labor. Volunteer
construction teams erected public buildings and took care of the sanitation
system when regular workers were overburdened. People from all sectors of
society—managers as well as common laborers—shared in the heavy physical work
required to build and maintain the industrial and agricultural infrastructure.
Voluntary work was intended both to construct more buildings and to elicit
respect in the population for all manners of work, including manual labor.
However, these minibrigades were not enough. For example, they were unable to
construct enough residential buildings in urban and rural areas to meet the
housing demands that emerged throughout the revolutionary period.
Public entertainment is open to
everyone except when it is reserved for foreigners in special areas set aside
for tourism. Cubans are avid sports enthusiasts, especially for baseball,
track-and-field events, volleyball, basketball, and swimming. Athletic fields
are open to everyone, but few Cubans have the equipment required for play.
Children often play baseball with sticks and rocks. Musical groups of all
quality levels travel the island playing for people in urban and rural
settings.
IV | CULTURE |
The Cuban people began articulating
nationalist ideas in literature, art, and music during the 19th century.
European colonists in Cuba did not develop an independent culture earlier
because the island was only a shipping and military outpost and not a great
administrative or mining center while part of the Spanish Empire. Early Cuban
authors of importance, such as 19th century writers María de las Mercedes Santa
Cruz y Montalvo, better known as La Condesa de Merlín, and Gertrudis Gómez de
Avellaneda, lived and wrote in Spain rather than in their homeland. The
influences of the French Revolution (1789-1799) and the American Revolution
(1775-1783) awoke Cubans to the possibilities of social and economic change, and
stimulated intellectuals to become involved in nationalist and independence
movements.
Romanticism, an artistic and literary
movement stressing freedom of expression and a reliance on imagination, first
appeared in Cuba in the early 19th century with the early poetry of José María
de Heredia. Cuban romanticism was the genesis of national patriotism, but
Spain’s repression of free speech and artistic expression forced nationalistic
romanticism to focus on the beauty of nature and the spirituality of the people
rather than on political freedoms. Later in his career Heredia joined the
Parnassian school, a reaction against romanticism. Artists of this school
focused on technical perfection and an impersonal attitude in their art.
Heredia’s poetry straddled these two literary movements. Many artists and
thinkers of the romantic period were influenced by Father Felix Varela y
Morales, a professor at the Seminary of San Carlos in Havana. Originally a
supporter of Spain’s constitutional monarchy and limited self-government in the
colonies, he later became an advocate of complete independence from Spain.
Submovements within romanticism were
introduced by writers such as Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés (known as Plácido)
and Juan Francisco Manzano, a former slave. They illustrated the unique facets
of Cuban national characteristics through submovements within romanticism such
as costumbrismo, an art form that satirized social types within Cuban
society, particularly the mulattoes. Other social types were portrayed in
criollismo and siboneyismo, which dealt with the daily lives of
Creoles and Native Americans, respectively.
In the last half of the 19th century, a
second period of romanticism began as artists were seized by the idea of Cuban
independence from Spain. Writing moved from caricatures of Cuban society,
nature, and regional language styles to elegant writing and literary imaging.
Cuban romanticism differed from European romanticism in several important
aspects. It emphasized racial complexity rather than the exaltation of
upper-class individualism. Cuban romanticism expressed a positive attitude
toward life, whereas European romanticism often exhibited heavy undertones of
melancholy and a fascination with self-destructive tendencies. While
contemporary European artists often dealt with the subject of nature and the
simplicity of rural life, the hope of national sovereignty remained the central
theme running through Cuba’s romantic movement.
Modernism coincided with romanticism at
the end of the 19th century and ultimately replaced it in the 20th century.
Modernism is an artistic movement characterized by a concentration on art for
art’s sake, or by emphasis on the beauty of structure in language and art. Cuban
modernism was short-lived and pertained to only a few artists, including writer
and revolutionary José Martí, the father of Cuban independence, and poet Julian
del Casal. Cuban modernism gained influence at the same time that U.S. citizens
were investing in Cuba, which opened Cuban writers to increased contact with
foreign literature. This was a period when calls for political, economic, and
cultural change appeared in all literary genres. This era gave way to
postmodernism within the first decade of independence.
Postmodernism emerged in 1909, just after
the first democratically elected presidential term ended with U.S. military
occupation. Corruption, economic ineffectiveness, and full dependence upon the
United States undermined the ability of any government to control state matters
peacefully. People of different political persuasions agreed that the renovation
of past ideas about independence and sovereignty was necessary. Many
postmodernists advocated specific political resolutions to Cuba’s
postindependence confusion, and some sought authentic cultural expression in a
blend of African and Spanish language and visual design.
In 1923 leftist activists began organizing
against government corruption. Broader democratic participation and social
justice for all Cubans were demanded by protest groups, such as the University
Student Union, the First National Congress of Students, the First National
Women’s Congress, the Protest of the Thirteen, the Grupo Minorista, and the
Universidad Popular José Martí. The Grupo Minorista, an informal association of
writers and artists, was the forerunner of the literary vanguard movement that
unified between 1927 and 1933 against President Gerardo Machado’s illegitimate
government. As a movement, Cuban vanguardism brushed aside established styles
through disruptive or unconventional techniques. Vanguardists were characterized
by a mixture of modern artistic movements. The political nature of their
movement was, however, the tool of their destruction. Between 1934 and 1958,
vanguardism dissolved into various political factions as former allies became
bitter enemies over a variety of political issues affecting Cuba’s future.
Following the 1959 revolution, Cuba’s
artistic freedom came to an end. The new government selected writers and artists
to publish and create as long as they did not obviously criticize the
government. Government efforts to control artistic expression isolated Cuban
artists and thinkers from the bold, antiestablishment artistic movements in the
United States and Europe. People such as writer Juan Marinello spent their
energies running literary organizations supportive of socialist ideals rather
than creating. A number of Cuba’s liberals and progressives, such as painter
Jorge Camacho, went into exile in protest. Camacho and other Cuban painters went
to France in 1959 on a grant from the Cuban government. Camacho became
disillusioned with the Cuban Revolution when Castro supported the Soviet Union’s
crackdown on Czechoslovakia in 1968 following Czechoslovakia’s Communist
government’s experimentation with reforms (Prague Spring). Even Communist
novelist Alejo Carpentier published his prorevolutionary pieces from Paris.
Occasional purges of artists occurred, the most famous case being that of
Heberto Padilla, a poet who won a prize in 1968 for his collected poetry
entitled Fuera del juego. He was forced to leave Cuba in 1969 for the
suggestions in those poems that the revolution limited human freedom. Entire
colonies of Cuban artists live in exile, particularly in Mexico, Spain, and the
United States, because their work criticized the revolution.
New generations of Cuban artists born
after 1959 began to present mature works in the 1980s. After 1975 some leniency
allowed artists and writers to take up nonrevolutionary themes, as long as the
government did not come under criticism. Young writers and artists did not
showcase overt political critiques, but looked inward to describe the
psychological anguish of a revolution in crisis. The Novísimos, as the writers
of the 1990s were known, distanced themselves from the revolution and often
parodied communist lifestyles.
Only a few intrepid intellectuals have
dared to direct their accusations at the government. Exile was the only
alternative for dissenters, and some people chose to leave Cuba rather than
limit the expression of their frustration. Poet María Elena Cruz Varela, who
pointed out that Castro’s restrictions made Cubans all the more vulnerable to
capitalist influences, was forced to eat the paper upon which her poems were
written in a public act of repudiation. She was also imprisoned for two years
for sedition between 1992 and 1994.
A | Literature |
In the last decades of the 19th century,
two great romantic poets, Manuel de Zequeira y Arango and Manuel Justo
Rubalcava, explored Cuba’s natural beauty. Romanticism stimulated thinking about
national independence. Writers such as José María Heredia, José Jacinto Milanes,
Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Cirilo Villaverde, Joaquín Lorenzo Luaces, Juan
Clemente Zenea, and José Antonio Saco lived in exile because of their militancy
in favor of independence. All created visions of an independent nation and
sovereign people in their works, although each came from different perspectives.
Both Heredia and Avellaneda attacked the institution of slavery and proposed
that the success of an independent Cuba rested on educating women and former
slaves. Villaverde depicted the vanity and social climbing intentions of the
mulatto population. Saco insisted that Afro-Cubans had to be held at the base of
the social ladder because he believed they were not capable of governing or
participating in the functions of an ordered society.
From 1880 to 1910 the modernist movement
was led by writers José Martí, Julian del Casal, Juana Borrero, and José Manuel
Poveda. Originally a romantic poet, Martí is said to have initiated modernism in
Cuba with his 1882 collection of poetry entitled Ismaelillo. His work,
like that of his romantic contemporaries, presented nationalist ideals, but it
surpassed their arguments with the power of its sentiment expressed through
artistic reference to colors, the physical senses, and emotion. Besides his
poetry, Martí was a journalist who wrote for Latin American newspapers. He was
also one of the most articulate organizers for Cuban independence from
Spain.
Particularly dynamic were writers from
eastern Cuba who were completely disenchanted with Havana’s mediocre political
society and uninspiring, self-serving writers. In 1913 a group of writers in
Oriente province issued a manifesto announcing their determination to bring life
to the nationalist spirit that represented the passion of the Cuban people and
their rejection of the sterile, formal, and dogmatic sentimentality they felt
characterized Havana’s literary leadership. Most notable among the Oriente
dissenters were José Manuel Poveda, Regino E. Boti, Agustín Acosta, Medardo
Vitier, Hilarión Cabrisas, and Miguel Carrión.
The avant-garde movement began in 1923
with the formation of El Grupo Minorista, a group of young intellectuals who
published their ideas in the magazine La Revista de Avance, first
published in 1927. In 1944 the poet José Lezama Lima founded Orígenes,
one of the most important literary and artistic magazines in Cuba and the
Americas. It presented developing art in Europe and the Americas, and it
conducted a dialogue among artists about artistic expression. Orígenes
placed Cuban artists among the world’s most renowned writers, painters,
philosophers, and composers. It also drew Cuban attention away from its own
situation and struck a connection with the rest of the art world.
After the 1959 revolution, the Lunes
de Revolución was the main publication for emerging writers. Criticizing
previous generations for their middle- and upper-class affiliations, it invited
writers and artists to introduce new themes, such as race and class divisions.
The publication presented art and literature that reflected the social,
economic, and political realities of life. At the same time, the editors
rejected any suggestion that they were socialists or political activists of any
bent.
After 1961 the revolution’s leadership
was more secure, but the test of whether Castro could implement profound reforms
was in question. Censorship curtailed artistic expression and supported
prorevolutionary works. Writers who remained in Cuba faced government
intolerance of any nonrevolutionary or counterrevolutionary ideas in literature.
Nicolás Guillén, a well-known black poet, channeled his talents toward promoting
greater revolutionary ideals such as racial and social integration.
Many leading writers in Cuba left for
exile so that they could develop their thoughts freely. Among those who left
were novelist, film critic, and essayist Guillermo Cabrera Infante, who went to
London in 1965 and consistently published works critical of the revolution.
Reinaldo Arenas worked at Cuba’s José Martí National Library and the Casa
de las Américas, the nation’s most recognized publishing house, while he wrote
poetry and novels. In 1980 he left Cuba and settled in New York City. His last
book, Antes que anochezca (1993, translation Before Night Falls,
1993) is an autobiography that unmasks the revolution’s treatment of
homosexuals and critical intellectuals. Cuban writers who chose exile had to
overcome the difficulties of expressing themselves in foreign cultures and
languages. Latin American Literature.
B | Art |
Cuban painting began in earnest in the
18th century with such artists as José Nicolás de la Escalera and Vicente
Escobar. Late 18th- and early 19th-century artists were influenced by newly
developed European and American printing techniques in lithography, a
process that reproduced paintings cheaply. Suddenly the middle class was able to
afford art, and artists created works for a new audience. Costumbrismo, an art
form that satirized social types within Cuban society, was particularly popular
beginning in the 1840s and 1850s. Victor Patricio de Landaluze, a painter and
cartoonist, is the most recognized artist of this type. His oil paintings and
watercolors stereotype the farmer, landowner, slave, and Afro-Cuban
santeros (religious practitioners). Romantic landscape painting also
characterized this period and idealized nationalism not in political terms but
in an attachment to the island’s natural habitat.
With the introduction of European
avant-garde styles in the 1920s and 1930s, a new generation of painters, such as
Victor Manuel, Eduardo Abela, and Carlos Enríquez, concerned themselves with
black and mulatto components of Cuban society. Their interests complemented
anthropologist Fernando Ortíz’s argument that Afro-Cuban culture formed the
distinguishing aspect of Cuban identity. Other painters, such as Fidelio Ponce
de Leon or Aristides Fernández, followed a different path by depicting certain
dramatic or religious aspects of the human condition. Post-1930s painters such
as Amelia Pelaez, Rene Portocarrero, and Mariano Rodríguez were linked to the
literary group of Origenes and depicted modern, abstract variations of
typically Cuban architecture features, such as domestic interiors, stained glass
windows, and church facades.
During the 1950s a new group of
painters, known as El Grupo de los 11, challenged the aesthetics of the former
masters by introducing the abstract tendency with emphasis on geometric
form and color rather than realism. Wifredo Lam worked most of his life in Paris
and was influenced by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, but he returned to Cuba in
1966 after the revolution to become a master teacher. His works incorporated
surrealism while often featuring Afro-Cuban images.
After the 1959 revolution a number of
painters left Cuba and established themselves mainly in Madrid and Paris.
However, younger generations of artists both in Cuba and in exile introduced new
and exciting dimensions to Cuban art. Between 1960 and 1980 much of Cuban art,
particularly poster art, portrayed positive images of the revolution. Artists
used simple materials to compose images of heroic sacrifice and military battles
that brought socialism to the Americas and the world.
In the 1980s, as the problems of the
revolutionary experiment became increasingly clear to most Cubans, a generation
of artists in the island produced blatant criticism of the government. Their
works derided incompetence, corruption, and hopelessness, and they even depicted
scenes of torture, escape, and suicide. Many of these artists eventually chose
exile over remaining in Cuba. More recently Cuban art often reflected individual
responses to isolation and frustration as well as the difficulties of daily
life, which was a less theoretical, but no less serious, denunciation of the
government.
C | Architecture |
Cuba has an architectural tradition
dating back to colonial days. Some of Cuba’s most important buildings were
constructed as early as the 16th century. The fortresses of El Castillo de la
Real Fuerza (1560) and the famous Morro de la Habana (1590, known in English as
Morro Castle) introduced the baroque style prevalent in Spain at that time,
characterized by massive structures and large windows accented with iron
filigree.
Moreover, major cities such as Havana,
Santiago de Cuba, Matanzas, and Trinidad were built following the 1573
Ordinances of Philip II. These regulations, issued by the Spanish king, required
a cathedral, the administrative office buildings, and a governor’s palace to
occupy the four sides of a city’s central plaza. Cities were laid out in a grid
that expanded as the urban population grew. Homes, churches, and some public
buildings added the stained glass windows of Arabic origin that gave Cuban
architecture its specific character.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the
cities grew, giving rise to the fortress of El Morro de Santiago de Cuba (1633),
the Cathedral of Havana (1787-1811), Santa Clara and San Agustín convents in
Havana (17th century), Santa María Rosario church (1779), and The Plaza de Armas
of Havana (1772). The romantic buildings of the 19th century followed the same
traditions established in the early colonial period. In the mid-20th century,
Cuban architecture took on the daring attributes of several new internationalist
styles, particularly that of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí, whose works blended
neo-gothic, art nouveau, and surrealist influences. Residences in Havana’s
Miramar and Siboney neighborhoods exhibit these traits while retaining an open
air, tropical ambiance.
After the revolution, architecture
followed a single, utilitarian path, with new buildings constructed to be
practical and economical. Most architectural structures built after 1959 were
apartment cities in suburban areas and in the countryside intended to house the
poor and professionals who did not have homes. The architecture rarely varied
from the prescribed Soviet styles. An apartment building in the Soviet style,
usually three stories high, consists of units with up to three bedrooms and one
bath, a tiny kitchen, and a laundry balcony. These rectangular apartment
buildings were built with concrete blocks, and pressed marble was used for the
floors. Revolutionary-era school buildings also followed the heavy, utilitarian,
Soviet model that makes a distinctive landmark among the more tropical and
colonial buildings that were built before 1959.
D | Music and Dance |
Cuba has been recognized by the
international community for the richness and variety of its popular music.
Spanish Andalusian, French, and African music have created a special blend of
rhythms and melodies that constitute the Cuban trademark in such musical forms
as the contradanzas, danzón, son, chachachá, rumba/guaguanco, and salsa.
Church music was the first composed
music native to Cuba. Seventeenth-century composer Esteban de Salas, a
choirmaster in Santiago de Cuba, used European styles for his motets, masses,
and psalms.
In the 19th century, composers Nicolás
de Espadero, Ignacio Cervantes, and Manuel Saumell had their works performed in
the Teatro de Tacón, a theater usually reserved for the elite Spanish society.
Two black violinists, José White (also an important composer) and Brindis de
Salas, played in almost every important concert hall in the world.
The 20th century witnessed a renewal of
classical compositions with strong African strains. During the 1920s Amadeo
Roldán was the first modern composer to insert Afro-Cuban percussion instruments
into symphonic music. Cuba’s foremost conservatory, the Conservatorio Municipal
Amadeo Roldán, founded in 1935, bore his name. Roldán and García Cartula were
two composers of the Grupo Renovación that in the 1920s through the 1930s
introduced African melodies into symphonic music. At about the same time,
composer Alejandro García Caturla also experimented with Afro-Cuban instruments
and added Cuban country music into some of his works. A generation later Juan
Blanco and Leo Brower were recognized as Cuba’s leading composers.
Cuba is one of the most influential
sources of Caribbean popular music. Its infectious African drumming and rhythms
overlaid with Hispanic lyrical melodies and instrumentations have inspired dance
and song such as the danzón, son, and chachachá since the 1880s. Between the
1930s and 1950s numerous performers and orchestras began to popularize Cuban
music throughout the world. Some composers and performers of Cuba’s classical
popular music include singer and dancer Rita Montaner, pianists Bola de Nieve
and Ernesto Lecuona, and Moisés Simon, Benny Moré, Osvaldo Farres, all three of
whom were pianists and composers. From the 1950s to the present the Cuban salsa
has brought people all over the world to their feet in joyful dancing. Singer
and entertainer Celia Cruz introduced the salsa in the early 1950s. Cuban
jazz is legendary and best known in the United States through performances by
Benny Moré’s dance bands.
In the late 20th century Cuba’s numerous
educational institutes helped create new generations of musicians and composers
who have adapted the best of Cuban musical tradition into more innovative forms.
One innovative musical movement, the Nueva Trova, emerged in the 1960s. It
imitated the troubadour style of the Middle Ages (500-1500) in that performers
and songwriters incorporated popular and political messages into music as a
means of communicating information to the population. The most recognized
performers of this popular Cuban song form are the musical group Grupo Moncada,
and performers and composers such as Silvio Rodríguez, Pablo Milanés, and Sara
González. The best-known groups in the 1990s included Irakere, los Van Van, and
los Muñequitos de Matanzas. The Buena Vista Social Club, a collection of veteran
musicians who recorded an album with American guitarist Ry Cooder in 1997, also
gained international fame at this time.
The Cuban National Ballet, under the
direction of choreographer Alicia Alonso, has helped train ballet performers who
are recognized throughout the world. It has offered new styles to modern ballet
in the form of Afro-Cuban folkloric depictions, rhythms, and movement.
E | Theater and Film |
Havana’s Teatro Principal, where Cuban
audiences viewed European classical works, was inaugurated on October 12, 1776.
Theatrical life developed throughout the island, and soon the so-called
teatro bufo, or farcical theater, began to depict the different ethnic
groups in Cuban society. Later, playwrights such as Gertrudis Gómez de
Avellaneda and José Jacinto Milanés made important contributions to a romantic
theater focused upon nationalism.
After independence, Cuban theater lay
dormant, but by the end of the 1940s and into the revolutionary period, many
small theaters emerged. Playwrights of this period include Virgilio Piñera,
Anton Arrufat, Abelardo Estorino, and José Triana. All of these dramatists
occupied posts in Casa de las Américas, Cuba’s most prestigious publishing
house, and in the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists. Since the
revolution, Cuban theater has languished as popular street theater replaced the
formal settings. Street theater took the message of revolution to people
throughout the island and often involved them in theatrical productions in order
to make them feel a part of Cuba’s new society.
Motion-picture making began with silent
films such as La Virgen de la Caridad (The Virgin of Charity, 1930), a
film about Cuba’s patron saint, who was a symbol of Cuban independence. Movies
of this period glorified independence and celebrated Cuban heroism and
sacrifice. During the 1920s and 1930s, Cuban movie houses featured U.S. films,
and U.S. movie stars appeared in all the popular magazines. Many aspects of
modernization and changing social attitudes were transmitted to Cuba through
American films.
Not until the 1950s did Cuban film
production compete well with the international film industry. This effort was
led by motion-picture director Guillermo Cabrera Infante, founder of the Cuban
Film Association, the Cuban Film Society, and after the revolution, the director
of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC). Cabrera Infante went into exile in 1961 and
was replaced at ICAIC by motion-picture director Alfredo Guevara. The movie
industry continued to flourish with Memorias del subdesarrollo (Memories
of Underdevelopment, 1968), Lucía (1969), and Retrato de Teresa
(Portrait of Teresa, 1979), all of which contained messages that both praised
and criticized the revolution. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea directed several
award-winning films, including Los Sobrevivientes (The Survivors, 1979),
Fresa y chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate, 1993), and
Guantanamera (1994). Cinematographer Nestor Almendros
received numerous awards, including the Academy Award in 1979 for his work as a
motion-picture photographer on Days of Heaven (1978).
F | Libraries and Museums |
The largest library in Cuba is the José
Martí National Library in Havana, containing some 2.2 million volumes. It is the
major repository for 20th-century literature, periodicals, monographs, maps, and
reference books. The National Museum of Havana houses collections of both
classical and modern art along with relics of native cultures. The Revolutionary
Museum retains the memorabilia of the 1959 revolution as well as some relics of
the wars of independence and the Batista era. The National Archives contain all
primary documents from the colonial period to the present.
The History Institute contains primary
documents, many of a sensitive nature, on the Cuban Communist Party and other
radical groups from the 1950s to the present. It also is the repository for the
artifacts and documents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and specific events
such as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, in which the discovery of Soviet
nuclear missiles in Cuba caused a tense standoff between the United States and
the USSR. Other important museums are the Colonial and Anthropological museums
in Havana, located in restored homes of Spanish officials, which depict the
colonial past. The Museum of the City of Havana, also in a colonial palace,
houses the papers of Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring, a journalist who became the
city historian of Havana in 1933.
The Morro Castle is a fortress with
excellent views of Havana’s harbor and skyline. It now houses a maritime museum.
The Guanabacoa Museum, near Morro Castle, provides information about Santería
and, occasionally, performances of rituals are given here. The Emilio Bacardi
Moreau Museum of natural history and art in Santiago de Cuba displays the
natural wildlife and plants of the island and is located in an old rum factory.
A museum and monument to the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion stands at Playa Girón,
where Cuban troops turned back a force of Cuban exiles which, with the support
of the United States, attempted to overthrow the Castro government.
V | ECONOMY |
With a colonial economy based primarily on
sugarcane, Cuba grew into a rich producer and exporter of sugar during the 19th
century. Foreign investors, especially from the United States, invested in Cuba
to take part in the lucrative sugar market. This investment resulted in much of
Cuba’s sugar revenue leaving the country, making foreign investors and a small
Cuban elite wealthy. However, large segments of the Cuban people did not benefit
economically from Cuba’s sugar market.
After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the
government of Fidel Castro promised to address perceived economic inequities
within the country and between Cuba and the United States. Castro nationalized
large agricultural estates, sugar refineries, foreign industrial and mining
firms, and privately owned urban properties. These policies were not well
received by U.S. government officials, and in 1960 U.S. president Dwight D.
Eisenhower severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Also in 1960, Eisenhower issued an
executive order implementing a partial trade embargo to prohibit the importation
of Cuban goods. The Congress of the United States institutionalized the embargo
in 1961 with the passage of the Cuban Democracy Act. In return, Castro
nationalized an estimated $8 billion in U.S. assets. U.S. hostility toward the
Castro government encouraged an economic alliance between Cuba and the USSR, the
world’s leading Communist nation. The USSR offered Cuba generous subsidies and
trade agreements that provided agricultural machinery, crude oil, and
technological instruction in exchange for Cuban sugar. Cuba became one of the
USSR’s closest allies.
Despite its alliance with the USSR, Cuba
suffered economic mismanagement, and it relied too heavily on sugar. Its
economic problems became even more serious after 1989, when Communist
governments began to collapse in Eastern Europe and the USSR reduced its aid to
Cuba as well as its trade with the island. Cuba’s gross domestic product (GDP)
fell at least 35 percent from 1983 to 1993, with the steepest decline between
1990 and 1993. From 1989 to 1992, imports fell from $8 billion to $2.2 billion.
By the mid-1990s the Cuban economy began to
recover from its free fall, and the government focused its fiscal policies on
increasing productivity and cutting costs. It also turned to foreign investment
to help the country upgrade its aging infrastructure and develop new industries.
These efforts helped reduce public-sector spending and the deficit. The economy
also began to move away from its reliance on sugar as the government decreased
sugar production. As the 21st century began, Cuba’s economy had become less
dependent on agriculture and instead began to rely more heavily on tourism and
biotechnology.
A | Labor |
Since the Cuban Revolution, the Cuban
government has employed a large percentage of the workforce. Prior to the
economic collapse of the late 1980s, the state employed more than 90 percent of
the labor force. By the beginning of the 21st century, the figure had dropped to
about 75 percent as a result of the government’s efforts to decentralize the
economy and encourage private enterprise.
In 1990, 18 percent of the workforce was
employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing; 30 percent worked in industry;
and 51 percent worked in the services. By 2004 agriculture, forestry, and
fishing accounted for 21 percent of the labor force; industry, 19 percent; and
services, 59 percent. The decline in the percentage working in industry reflects
Cuba’s efforts to make its industrial sector more profitable by streamlining
operations.
No official figures are available that
show how the economic crisis beginning in the late 1980s affected labor, but in
the mid-1990s unemployment in Cuba was estimated at about 25 percent. This
compares with no unemployment between 1965 and 1980, an 18 percent unemployment
rate in 1952, and more than 30 percent unemployment in 1933. At the beginning of
the 21st century, unemployment had declined to about 5.5 percent according to
the Cuban government.
However, economic figures do not capture
the full picture of labor activity in Cuba. Many Cubans have chosen to leave
their jobs in order to freelance in independent businesses. Their economic
activities are not recorded in official labor census data, but they may have
income in dollars as freelance entrepreneurs.
In addition, the government does not
count the amount of work done by forced “voluntary” labor. The government
requires every adult capable of work to volunteer for 150 hours per year. Their
duties take them into entirely different occupations from their own, and they
usually work in construction, agricultural fields, urban sanitation, and
fumigation. The government tracks attendance, and delinquent citizens can be
fined or made to work extended hours. Additionally, people are required
to do guard duty at their work places and in neighborhoods, and some belong to
the militia.
Workers in the state sector represent
themselves through the Cuban Confederation of Workers (Confederación de
Trabajadores de Cuba, Spanish acronym CTC), which has minimal power to influence
labor practices and salary levels. Within work establishments, local boards of
the CTC arbitrate labor disputes. Workers participate in these discussions and
decisions.
B | Agriculture |
More than three-quarters of the Cuban
population live in cities, yet the economy remains largely agricultural. Sugar
has long been an important part of Cuba’s economy. In the early 1990s, however,
the sugar industry was plagued by inefficiency and low world prices. In 2002 the
government restructured the industry by shutting about half of its sugar mills
and reducing the amount of land used for growing sugar. The goal was to make the
industry more profitable and to open up land for food production. Sugar
production in 1990 was 8 million metric tons; in 2006 Cuba produced 1.5 million
metric tons. Sugar production fell from 65 percent of Cuba’s export earnings at
the beginning of the economic crisisto 27 percent in 2000.
Coffee is another important agricultural
product. However, coffee production declined as the rural population
increasingly moved to the cities. In response, the government had modest success
in a program that offered incentives for people to move from cities to the
Sierra Maestra mountains to harvest coffee. Most coffee is exported, leaving
little for domestic consumption. Tobacco production in Cuba has remained about
the same since the late 1990s. Cuban cigars are much in demand worldwide and
almost all are exported.
Three types of farms emerged following
the revolution. Farms seized from large landholders became state farms. State
farms were huge estates completely owned and operated by the government and
worked by state employees. Smaller farms were organized into collectives that
allowed farmers who owned parcels of land making up the collective to have
access to seed, fertilizers, and equipment. They had to give a designated
percentage of their crops to the government. Small farms, never entirely
eliminated by the socialist government, remained under private ownership. They
received no state aid and sold their produce directly to the government.
Between 1975 and 1985, Cuba experimented
with limited free-market reforms (Free-Market Economy) in order to boost food
production. During this time the government allowed farmers to keep a small
percentage of their crops to sell in markets. However, Castro ended the
experiment in 1985 after deciding that allowing some farmers to grow wealthier
than their neighbors created social inequities.
Domestic agricultural production has
dropped precipitously in recent years. To increase production, the government
again allowed farmers to sell excess produce for a profit in farmers’ markets
and began to divide state farms into collectives, which had proven to be far
more productive. Thus, in 1998 the government directly owned only about 30
percent of Cuba’s farmland, down from over 75 percent at the beginning of the
1990s.
C | Tourism |
Tourism is the only economic sector that
has grown significantly in Cuba since the late 1980s. The government depends on
the profits of tourism to bring in valuable foreign currency. In 1990 tourists
spent $243 million in Cuba; in 2006 that figure had increased to $2.1 billion.
The number of people vacationing in Cuba grew from only 3,000 in 1973 to 326,000
in 1989, and to 2.1 million in 2006.
Yet tourism has intensified
dissatisfaction with the government’s solutions to economic scarcity. Foreigners
dine at well-stocked restaurants and shop in luxury stores, while Cubans not
only do without luxury goods but many also go without subsistence items. The
best hotels and beaches bar access to Cubans, who have been repeatedly told
since the revolution that each citizen has the right to a share of all national
goods. In order to gain access to dollars, many Cubans have left their
traditional jobs to drive taxies and provide services in tourism. Prostitution,
which was practically eliminated in the years following the revolution, has
surpassed prerevolutionary levels. Often, the prostitutes are women and men with
high levels of education, all of whom are anxious to have access to tourist
dollars.
D | Mining |
Cuba’s most abundant and profitable
mineral export is nickel. Located in the eastern province of Holguín, Cuba’s
nickel reserves are thought to be among the largest in the world. Prior to 1959,
U.S. investors owned almost all the nickel mines. For this reason, the U.S.
embargo specifically prohibited businesses that trade in Cuban nickel from
trading with the United States. Even so, Canada defied U.S. orders to stop
nickel investments and entered into joint ventures with Cuba. As a result of
these joint ventures, the production of nickel almost doubled from 1995 to 2001.
Cuba is also one of the world’s largest producers of cobalt. Other important
minerals are copper, chromium, salt, stone, and natural gas.
Cuba’s petroleum deposits are scarce and
yield high sulfur residues that corrode rigs and refineries. Few foreign
investors have been willing to produce crude oil in Cuba. Nevertheless,
production increased to 20.1 million barrels of oil and 350 million cu m (12.4
billion cu ft) of natural gas by 2003. The oil and gas help meet energy demand
in Cuba’s thermal power plants as well as the energy needed to produce cement
and asphalt.
E | Biotechnology |
After the U.S. embargo shut down medical
supplies, Castro invested $150 million in the construction of the Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology Center. This state-of-the-art research lab has
invented cholesterol-lowering drugs, detection tests for acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a meningitis vaccine, remedies for hepatitis
B, and other pharmaceuticals. Industrial manufacture of these medicines has
exceeded domestic demand. Cuba has partnered with other nations to develop and
export its pharmaceuticals.
F | Forestry and Fishing |
Cuban forests were indiscriminately cut
and reduced from more than 40 percent of the total land area in 1945 to less
than 10 percent in 1960. The government undertook a reforestation program in the
mid-1960s, and in 2005 forests covered 24 percent of the island. Almost all of
the timber harvest is made up of hardwoods. Forested lands are located in
western and eastern Cuba.
The fishing industry traditionally
comprised small independent operators banded into cooperatives. The government,
however, has developed a large deep-sea fleet. In the 1980s the government
streamlined its administration of the industry and insisted that the fishing
fleet support its own operations with money raised by the overseas sale of their
catch. Cuba exports shrimp, red snapper, and tuna, and shellfish is one of
Cuba’s most lucrative export items.
G | Manufacturing |
Manufacturing has never played a major
role in Cuba’s economy, largely because most financiers opted to invest their
money in the lucrative sugar industry. Sporadically throughout the 20th century,
Cubans tried to diversify the economy in order to create new avenues for income
and additional opportunities for employment and technology. However, Cuba
hindered efforts to diversify with poor planning and management. In addition,
the U.S. economic blockade hurt these efforts.
In the early 1970s, Cuba undertook a
program to automate its sugar industry. The dairy and cattle industries were
also streamlined. Other major manufactures include cement, steel, refined
petroleum, rubber and tobacco products, processed food, textiles, clothing,
footwear, chemicals, and fertilizer.
H | Energy |
From 1990 to 2000 Cuba greatly increased
its production of crude petroleum. As a result, Cuba’s petroleum imports dropped
significantly. Cuba also boosted its production of natural gas from 32.3 million
cu m (1.14 billion cu ft) in 1990 to 350 million cu m (12.4 billion cu ft) in
2003. Most residential dwellings have working electricity, but blackouts caused
by old equipment and scarce fuel supplies occur with some frequency.
I | Transportation and Communications |
After 1991 public transportation
decreased due to shortages in gasoline and the lack of spare replacement parts
for buses. Private chauffeurs with access to gasoline began black market taxi
services. Crowded and uncomfortable camellos (Spanish for “camels”), bus
bodies welded together and pulled by diesel cabs, ran intermittently and
provided transportation in the cities. More expensive small buses carried people
who could pay five times the fare of the camellos. The most common mode of
travel has been bicycles, introduced in mass numbers in 1988. Cuba’s national
airline is Cubana de Aviación, which has both domestic and international
flights. The nation’s chief ports are Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Santiago
de Cuba.
Communication services have improved due
to new contract terms between the United States and Cuba over international
telephone calls. New cables link the two nations, although all expenses must be
born by U.S. callers.
Mass communication through television and
radio are well developed, although state censorship controls the content of all
programs. The print media conveys newsworthy information as well as government
propaganda. Granma is the major newspaper. Juventud
Rebelde and Trabajadores, newspapers for youth and workers,
respectively, are also distributed throughout the island. Mujeres
and Muchachas are journals published by the Federation for
Cuban Women and inform on issues such as fashion, housekeeping, women in the
military and in foreign service, health, and political propaganda. Verde
Olivo is a journal for members of the military.
J | Foreign Trade |
The number of Cuba’s economic partners
increased after 1990 due to the loss of the Soviet-bloc trade and in spite of
the U.S. embargo. The nation’s main trading partners for imports are Spain,
Italy, France, China, and Mexico, and its main trading partners for exports are
The Netherlands, Russia, Canada, Spain, and China. The value of Cuba’s imports
exceeds the value of its exports largely because of the high cost of oil imports
and the nation’s dependence on imported food. Along with oil and food, Cuba’s
main imports are machinery, transport equipment, and chemicals, while its main
exports are sugar, tobacco products, nickel, seafood, medical products, and
coffee.
The U.S. embargo has barred Cuba from
development loans offered from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the
Interamerican Development Bank, which provides funds to help economic
development in nations of the Western Hemisphere. Other sources of long-term
loans have not been forthcoming. Cuba stopped paying installments on its debts
in 1986, and lenders have been reluctant to extend further loans. Cuba’s foreign
debt is estimated to be more than $10 billion.
Since the collapse of the COMECON trade
association, Cuba has struggled to adjust to capitalist markets. Cuba belongs to
no trade association, but leaders are looking toward Latin America, the European
Common Market, and Canada for opportunities to expand commerce.
K | Currency and Banking |
The Cuban peso is the national currency
and has had an official conversion value of 1 peso to the U.S. dollar.
The black market is a better indicator of the real value of the peso. In 1989
the black-market value was 5 pesos for 1 dollar, and in 1994 it fell to 120
pesos to 1 dollar. In 1997 that rate was 30 pesos per dollar. As the Cuban
economy stabilized in the early 21st century, the black-market rate for pesos
declined. After its legalization in 1993, the U.S. dollar became the preferred
currency in Cuba, and some items were bought and sold only for dollars. However,
the Cuban government imposed new restrictions on use of the U.S. dollar in
October 2004, requiring conversion to the peso for business transactions. The
Central Bank of Cuba regulates fiscal policies and currency valuation.
VI | GOVERNMENT |
At the beginning of the 20th century, Cuba
was an independent nation under U.S. protection. After the Spanish-American War
(1898), the United States occupied Cuba, and Cuba established a government that
met the approval of the United States. In 1902 the nation entered a period of
unstable democratic government punctuated by two periods with dictators. After
1959 a socialist revolutionary regime emerged.
The Cuban Revolution brought down the
republic on January 1, 1959, and by 1961 the government had been centralized
under the Partido Comunista Cubano (PCC; Cuban Communist Party) and its prime
minister, Fidel Castro. Until the 1970s, Cuba’s revolutionary government ran on
informal legal agreements that ignored the provisions of the 1940 constitution.
The executive branch initiated decree laws, which were laws drawn up and passed
by the executive branch. They were implemented and enforced unless the
legislative branch rejected them, which never happened.
In 1976 the Cuban government instituted a
new constitution that formalized a communist system of government. Under the
constitution, numerous committees, councils, and ministries control political
sectors such as the Federation of Cuban Women, the Association of Small Farmers,
the University Student Association, and the Labor Union. These political sectors
provide citizens with input into government decisions and allow the government
to quickly distribute information on official policies to the people. All units
are answerable to the PCC and ultimately to Fidel Castro.
The revolution professed centralized
democracy, meaning that popular participation occurs within designated mass
organizations established and controlled by the state. The Communist leadership
believes that traditional democracies in Latin America often become military
dictatorships or become subject to government corruption, which renders their
democratic institutions meaningless. In theory, the Cuban government avoids
dictatorship and corruption by creating a strong, centralized political
structure that makes every effort to incorporate the opinions of the people when
making policy decisions. This, to their way of thinking, qualifies Cuba as a
democracy and not a totalitarian government. However, Castro makes all major
decisions, without popular referendums.
Political organization outside the
government structure is strictly forbidden. The PCC and Fidel Castro control the
press and discourage independent political gatherings. The degree of repression
is difficult to ascertain because Cuba restricts outside access to prisons.
Political executions occur but are rare. Cubans suppress their opinions because
they fear that their dissenting views might be reported to the government.
Without freedom of speech, Cubans have no opportunity to reach political
consensus on issues or to choose opposition leaders. Only spontaneous eruptions
of frustration display the tension within the Cuban population.
A | Executive |
Under the 1976 constitution, the
president is the head of state. The president’s tenure in office is confirmed
every five years by a vote of the National Assembly of People’s Power. The
president is advised by a Council of Ministers composed of the executive
officers of all the official government ministries; an Executive Council, made
up of the president, first vice president, and five vice presidents; and the
Council of State, made up of 30 members of the Cuban Communist Party. The
Council of State has legislative powers when the National Assembly is in
recess.
B | The Cuban Communist Party |
The Cuban Communist Party (PCC) is the
ideological guide of the revolution. Its influence is felt in all political
institutions, work units, and neighborhoods through its various agencies, such
as the Labor Confederation, the Federation of Cuban Women, and the Committees
for the Defense of the Revolution—neighborhood committees designed to coordinate
public projects and ensure political conformity. High officials as well as
common laborers may be members of the PCC. Young people can start as members of
the Young Communist League and later advance into the PCC if they are selected
and if they agree to join.
Fidel Castro holds the ultimate deciding
power within the PCC, but the PCC contains an inner circle of members
responsible for shaping and implementing government actions. The Politburo
presides over the party and the Central Committee. The Politburo measures major
policy decisions against Communist ideals and advises Castro, his ministers, and
the legislative delegates about the ideological purity of their policies. The
party’s Central Committee decides policy and collects information to make
political decisions. Party members, chosen for their allegiance, hold other
government offices, often as the presidents or directors of government
agencies.
Every five years the PCC holds a
congress at which the common people have the right to present their views. A
tenet of Cuban justice is that the law is determined by popular consensus.
Although a number of civil laws and the 1976 constitution were debated at local
levels and ratified by referendum, in reality the central government makes the
basic decisions on laws and policies.
C | Legislature |
The 1976 constitution instituted a
concept known as the People’s Power construct, a structure designed to allow
Cuban citizens greater participation in government policy-making decisions. The
People’s Power consists of assemblies that administer government and pass laws.
These assemblies exist at municipal, provincial, and national levels. Delegates
are nominated and elected first at the municipal level. They need not be members
of the PCC. However, the party must approve all candidates, and individuals may
not run on a political platform. Instead, voters select their delegate from
brief biographies and from personal acquaintance with the person. The 169
municipal assemblies allocate funds for maintenance of municipal facilities and
hear cases involving household disputes and petty crime. Smaller communities
with populations of 30,000 or more elect delegates to people’s councils. Members
of the municipal assemblies and the people’s councils elect representatives to
their provincial assemblies from their membership.
Each of Cuba’s 14 provinces has its own
assembly. Provincial assemblies oversee transportation and communication systems
throughout the island and recommend legislation regarding interstate crime and
allocations of resources for development. From their own membership, provincial
delegates nominate and elect representatives to the 601-member National Assembly
of People’s Power. In 1992 the public approved a referendum calling for assembly
members to be elected directly by the people. Only candidates belonging to the
PCC are allowed to run.
The National Assembly votes on
legislation presented by the PCC, and every four years it elects the president
of the country. It occasionally debates the wisdom of legislation, but it has
never failed to approve the central government’s proposals. When the National
Assembly is in recess, which is most of the year, the Council of State has
legislative powers.
Legislation can originate in various
governmental branches. The president may decree laws that are in effect until
they are accepted or rejected by the National Assembly. The Politburo and
Central Committee can write legislation that is submitted to the National
Assembly. And the courts can suggest legal reforms and interpretations to be
enacted by the assembly.
D | Mass Organizations |
The Cuban political structure depends
upon popular organizations that are not officially controlled by the PCC but are
closely linked to it. Every citizen may belong to several of these
organizations, which correspond to major social and economic sectors. For
example, the Federation of Cuban Women seeks the membership of all eligible
women over the age of 16 and deals with issues in the areas of health, child
care, family relations, education, and loyalty to the revolution. Farmers may
join the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), which introduces
agricultural technology to farmers. It also tries to resolve problems relating
to transporting produce to markets from cooperatives and private farms that are
not a part of the state-run system.
Workers’ issues are represented to the
government by the Confederation of Cuban Laborers (CTC), and the CTC conveys
government decisions to workers. It oversees labor disputes between management
and workers, as the right to strike was rescinded in the 1960s. The CTC works on
behalf of the government by trying to maintain high levels of production. The
Young Communist League indoctrinates Cuban youth with the ideals of Communism.
The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution are neighborhood groups that
call meetings to review the meaning of Fidel Castro’s speeches, provide
neighborhood watch groups against crime, inform the neighborhood of civil and
political activities, and report suspicious political behavior by local
residents.
Within all of these groups, people can
express their opinions and criticisms, although their views must follow
revolutionary principles. Opinions are transmitted to central authorities who
consider them as they make administrative decisions. One important legislative
document brought before the public before its formal passage was the Family Code
of 1975, which described the role of each member of a family. Massive public
debate occurred and opinions were polled before the code became law. The
numerous mass organizations also function as an official means of communication
between the government and the people as they convey public policies to the
citizenry.
E | Judiciary |
The Council of State and the Ministry of
Justice administer the court system. Municipal and provincial courts and the
national People’s Supreme Court hear cases and interpret the law. Cuban citizens
receive legal counsel from law collectives that are organized from the municipal
to the national levels.
Immediately following the revolution,
some jurists predicted that the need for laws and courts would disappear as Cuba
more nearly approached a perfect communist state. They envisioned that the state
would dissolve and people would live together harmoniously, working for the good
of the whole. Norms of social behavior, not laws, would govern their actions. By
1963 jurists abandoned this reasoning because they understood that the utopian
state was a long time off. By 1970 new generations of lawyers were trained to
serve as counsels for national and international agencies and as civil and
criminal attorneys. Between 1970 and 1971, Cuba’s legal codes were restructured
to reflect its socialist government. The government issued a number of law codes
to formally institutionalize the economic, social, and legal changes Castro had
made by decree following the revolution.
The courts at all levels employ formally
trained judges, who have attended law school, and lay judges. Lay judges do not
have formal instruction from law schools, but they do receive training before
assuming their responsibilities. Lay judges compose 95 percent of all sitting
judges in the country. They are elected to their posts and serve for a specified
period. Lay judges must demonstrate enthusiasm for their work, and they must
respect the seriousness of their responsibilities, have adequate
education levels, and show evidence of good moral character. They are intended
to bring a nontechnical view to court considerations, where they can note
mitigating circumstances that lawyer judges might not consider. The lay judges
represent community values, and their contribution to deciding cases is a means
of democratizing the legal system.
Military tribunals sit on cases
involving infractions by military personnel. These courts, as well as civil and
criminal courts, are theoretically independent from political interference and
guided by military and national laws, respectively.
Political prisoners are still in Cuban
jails, and it is difficult to ascertain their offenses or to gain access to the
legal decisions surrounding their cases. The government occasionally releases
prisoners as part of international negotiations or when the prisoners have
completed their sentences. Some former political prisoners remain in Cuba, where
they are reabsorbed into daily life after serving their sentences. Others may be
permitted to emigrate to another country at the end of their jail time. Arrests
and releases may occur for purely ideological motives. Human rights groups such
as Amnesty International and America’s Watch have criticized the Castro
government for obstructing investigations into allegations of political arrests,
mistreatment, and violations of international human rights agreements.
F | Defense |
The Cuban Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias (Revolutionary Armed Forces, or FAR) has its roots in the
revolutionary guerrilla troops who fought under Castro during the revolution in
the late 1950s. When Castro came to power in 1959, he amassed the largest
standing army in Latin America. He also created a militarized society in which
all citizens were on alert against U.S. aggression. All social movements, such
as the literacy brigades, were organized and led as though they were military
offensives. The FAR, which draws recruits from throughout the population, is
intended to fight invasions and wars in foreign lands. It may also be used to
suppress insurrection. In peacetime, the FAR serves in national emergencies,
such as cleanups after hurricanes and in harvesting the sugar fields when a crop
is in danger.
The military is organized under the
Ministerio de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (Ministry of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces, or MINFAR) and commanded by the president and vice president. The
FAR and the PCC are linked through FAR membership in Communist Party
organizations. Military officials hold office in the Central Committee and the
Politburo, and they sit in the Council of Ministers. The military defends the
country, trains young people for war and peace, helps Cubans develop useful
skills and work habits, and maintains domestic security.
At home, the FAR defended Cuba in 1961
during the Bay of Pigs invasion, when U.S.-backed Cuban exiles unsuccessfully
attempted to invade the island and topple the Castro government. The military
also fought abroad for socialist and nationalist causes, and it supported
nations who were trying to resist U.S. influence in their internal affairs. From
1960 to 1990 the FAR participated in international revolutionary campaigns in
Latin America, Asia, and Africa, most notably in Angola from 1973 to 1990.
The government severely restricted
military expenditures beginning in the 1990s and Cuba’s involvement in foreign
wars ended. The government also allocated a smaller budget for the military,
which fell from $2.2 billion in 1988 to $1,200 million in 2003. It also reduced
the size of the military from 180,500 men and women to 49,000 in 2004.
Despite these military reductions, Cuba
has worked to ensure a strong national defense. The government maintains
constant preparedness for the People’s War, the government’s term since 1980 for
an all-out military conflict between Cuba and the United States in which the
people will bear arms in the defense of Cuba. Preparedness involves readiness
not only in the regular army, but also among reservists, retired officers, and a
1.3-million-person militia. All of these military resources practice war games
and train for war on a regular basis.
The Ministerio del Interior (known as
MININT) is Cuba’s state agency responsible for internal security. Within MININT
are a number of paramilitary, military, and intelligence branches: the Border
Guard Troops; the National Revolutionary Police; the Special Troops, which are
under Fidel Castro’s direct command; the Department of State Security Force,
which conducts domestic intelligence; and the Department of General
Intelligence, which operates international espionage. The MININT is responsible
for top security and intelligence operations, and its members are assumed to be
absolutely loyal to the revolutionary government. Only high-ranking officers are
assigned to handle the secretive work characteristic of the MININT.
G | International Relations |
Since the revolution, Cuba has tried to
export the ideals of the revolution throughout the world as a means of bringing
down capitalism and opposing the U.S. model of constitutional government. United
States policy has been directed toward ousting Communist control and bringing
Cuba back under U.S. influence. The two nations have clashed in nearly every
continent of the world, and Cuba’s survival often relied heavily on the support
of the USSR. After the USSR collapsed and a Cuban economic crisis began, active
Cuban support for international revolutionary causes ceased. Cuba’s leadership
turned its attention to redesigning socialism to include some capitalist
activity and trade with capitalist nations. To this end, Cuba formed new
alliances with Latin American countries with which it previously had no
relations. Trade agreements resulted with capitalist nations, such as Canada,
France, Spain, Italy, and the Russian Federation.
The United States has continued to
oppose Cuba, regardless of the changes in Cuba’s foreign policy over the past 25
years. In the late 1970s the United States refused to establish diplomatic
relations unless Cuba withdrew its military from foreign countries, specifically
Angola, released political prisoners, and paid compensation to former owners of
nationalized properties. Cuba not only did not leave the foreign countries in
which it was involved, but Castro committed troops in Nicaragua, where rebels
were fighting to overthrow the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. This action
brought an end to secret peace talks between Cuba and the United States. During
the 1980s, U.S. president Ronald Reagan viewed Cuba as the source of Communist
influence in the Western Hemisphere.
After 1991 the Cuban government offered
compensation for seized property, released political prisoners, permitted U.S.
news bureaus in Cuba, and stopped trying to export the ideals of the revolution.
However, the United States has not reestablished relations with Cuba despite
these concessions. The Congress of the United States, first through the
Torricelli Law of 1991 and then in the Helms-Burton Law of 1996, demanded
elections in Cuba similar to those in the United States and the removal of
Castro and his associates. In 1996 U.S.-Cuban relations once again grew hostile
after Cuban fighter planes shot down two civilian aircraft piloted by U.S.-based
Cuban exiles, which convinced U.S. president Bill Clinton to sign the
Helms-Burton Law.
In 1998, however, President Clinton
responded to international condemnation of the U.S. economic blockade by
relaxing restrictions on the admittance of food and medicine, and on money sent
to Cuban citizens from individuals in the United States. Sports also served as
the medium for cultural exchange when an arrangement worked out in 1998 through
informal diplomatic channels allowed the Baltimore Orioles, a professional U.S.
baseball team, and the Cuban All-Stars baseball team to play games in Baltimore,
Maryland, and Havana.
Although relations between the Cuban and
U.S. governments periodically thaw, citizens of both countries have experienced
prohibitions against traveling to, communicating with, and knowing about the
other country. But despite each government’s attempts to ignore or vilify the
other, their diplomatic policies remained focused on one another as they battle
for international approval.
Despite strained relations between the
United States and Cuba, the United States maintains a naval base at Guantánamo
Bay on Cuban territory. The United States obtained the base under a 1903
agreement between the two countries after the Spanish-American War. A 1934
treaty reaffirmed the U.S. right to lease the site from Cuba. After Fidel Castro
came to power in 1959, he stopped cashing annual lease payments after the first
check and declared the 1934 lease agreement illegal. The Guantánamo Bay base
became a detention center for captured terrorist suspects and other prisoners
following the September 11 attacks on the United States and the subsequent war
on terror.
H | International Organizations |
Cuba is currently a member of the United
Nations and the Nonaligned Movement.
VII | HISTORY |
Cuba’s location has determined the
island’s political, social, and economic history. No other political entity in
the Western Hemisphere has been as contested as Cuba has, and no other society
has passed from colonial status, to a republic, to a socialist state in less
than 100 years. The largest and most western island of the Antilles archipelago,
Cuba is centrally located between North and South America, and guards access to
the Caribbean Sea. For hundreds of years, its strategic position and its rich
soil, abundant harbors, and mineral reserves have attracted foreign powers,
first Spain, then the United States, and then the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR).
A | Pre-Columbian Society |
Cuba’s first inhabitants were indigenous
people who arrived by sea, following the trade winds westward from the coast of
Venezuela along the islands of the Caribbean. Little evidence remains of the
first indigenous people, the Ciboney (or Guanahacabibe), who began settling the
island about 1000 bc. The Ciboney
lived along the coast and survived by fishing, hunting, and gathering plant
foods. They lived in small, seminomadic clans and left no written record of
their society, religions, or languages.
A more warlike group of the Arawakan
(see Arawak) language family reached Cuba in two waves, beginning with
the sub-Taínos, who arrived about ad 900, gradually pushing the Ciboney to
the western third of the island. Members of the Arawakan language family lived
in thatched houses and were governed by caciques (tribal chiefs). They
survived by fishing and collectively working gardens, where they grew cassava,
maize (corn), beans, sweet potatoes, yucca, tomatoes, and pineapples. They also
grew tobacco, which they used for religious ceremonies and medicinal purposes. A
second migratory wave, the Taínos, swept into the eastern coastal area of Cuba
from the neighboring island of Hispaniola in the 15th century, just before the
Spanish conquest.
When explorer Christopher Columbus
reached the island on October 27, 1492, Cuba’s indigenous population numbered
approximately 112,000, with 92,000 sub-Taínos, 10,000 Taínos, and 10,000
Ciboney. Columbus claimed the island for Spain, the nation that had sponsored
his voyage.
B | Spanish Rule |
B1 | Colonization |
On his first visit, Columbus
optimistically assessed the island’s natural beauty and the abundance of
wildlife, noting the variation of coastal harbors, high mountains, tropical rain
forests, and rolling savannas. On his second voyage in 1494, Columbus charted
Cuba’s southern coast, mistakenly declaring the territory a peninsula of Asia’s
mainland. In 1508 Sebastian de Ocampo mapped the entire coastline and determined
that Cuba was an island.
Cuba attracted little interest from
Spanish settlers until the Spanish colony on Hispaniola became overcrowded and
indigenous laborers grew scarce. In 1511 Diego Velázquez, a Spanish colonist
from Hispaniola, landed ships carrying 300 soldiers on Cuba’s southeastern shore
near Guantánamo. He encountered native resistance led by Hatuey, a chief who had
escaped from Hispaniola and who knew the ways of the European conquerors. It
took three months to defeat and execute Hatuey.
Also in 1511 Spanish soldier Pánfilo de
Narváez sailed from Jamaica along the southern coast of Cuba. He forced Native
Americans to convert to Catholicism and to accept the Spanish monarch as their
leader. In 1515 Velázquez and Narváez were joined by an overland army, which
marched east across Cuba as far as what is today Havana. The Spaniards massacred
both warriors and civilians as a means of breaking their will to resist. These
conquerors founded many of Cuba’s oldest towns. Many of these settlements, such
as Baracoa, Trinidad, Puerto Príncipe, Havana, and Santiago de Cuba, were
located on harbors, but two, Sancti Spíritus and Bayamo, were interior towns.
The Spanish monarchs rewarded the
conquerors and their soldiers with encomiendas, jurisdiction over
geographical areas. This jurisdiction included the right to tax Native Americans
and force them to work for the benefit of the encomendero who had the right to
the tribute and labor of the Native Americans. The Spanish put native Cubans to
work in mines, on agricultural estates, as household servants, and as soldiers
in armies bound for the American mainland. Wrenched from their ecological and
social communities and subjugated to overwork, malnutrition, and new diseases,
the Arawaks and Ciboney were nearly exterminated by 1542. Yet during the first
half of the 16th century, native Cuban rebellions occurred against the Spanish
populations in Puerto Príncipe, Bayamo, and Baracoa. Rather than become Spanish
slaves or starve, many of Cuba’s original inhabitants killed their own children
and committed suicide. Conquest, mistreatment, overwork, malnutrition, disease,
and suicide reduced the native population to 3,000 by 1555.
Cuba’s prominence as a new colony was
brief. The discovery of gold on the American mainland and the conquest of the
Aztec Empire in 1521 enticed Spanish settlers to leave Cuba. To avoid
depopulation, the Spanish authorities offered encomiendas to single men and
penalized people who departed Cuba unauthorized. Still, by 1550 Cuba’s Spanish
population had fallen to an estimated 700.
B2 | Prosperity and Plunder |
Cuba’s strategic location in the
Caribbean made it an important port and military base. The Spanish organized a
shipping system that transported European goods to the Americas and returned
American wealth and resources to Spain. Cuba was an important part of this
system. It guarded the sea channels through which the treasure ships passed
twice a year. Havana harbor served as a base for refitting the treasure fleets
before the return voyage to Spain.
This concentration of Spanish treasure
drew the attention of other European powers. The French attacked Havana in 1555,
only two years after it had been named the new capital of Cuba. King Charles I
of Spain immediately established a naval base. He built several imposing
fortresses to guard the mouth of Havana’s harbor and stationed between 400 and
1,000 soldiers to defend Cuba’s coasts. Suddenly Cuba began attracting settlers
who served as military personnel, built ships, provided food, and constructed
buildings. However, little of the riches that passed through Havana Harbor
reached the Cuban population, who remained poor, with very little economic
security.
The Spanish military presence was
focused around Havana in the west, leaving eastern Cuba open to French and
English raids. Eastern Cuba also emerged as a center of illegal trade in Cuban
tobacco, cattle, and sugar. Many Spanish colonists regularly broke the law to
trade with foreign merchants because they disliked the official Spanish policy.
This policy decreed that only Spanish merchants could trade with the colony,
keeping import prices high and reducing profits on Cuban exports.
In the 17th century Cuba began
importing Africans to work as slaves (see Atlantic Slave Trade). The
slaves replaced the rapidly disappearing indigenous people as laborers in copper
mines and on sugar plantations. By 1650 African slaves numbered 5,000, compared
to an indigenous population of 2,000. Under Cuban law slaves could buy their
freedom, and eventually the Cuban population contained a high number of free
blacks and mulattoes.
The arrival of slaves resulted in one
of the most notable characteristics of Cuba’s heritage: a racially mixed
population. During the first two centuries of Spanish settlement, few European
women settled in Cuba. Spanish men married or had relationships with indigenous
and African women. Cuba’s classes and races blended, producing a mixture of
religions, music, language, foods, and customs that combined three cultures into
a new Cuban culture.
In the early 18th century, Spain
introduced a series of administrative reforms in its colonies designed to
modernize colonial institutions. The first reform focused on the tobacco trade,
creating a tobacco monopoly in Cuba that set prices, regulated production, and
sold products abroad. The monopoly kept most of the profits for itself, and its
policies provoked three armed rebellions among Cuban tobacco growers between
1717 and 1723. The last uprising resulted in a compromise, which allowed Cuban
growers to sell two-thirds of their crops outside the monopoly.
Another attempt at reform centered on
sugar production. The royal company established in 1740 made high profits from
the sugar trade. However, its wealth created inflation within Cuba, driving
small farmers and people not involved in sugar to near ruin. Sugar output
expanded, and by 1760 those with influence in the sugar monopoly became Cuba’s
new elite.
During the 18th century, Cuba began
developing its own cultural and social institutions. Cubans built
seminaries—schools for training priests—and founded other schools, including the
University of Havana, established in 1728. Access to higher learning and the
arts was not restricted to the elite class. Slaves who had purchased their
freedom began forming associations that paid for education and medical treatment
for their members. Some blacks were able to advance into the middle class as
well, but the owners of large sugar plantations continued to dominate the
economy, and most wealth went to Spaniards and white Creoles (people of Spanish
ancestry born in Cuba).
Some of the Spanish policies that had
hampered Creole hopes for economic advancement ended abruptly as a result of the
Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), which pitted France and Spain against the British.
In 1762 Havana was attacked and held by the British. Though the British
occupation lasted only ten months, it opened Cuba’s economy to free trade with
Britain and her colonies. When the British pulled out of Cuba at the end of the
war, Spain relaxed its trade policy and permitted Spanish colonies to trade
among themselves. This increased Havana’s importance to both Spain and the other
Spanish colonies.
B3 | Sugar and Slaves |
The sugar industry received a major
boost when a slave rebellion broke out in the French colony of Saint-Domingue
(now Haiti) in 1791. The slaves massacred many of their French masters and drove
the remaining French planters from the colony. Prior to the revolt,
Saint-Domingue had a booming coffee and sugar industry that depended on African
slaves. After 1791 Haiti’s sugar production never matched its former output, and
Cuba emerged as the world’s major sugar producer.
Enterprising Cuban landowners bought
new land, built additional sugar refineries, and imported unprecedented numbers
of African slaves. Between 1780 and 1788, more than 18,000 slaves were brought
to Cuba. That number increased to over 125,000 between 1789 and 1810. Between
1811 and 1820, the decade of the greatest African slave trade, over 161,000
human beings were carried against their wills from Africa to Cuba. For the next
40 years, over 200,000 new slaves labored on plantations. Creole plantation
owners flourished, slave traders bought land and built plantations with the
profits they made from selling slaves, and Spanish moneylenders filled their
pockets with the interest from loan payments for land purchases. Cuba’s economy
became a monoculture, an economy based on one product. The economy boomed in
years when world sugar prices were good and went bust when prices were
down.
Sugar production rested on slave labor,
and the life of a slave in Cuba was often harsh. Most Cuban slaves were males
who worked long, hard hours clearing land and cutting cane on the sugar
plantations. Once a slave began work in a sugar field, his or her future life
expectancy shrank to eight years. Plantation owners tended to work slaves hard
until they died and then replaced them with new slaves. The sugar harvest
required backbreaking work. From November to May, slaves worked shifts of 16 to
19 hours daily. During the slow months from June through October, owners could
not work their slaves more than 9 hours a day by law. Women could be field
slaves, and when they were, they worked the same hours and at the same jobs as
men.
Generally slaves were well fed. They
lived in shelters that were usually kept neat by older women, who also looked
after the children. Sundays and holidays were reserved for planting gardens for
the slaves’ subsistence, and the Africans could hold their own religious
ceremonies during this time. Santería, a mixture of beliefs from Catholicism and
the African Lucumí religion emerged. By the end of the 19th century blacks and
whites alike practiced this religion.
Treatment of slaves varied according to
the whims of masters, even though laws offered theoretical protection. Overseers
carried whips, which they used to move people along or to punish them. Not all
slaves accepted their conditions. Some runaway slaves made it into interior
mountains, where they lived in organized communities called palenques
(runaway communities) that the police and the Spanish army tried to destroy.
Just as sugar drove the economy and the
importation of slaves, it also shaped the makeup of the Cuban population,
changing the proportion of whites to blacks and mulattoes, and of free people to
slaves. Liberal policies allowed slaves to obtain their freedom. These policies
distinguished Cuba from many other nations with slavery; they also meant that
Cuba’s population contained a significant number of free people of color.
According to the official census of 1774, the Cuban population was 56.4 percent
white, 19.9 percent free blacks or mulattoes, and 23.7 percent black slaves.
This sizeable population of free blacks worked as artisans, independent farmers,
stevedores, small entrepreneurs, and professionals. At first the Spanish
believed that free blacks made positive contributions to colonial society, but
they soon became concerned that black intellectuals would support emancipation
and slave revolts.
C | Independence |
C1 | Growth of the Independence Movement |
By 1826 most Spanish colonies in Latin
America had achieved independence from Spain (see Latin American
Independence). These independence movements were led by Creole elites seeking to
gain control over their political and economic destinies. In Cuba, however,
high-ranking Creoles had been frightened by the Haitian Slave Revolt and did not
support a revolution against Spanish rule.
Throughout the 19th century, slavery
was fundamental to sugar production in Cuba, where the largest amount of sugar
in the world was grown and refined. At a time when national plantation economies
were gradually emancipating slaves, Cuba was importing them from Africa and
breeding them in Cuba. To preserve slavery, some Cubans advocated annexing Cuba
to the United States, where the institution was still legal in the southern
states. In 1848 at the request of annexationists and U.S. planters, U.S.
president James K. Polk offered Spain $100 million for Cuba, an offer that Spain
turned down. In 1854 the United States again proposed to buy Cuba, this time for
$130 million, but this offer was also rejected. The annexationists made up a
faction of the independence fighters by 1868.
Cuba’s ties with the United States had
been growing throughout the 19th century. The United States provided a large
market for Cuban sugar and supplied food, machinery, household goods, financing,
and technology to the island. Cuba conducted far more trade with the United
States than with Spain, which helped convince many Cubans that they had little
need for Spanish colonial control.
However, not all members of Cuba’s
elite classes supported annexation. A number of intellectuals objected to
joining the United States because of the cultural and historical differences
between Cubans and Americans. Some reformers, called autonomists, wanted Cuba to
be able to control its internal affairs while remaining a part of the Spanish
Empire. Others, the separationists, sought complete independence from Spain and
the United States.
C2 | The Ten Years’ War |
On October 10, 1868, Carlos Manuel de
Céspedes, a Creole planter from eastern Cuba, launched a revolt that would
become known as the Ten Years’ War. The rebels initially were not seeking
independence, but merely social reforms, including effective representation,
freedom of association and speech, tax reform, racial equality, and Cuban
participation in the island’s administration. After realizing that Spain was
unwilling to make concessions, the rebels became committed to full independence
from Spain.
The Cuban patriots had few weapons, no
army, and no government. They fought an improvised guerrilla war against
well-provisioned, highly trained Spanish troops. The patriots fought mainly with
machetes, the long knives used to harvest sugarcane. Most of their actions
involved hit-and-run attacks in which they raided the estates of pro-Spanish
planters and set fire to sugar fields in an attempt to eliminate revenue that
would support the Spanish army. The rebels linked Cuban national identity with
social reform. They pledged to make Cuba a country in which black and white
citizens would have the same legal rights. Consequently, blacks and mulattoes of
all classes made up a huge proportion of the independence army.
De Céspedes and fellow
insurrectionists called a Constituent Assembly at Guaímaro in 1869 to solidify
rebel objectives and form a revolutionary government. The insurgent leaders soon
encountered difficulties in uniting the Cubans. Most rebels came from eastern
Cuba. The majority of people in western Cuba continued to support Spain, mainly
because wealthy planters in the west opposed freedom for slaves.
The Spanish responded to the rebels by
bringing in tens of thousands of soldiers. They destroyed plantations whose
owners were suspected of supporting independence and built a series of
north-south trenches across the island to protect the west from the insurgents
in the east. By 1878 the patriots were exhausted and had lost the will to
continue the struggle. The Spanish proposed a treaty that granted a general
amnesty and a pardon for all rebels. While most rebels agreed to the treaty,
General Antonio Maceo, a free black and a strong supporter of emancipation,
rejected it. He fled to the United States and joined other Cuban exiles in New
York. They planned a second revolt, and in the summer of 1879 General Calixto
García Iñiguez led rebel troops in the Guerra Chiquita (The Little War),
which lasted about nine months before it collapsed.
Despite the rebels’ losses to the
Spanish, the uprisings did much to create a strong sense of nationalism among
Cubans. At first the rebels preferred reforms rather than an outright break with
Spain. By the end of the Ten Years’ War, they were committed to full
independence. As whites and blacks fought together during the conflict, many of
the old racial and social divisions that characterized Cuba’s colonial social
structure began to dissolve. Many supporters of independence saw the future
struggle for independence as inseparable from the struggle for racial and class
equality in Cuba.
C3 | The Inter-War Period |
With the war over, the Spanish brought
Cuba in line with slave emancipation throughout the rest of the Americas. They
enacted the patronato, a law that required slave owners to prepare their
slaves for freedom. When slavery did end in 1886, only 30,000 slaves remained,
down substantially from the estimated 500,000 at the onset of the Ten Years’
War.
Between 1878 and 1895, Cuba faced a
period of financial and social disintegration. The Spanish levied punishing
taxes and tariffs to pay for war damages and costs. A radical change in the
sugar market compounded this financial burden. Increased cultivation of sugar
beets in the United States drove the price of sugar down from 11 to 8 cents a
pound. Meanwhile, the shift from unpaid slaves to paid laborers increased the
cost of sugar production. By the mid-1880s Cuba was in a deep economic
depression. Massive unemployment resulted, and workers migrated in large numbers
from the countryside to urban centers where a new underclass of beggars and
prostitutes developed. Tens of thousands of professionals left the country to
find employment. Many of them vowed to return to free Cuba and provide it with a
vital economy and just government.
During these years, pro-Spanish forces
began to organize to protect their interests. Conservative Creole planters
founded the Liberal Party (Autonomists). The Spanish elite formed the
Constitutional Union Party. Both parties worked to maintain Cuba’s ties to Spain
and rejected armed revolution as a means of changing government.
The independence forces in exile
continued to organize as well. Cuban writer José Martí soon emerged as the
leader of the renewed independence movement. Martí had traveled throughout the
Americas before settling in New York City in 1881. From New York he wrote
numerous influential newspaper articles on Latin American culture and became a
leading advocate of Cuba’s independence. Martí formed the Cuban Revolutionary
Party (Spanish acronym PRC) in an attempt to unite the various revolutionary
factions and to fuse white and black Cubans into a single army of citizens. By
April 1892, all the revolutionary clubs had joined the PRC. Between 1892 and
1895, the PRC solicited funds, purchased weapons, and trained troops in Cuba and
in the United States. Officially, the United States remained neutral, but
sympathy grew for the independence cause.
C4 | The War of 1895 and the Spanish-American War |
The PRC set February 24, 1895, as the
date to begin the final war of independence. PRC leaders arrived in Cuba, and
small rebellions broke out in the east and moved into central Cuba. At first it
seemed the PRC would lose, especially when on May 19, 1895, José Martí was
killed in the battle of Dos Ríos in Cuba’s southeastern mountains. Moreover, the
United States honored a previous commitment to Spain and intercepted rebel arms
shipments.
Spain sent a massive army of 200,000
troops, the largest ever sent to the Americas, under the command of General
Valeriano Weyler, a veteran of the Ten Years’ War. To eliminate potential
support for the rebels, Weyler removed tens of thousands of Cubans to
concentration camps. In the camps, thousands of people died of starvation,
disease, and exposure.
The American popular press devoted a
great deal of space to covering Spain’s alleged atrocities. By 1896 U.S. popular
opinion clamored for intervention, and American investors were increasingly
worried about their property. In 1896 U.S. president William McKinley told the
Spanish government to win the war, issue reforms, or expect U.S. involvement. In
the fall of 1897, Madrid agreed to reforms, withdrew General Weyler from Cuba,
and appointed a Cuban assembly to govern the island’s internal affairs. The
insurgents, however, refused to recognize the assembly members, who were
Autonomists, and the war continued.
The McKinley administration prepared
for intervention in the name of peace and uninterrupted trade. In the United
States the public demand for intervention increased following an explosion that
sank the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898.
Most Americans blamed Spanish sabotage for the explosion. (A U.S. Navy study
published in 1976 suggested that spontaneous combustion in the ship’s coal
bunker caused the explosion.) In April 1898, Congress declared war on Spain, but
a congressional resolution limited U.S. action in Cuba to liberating the island
and granting sovereignty to the new nation of Cuba.
The Spanish-American War itself lasted
only fourteen weeks. The real battle was in Spain’s Asian colony of the
Philippines, where the U.S. Navy defeated the Spanish navy at Manila Bay. In
Cuba, the war consisted of a naval blockade of Havana’s harbor and an attack and
siege of Santiago de Cuba in the east. The U.S. naval blockade cut off Spain’s
supply lines and broke Spanish control of Cuba.
United States intervention altered the
Cuban war of independence from a popular insurrection by Cubans to a victory by
the United States. Prior to the U.S. intervention, Cuban revolutionaries
controlled all Cuban territory except the major ports; by the end of 1898 the
U.S. Army controlled the entire country.
United States control denied some of
the social changes that the revolutionaries had hoped to put into effect,
including efforts to establish racial and social equality. Many American
political leaders opposed an independent Cuba with a racially diverse
government. This prejudice was reinforced when the U.S. and Cuban armies met in
Santiago de Cuba. The U.S. soldiers were appalled by the ragged and impoverished
condition of their allies, many of whom were poor blacks. After the war, the
United States occupied Cuba, and the U.S. Army disbanded the patriot army and
excluded from power many of the Cuban patriots who had fought 30 years for
liberation.
D | United States Occupation |
In 1898 the Treaty of Paris formally
ended the Spanish-American War. The United States and Spain negotiated the
treaty with no Cuban representative present. The treaty left the United States
firmly in control of newly independent Cuba. The United States assumed formal
military possession of Cuba on January 1, 1899, and maintained a military
occupation until May 20, 1902. Under U.S. tutelage, public schools were built
and staffed throughout the island. Cuban teachers took educational courses at
Harvard University and taught in their nation’s public elementary and secondary
schools. Protestant missionaries flooded the country. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers built bridges, roads, and sanitation systems. American army surgeon
Walter Reed and Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay discovered the mosquito that carried
yellow fever, and the army corps helped control the pest.
Although the United States kept its
commitment to give Cuba self-rule, the U.S. government required an
“Americanization” of Cuba’s leaders before ending the occupation. The U.S.
government insisted that Cubans learn democratic principals before they were
allowed to rule themselves. United States officials’ sense of democracy meant
that only Spanish and Cuban elites should form the constitutional assembly that
would write Cuba’s new constitution, since these elites were more inclined to
favor U.S. influence in Cuba.
Despite U.S. attempts to control the
direction of Cuba’s new government, in 1900 Cuban separatists won a majority of
seats in the constitutional assembly. To ensure that the assembly did not reject
U.S. influence, the U.S. government insisted that the new constitution include a
number of conditions defining the relationship between the two nations.
These conditions—known as the Platt
Amendment after its author, U.S. senator Orville Platt—prohibited Cuba from
making treaties and alliances with other foreign countries, granted military
bases on the island to the United States, and allowed U.S. intervention on the
island whenever instability threatened. It also limited Cuba’s ability to accept
foreign loans and mandated public health measures to suppress disease and
malnutrition. The United States insisted that the military occupation would not
end until Cubans accepted the Platt Amendment as part of their new
constitution.
Most Cubans were strongly opposed to the
Platt Amendment. Assembly members spoke out against it and citizens protested.
At first the assembly voted down the amendment. However, when a number of
nationalist members left the Assembly in protest, the remaining members passed
the amendment by a one-vote margin. Most Cubans viewed the Platt Amendment as an
intrusion on Cuban sovereignty and as an attempt by the United States to
maintain control. Consequently, Cuban national identity developed a strong
anti-American feeling.
E | The Search for Stability |
E1 | Early Independence |
The constitution adopted in 1901
provided for democratic selection of local, provincial, and national leaders. A
president could succeed himself for a second term. A congress with two houses,
modeled after the Congress of the United States, approved laws. The judicial
system was separate from the executive and legislative branches. Tomás Estrada
Palma, who had assumed the leadership of the Cuban Revolutionary Party following
the death of José Martí, won election in 1901 as Cuba’s first president. He and
his supporters had the task of repairing the damage of war and binding the
wounds of disagreement between factions within Cuba.
Following the war, foreigners—largely
Americans and Spaniards—bought land cheaply, and economic and political power
began to concentrate in their hands. This created economic hardships for most
Cubans. Cuban elites lost their lands and the poor lost their jobs as foreign
laborers from Haiti and Jamaica, who worked for low wages, took the place of
Cuban workers. Estrada Palma sought measures to stimulate the Cuban economy. The
most lucrative opportunities lay with guaranteed purchases of Cuban sugar. In
1903 Cuba and the United States signed the Treaty of Reciprocity, which promised
Cuban sugar growers 20 percent of the U.S. market without paying U.S. import
taxes. In exchange, Cuba dropped taxes designed to protect its industries from
U.S. imports. The Cuban market was opened to well over 400 American products
that had previously been so heavily taxed that they were not affordable for most
Cubans. As a result, the Cuban economy became dependent on the United
States.
To counter growing opposition to his
commitment to the United States, Estrada Palma organized the Moderate Party,
which used local political organizations to control blocs of voters during the
1905 election. Although Estrada Palma won the election, opposition parties
interpreted the use of these political organizations as election fraud and an
abuse of presidential power. Rebellions broke out against his administration.
Estrada Palma and his cabinet resigned
in 1906 and asked the United States to intervene to protect the Cuban treasury.
A small corps of U.S. Marines landed in 1906. A provisional governor, U.S.
bureaucrat Charles E. Magoon, assumed the task of restoring order and
safeguarding American financial interests. Governor Magoon insisted that
opposing parties disarm and agree to an election. He assured each side that the
election would be fair. Magoon returned political control to a Cuban
administration in 1908.
However, national trust in Cuban
politicians had eroded as a result of the failure of Cuba’s first attempt at
self-rule. Between 1909 and 1925, political parties became little more than a
staging ground for gaining power and money. Opportunistic presidents curried
favor in Washington and did little to build Cuba for Cubans. Holding political
office often required payoffs to friends and foes alike, and the national
treasury was at the disposal of dishonest officials.
Amidst political plunder and electoral
opportunism, voices for social justice clamored to be heard. Between 1908 and
1912 a number of black political groups, such as the Independent Colored
Association and the Independent Colored Party, organized to fight against racial
discrimination in Cuban politics. Fearful that race would become a national
issue, the Cuban Congress passed the Morúa law, which prohibited political
organization along racial lines. The Independent Colored Party responded with an
armed revolt in 1912, and the U.S. government landed Marines at Guantánamo,
Havana, and Manzanillo. Cuban president José Miguel Gómez repressed the rebels
ruthlessly to demonstrate that his administration could avert civil unrest. The
government executed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of black activists and
sympathizers, putting an end to political organizations based on race.
Over the next decade, the United States
continued to intervene directly in Cuba’s internal affairs. In 1917 the Liberal
Party revolted after the Conservative Party candidate, Mario C. Menocal, assumed
the presidency through electoral fraud. The United States sent Marines to Cuba’s
largest ports, and the U.S. ambassador notified the rebels that the United
States would not recognize leadership that came to power through
unconstitutional means. With that, the rebellion subsided, and it became clear
to all that Cubans did not control their political destiny.
The Liberal and Conservative parties
agreed to revise the electoral code in order to deter voting fraud. They invited
U.S. supervision of the 1920 elections, and U.S. general Enoch H. Crowder came
to Havana. He oversaw the election of Conservative Party candidate Alfredo
Zayas, which was relatively free of fraud. But after the Zayas administration
took office, graft and corruption reached new heights. Crowder, who remained in
Cuba as a special representative of the United States, tried to pressure Zayas
into ending government corruption. Crowder succeeded in forcing budgetary,
commercial, municipal, and electoral reforms on the Cuban government. He
persuaded the government to pass laws eliminating fraudulent election practices
and convinced Zayas to appoint an “honest cabinet,” which included a number of
highly respected Cubans. This cabinet cut government spending, reduced the
bureaucracy, and revoked several public works contracts that would have enriched
government employees. At first Zayas cooperated with Crowder, but later he
played to Cuban sympathy for sovereignty and won wide support among Cubans. He
eventually succeeded in rolling back the reforms that Crowder had put in
place.
Zayas presided over a period of
economic boom and bust. Sugar had always been Cuba’s major export, but the years
between 1909 and 1920 were ones of exaggerated growth. The price of a pound of
sugar was 1.93 cents per pound in 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I.
By 1920 it was worth 22.5 cents per pound. The rapid rise of sugar prices led
Cubans to invest in land and equipment to produce more sugar, mortgaging all
they had for future profits. This vigorous investment came to a sudden halt in
December 1920 when the sugar market collapsed. Prices plummeted to 3.58 cents
per pound.
The sugar bust devastated Cubans of
all classes. United States banks and individuals bought sugar estates for a
fraction of their original purchase price when their Cuban owners could not keep
up mortgage payments. By 1925, U.S. citizens owned half of all Cuban sugar lands
and refineries, many of which were consolidated into even larger estates. The
colonos (smaller sugar growers) could not compete with these large
holdings. Most colonos were forced to sell their land. Some became tenant
farmers on property they had once owned. Others moved into cities to seek work
there or became day laborers working in the sugar fields. Formerly, peasants had
owned or inhabited small parcels of land and sustained themselves with
subsistence farming. As the sugar plantations expanded, many peasants lost their
land and took jobs working for the sugar companies. Salaries for peasants were
minimal and likely to remain that way because Cubans and laborers from other
Caribbean islands vied for work in the sugar mills.
E2 | The Machado Years |
By 1920 political corruption, economic
collapse, and financial desperation caused many groups to form new political
organizations. Agricultural and industrial workers formed trade unions, which
organized as the National Workers’ Federation of Cuba. Other workers formed the
Radical Socialist Party. Women, determined to win legal and social rights,
formed women’s rights organizations. In 1925 Communist associations united to
form the Cuban Communist Party. Intellectuals who opposed the government formed
the Grupo Minorista, which argued for cultural renewal and political reform. A
new generation of Cubans proclaimed an idealistic nationalism aimed at social
justice in Cuba. Suddenly the hopelessness of the previous 14 years changed to
indignation, and citizens made clear that they expected more from their
government than corruption and compliance with foreign economic interests.
As the 1924 elections approached,
Zayas’ Conservative Party, too long associated with corruption and cooperation
with the United States, had little chance of victory. The opposition parties,
however, agreed on only one thing: the Platt Amendment had to go. Beyond that,
political positions were deeply divided. Moderate nationalists sought compromise
with the United States and modest reforms that would benefit the laboring
classes. Radical activists demanded a reduction in U.S. economic holdings and
socialist solutions to relieve economic hardship and promote economic equality.
The Liberal Party nominated Gerardo
Machado, a former general, as their presidential candidate. Machado promised to
cut back on government bureaucracy, limit the presidency to one term, revise the
Platt Amendment, provide more public services, and pay public debts. Machado won
by a landslide. For the first three years of his presidency, Machado was
extremely popular. He put laborers to work on major construction projects,
controlled sugar production to keep prices high, taxed imported products to
protect Cuban industries from foreign competition, and invested in agricultural
diversification to reduce Cuba’s reliance on sugar. The Liberal, Conservative,
and newly formed Popular parties pledged their support to the president and his
policies.
World economics, not domestic
disagreement, first shook Machado’s hold on power. Beginning in 1926, sugar
prices fell. The government held down sugar production by 10 percent to support
sagging prices. Thousands of laborers were out of work and tens of thousands
faced chronic underemployment. Disgruntled laborers began work stoppages and
slowdowns, and Machado met their actions with police repression. Still, the
majority of Cubans continued to support Machado. In 1927 the Liberal,
Conservative, and Popular parties suggested that Machado seek another term of
office. With Machado’s approval, a Constituent Assembly amended the constitution
to create a six-year presidential term. This would allow Machado to hold office
until 1935.
With this act, Machado alienated many
moderate nationalists who had supported him. Rumblings of protests began in 1928
when Machado ran unopposed for a six-year presidential term. A leftist group,
the University Student Federation, staged violent protests in the streets of
Havana. The government responded by closing the university indefinitely. The
members of the Federation then dissolved the group and formed the more radical
Student Directorate. They fanned out over the island, organizing workers,
intellectuals, and women to seek a return of democracy and social justice.
The Great Depression of 1929, not
dissent from the Left, finally destabilized the Machado regime. Cuba was hit
especially hard. Sugar prices, already low in 1928 at $2.18 per pound, dropped
to $1.72 per pound in 1929. By 1933 a pound of sugar sold for $0.57 per pound.
The government and businesses laid off employees and reduced pay for the
remaining workers. Poor peasants migrated to cities and slept in parks, on
streets, or in flophouses, and people starved to death throughout the country.
Demonstrations demanding jobs, decent
wages, and the right of workers to unionize and strike increased in frequency.
In 1930 Machado decreed spontaneous demonstrations illegal and authorized police
to break up political meetings. Moderate and radical groups unified in
opposition to Machado. Feminists, students, workers, teachers, agricultural
workers, and small farmers took to the streets and sabotaged government
installations. In response Machado became even more brutal. He established the
Porra, a special police force trained to arrest, imprison, torture, and
execute dissidents. As moderates watched the repression, discontent grew against
Machado’s government, even in aristocratic circles. In 1932, as civil order
deteriorated, Machado suspended the constitution.
In April 1933, Sumner Welles, the U.S.
assistant secretary of state, arrived with instructions to mediate talks between
Machado and his opposition. Machado refused to make any concessions to the
opposition, which was divided. The moderates favored a return to the 1901
constitution and Machado’s resignation, while the radicals demanded deep social,
economic, and political reforms.
When the talks failed, Welles became
convinced that Machado had to resign. Two unrelated events sealed Machado’s
fate. A strike by bus and streetcar workers evolved into a general strike
demanding Machado’s resignation. At the same time, an anti-Machado faction took
command of the military. Faced with public unrest and a loss of military
support, Machado resigned in September 1933.
E3 | Grau’s Revolutionary Government |
Without consulting the Cuban
opposition, Sumner Welles appointed his close friend, diplomat Carlos Manuel de
Céspedes, as the interim president. Céspedes stepped into a difficult situation.
Outbursts of pent-up bitterness continued against Machado, and indignation grew
over U.S. handling of the situation. Another coup within the army weakened
Céspedes’ ability to govern. The coup was led by Sergeant Fulgencio Batista y
Zaldívar, who seized control of the armed forces in September 1933. The Student
Directorate rushed to support Batista and turned the mutiny into a demand that
Céspedes step down, which he promptly did after serving only 23 days in office.
The unlikely alliance of military
officers and students introduced a dynamic period of national reform. The
Student Directorate installed Ramón Grau San Martín, a physician and a professor
at the University of Havana Law School, as the new president. Grau moved quickly
to put in place a program of radical measures. He nullified the Platt Amendment,
gave women the vote, established an eight-hour work day, dissolved the political
parties that had cooperated with Machado, approved a land redistribution
program, and tried to extract fair taxation from U.S. sugar companies.
Grau’s administration quickly attracted
enemies from both sides of the political spectrum. On the Left, the Communists
urged the Student Directorate to seize U.S. businesses and the estates of
wealthy Cubans. Frightened moderates and conservatives feared that Grau’s reform
policy would erode their own power and wealth and also foresaw conflict with the
United States. Both sides undercut Grau’s support. Confronted with growing
opposition, the Student Directorate shocked everyone when it voted to dissolve
itself, leaving Grau at the mercy of his adversaries. As Grau’s power base
disintegrated, political instability returned and his economic reforms faltered.
E4 | Batista’s First Regime |
In January 1934, with the encouragement
of the U.S. government, Batista led a coup that ousted Grau. Over the next few
years, a number of politicians served as president. However, as head of the
military, Batista held the real power, governing from behind the scenes from
1934 to 1940. His will to sustain order was tested at first by radicals who ran
clandestine operations and organized strikes in an effort to dislodge his
government. But within a year, the military had repressed the radicals,
arresting and executing many of their leaders. These actions brought peace and
stability to the middle and upper classes.
Economic conditions in Cuba improved
between 1933 and 1940. The United States increased Cuba’s sugar quota (the
amount of sugar Cuba was allowed to import into the United States each year),
and the price of sugar rose from 25 cents per pound in 1933 to 31.4 cents per
pound in 1937. Improvements in the sugar industry reinvigorated the Cuban
economy. To prevent a repeat of the speculation that had ruined Cuban growers in
the past, the government passed the Sugar Coordination Law in 1937. This law
allowed the state to control all lands used for sugar cultivation, apportion
acreage to producers, and regulate prices and wages.
Cubans also turned their attention to
unresolved constitutional questions. Since Grau had not been elected according
to the provisions of Cuba’s constitution, his reforms were of dubious legality.
Cubans had also grown to resent the 1901 constitution essentially written by the
U.S. occupation government. To ratify Grau’s reforms and write their own
constitution, Cubans called a Constitutional Assembly. Throughout 1939 political
associations and trade unions met to decide their positions on issues and to
nominate their delegates to the assembly. In November 1939, Cubans elected 81
delegates, 44 of whom belonged to the Auténtico Party, which Grau had formed to
preserve the reforms instituted during his presidency. The delegates adopted
many of Grau’s reforms, such as universal suffrage, equal rights, fair
elections, free political organization, agrarian reform, labor safety codes,
minimum wages and maximum work hours, retirement pensions, national insurance
guarantees, and the right to strike.
During the late 1930s, Batista
developed a broad base of political support, building close relationships with
political groups ranging from conservatives to Communists. In 1940 Batista felt
confident enough to enter politics as a civilian candidate for president. He ran
against Grau and won in a relatively fair election. During his four-year term,
he supported the reforms of the new constitution. Batista’s term ended quietly
in 1944, and he retired to the United States after his handpicked successor lost
the election.
E5 | The Auténtico Presidents |
Two Auténtico politicians held the
presidency for the next eight years: Grau was president from 1944 to 1948 and
Carlos Prío Socarrás from 1948 to 1952. As president, each oversaw a period of
corruption unsurpassed by all previous presidents. The optimism and zeal for
reform of Grau’s earlier administration had faded among many Auténtico
politicians. After spending most of their political lives excluded from the
spoils of the political system, the Auténticos now controlled a government that
for years had functioned on the basis of greed and corruption. They took full
advantage of the system. Uncertain over whether Auténtico rule would continue
for long, government officials moved quickly to grab as much as they could from
the public treasury. Governmental jobs supported thousands of Auténtico allies.
Organized crime controlled tourism, gambling, drugs, and prostitution.
Politicians anxious to receive the spoils of office fought gang wars against one
another, turning the streets into a violent political forum.
The economy was strong during the
1940s, mainly due to an increase in trade during and directly after World War II
(1939-1945). Between 1945 and 1948 sugar production rose 40 percent. Sugar
producers’ profits increased by hundreds of millions of dollars. The resulting
increase in demand led to higher prices for many products, causing severe
hardship for the poor. The most devastating effect of this boom was the
mismanagement of the windfall earnings. The boom years brought increased capital
into the sugar aristocracy’s bank accounts and into the national treasury as tax
revenues increased. Neither the sugar barons nor the government invested in
diversifying industry or manufacturing. Instead, sugar barons added to their
estates and updated equipment for their plantations. Corruption skimmed off most
of the government funds. Most of the money generated by the boom went into the
pockets of wealthy individuals, and the distribution of wealth was skewed in
favor of the wealthy.
In response to political violence and
economic inequities, political reformers, led by Eddy Chibás, a former member of
the Auténtico Party, established the Orthodoxo Party in 1947. Chibás brought
into the new party students, professionals, workers, and peasants. A passionate
speaker, Chibás rekindled ideals of political integrity, democracy, and social
reform. In frequent radio broadcasts, he accused the government of corruption
and eroded Auténtico authority.
On August 5, 1951, Chibás shot himself
during a radio broadcast after he was accused of making false statements about
an Auténtico cabinet member. His death ten days later left the Orthodoxos
without their center. His style and some of his principles influenced an
Orthodoxo Party member, Fidel Castro, a young lawyer and political activist who
was at Chibás’ bedside as he was dying.
E6 | The Batista Dictatorship |
In 1952 Batista returned from the
United States to run for president. When it became apparent that he did not have
strong support among voters, Batista organized a bloodless military takeover and
became dictator. Batista, however, found that the situation was very different
than it had been at the time of his earlier coup in 1934, when he had
considerable popular support and was able to build a successful coalition of
political groups. In 1952 he faced Cuban citizens who respected their
constitution. Organizations opposed to Batista seemed to appear everywhere. Most
of these groups had one goal: the removal of Batista. Only university students,
the Communists, and Fidel Castro articulated programs for a post-Batista
government.
In 1953 Castro attracted a following of
young people who shared his desire to topple Batista and reinstate the
constitution. On July 26, Castro and 150 armed followers entered the Moncada
Military Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Guards set off an alarm and quickly
captured the attackers. Castro and several dozen men escaped, but were later
arrested. The army brutally tortured and killed 68 insurgents, an act that made
heroes and martyrs of Castro’s group.
Castro defended his action in a court
hearing, arguing that the government, not his movement, was in violation of
constitutional law because it took power illegally and because it had committed
atrocities against defenseless prisoners. In a courtroom speech, he promised to
lead a revolution that would oversee land reform, industrialization, housing
construction, greater employment opportunities, and expanded health and welfare
services. After a brief deliberation, a tribunal sentenced Castro to 15 years in
prison.
Other revolutionary groups contested
Batista’s dictatorship. The Federation of University Students organized rallies
and called for Batista’s removal. Most of the students came from the middle
class, and although they sympathized with the problems of workers, they did not
formulate policies to assist them. In 1955 some of these students concluded that
radical action was needed to remove Batista from office. They founded the
Revolutionary Directorate to carry out bloody clashes with the
army and to attempt to assassinate Batista.
In 1954 Batista won the presidential
election, running unopposed after other parties refused to participate. The
following year he felt confident enough to free all political prisoners,
including Castro. Castro soon left for Mexico with a small number of followers
to plan a revolutionary movement they would call the 26th of July Movement
(M-26) after the date of the Moncada Barracks assault.
F | Cuban Revolution |
Unrest continued in Cuba. In mid-1956
Batista faced dissension within the military as several officers conspired to
overthrow him and reinstate liberal, democratic politicians. The leaders were
court-martialed and jailed. On March 13, 1957, the Revolutionary Directorate
attacked the presidential palace, intending to assassinate Batista. The
president barely escaped as the rebels shot their way onto the grounds. José
Antonio Echeverría, the directorate’s leader, was gunned down and the rest of
his men were captured, killed, or forced into hiding.
Meanwhile Castro had been raising funds,
acquiring weapons, and training a small band of guerrillas in Mexico. On
November 29, 1956, Castro and about 80 men crammed themselves into a small
yacht, the Granma, and set out to invade Cuba. All did not go as planned,
however. Bad weather delayed their arrival, and the rebels landed 30 miles south
of the point where weapons and reinforcements awaited them. As they waded
ashore, Batista’s army ambushed them, and only a handful of men escaped. They
formed a small guerrilla army in the Sierra Maestra, the mountains of southeast
Cuba.
From his base in the mountains, Castro
organized raids on military installations to acquire weapons and worked closely
with the rural population to build a base of support. He invited Herbert
Matthews, a New York Times correspondent, to the Sierra Maestra to report
on the 26th of July Movement. Matthews’ reports brought international attention
to Castro’s movement. New recruits joined him, and urban guerrilla groups, such
as the Civic Resistance group, founded in 1957, became auxiliaries of the 26th
of July Movement.
Well into 1958, U.S. State Department
officials misread the Cuban population’s profound dissatisfaction with Batista,
as U.S. diplomatic dispatches from Havana indicated that Batista had the
opposition under control. Eventually, as Batista’s dictatorial tendencies grew
and the extent of opposition to his regime became apparent, the alliance between
the United States and Batista weakened. The United States discussed with Batista
the possibility of working with the moderate opposition and scheduling free
elections. Batista refused. The United States considered an armed intervention,
but instead decided to force Batista to resign by withholding arms shipments.
Meanwhile, the opposition was unifying around Castro. In March 1958, 45 civic
organizations signed an open letter supporting Castro’s guerrillas.
Conditions deteriorated for Batista
during the following months. On April 9, 1958, a general strike to protest the
Batista government did not paralyze the country, but it did throw doubt on
Batista’s ability to govern. In April and May Batista failed to suppress two
major rebel offensives. In May Batista began an assault on Castro’s stronghold
in the Sierra Maestra. In July more than 10,000 government soldiers failed to
dislodge Castro’s men during the Battle of Jigue. In late August the rebel army
moved out of its mountain sanctuary onto the plains.
The rebels made steady advances
throughout the remainder of the year. In November government troops lost control
of the central highway into Santiago. In December rebel forces won a bloody
battle for control of Santa Clara, a city in central Cuba. Batista understood
that his downfall was imminent. After his annual New Year’s Eve party, he and
his closest advisers secretly boarded a plane for the Dominican Republic.
G | Cuba Under Castro |
G1 | Implementing the Revolution |
Fidel Castro demanded that all
opposition groups lay down their arms and consolidate power under his
leadership. These groups complied since their objective had been to remove
Batista; they had no plans to govern. Castro led a jubilant procession from
eastern Cuba to Havana, and his bearded, youthful revolutionaries became
uncontested national leaders.
When Castro entered Havana on January
9, 1959, he had support from the political left and the majority of the
population. Most people agreed with Castro’s earlier promises to hold elections
in one year, to recognize individual rights as stated in the 1940 constitution,
and to guarantee political freedom. At first Castro did not assume a political
office. He appointed moderate politicians to serve in the new government.
However, Castro continued serving as head of the armed forces, and he remained
the major force in determining the policies of the new government. Moderate
politicians quickly became disenchanted with Castro’s policies and began leaving
the government. Following the resignation of Prime Minister Miró Cardona in
February 1959, Castro became prime minister.
His first order of business was
purging Batista supporters from the government. The government created special
tribunals, which quickly passed judgment on Batista associates. Sentences ranged
from death before firing squads to prison terms lasting from 2 to 30 years.
Officially the number of people executed was less than 700, though Castro’s
opponents claim that many times that number died.
Castro’s second objective was to
centralize control of the economy. In March 1959 the cabinet passed the Urban
Reform Law, designed to reduce or eliminate the large profits made by wealthy
individuals who had amassed extensive real estate holdings in the cities.
Batista’s strongest supporters—those who had promoted violence to suppress
anti-Batista dissent—lost their properties immediately. Large property owners
lost some of their estates. The law restricted the profits of other landlords by
reducing rents to a fraction of the pre-1959 levels. Other economic reforms were
passed, and wage and price controls standardized wages and reduced the cost of
living. Wealth was quickly redistributed. In May the Agrarian Reform Law limited
private landholdings to 402 hectares (993 acres) per family. Limits were set at
1,350 hectares (3,336 acres) in the case of farms producing sugar, rice, and
livestock. The government confiscated the largest estates, converting them into
state cooperatives upon which individual workers could hold parcels of 26
hectares (65 acres).
The government also implemented a
number of social programs designed to improve living conditions for poor and
working-class citizens. A major literacy program taught almost all Cubans to
read and write, and the government built hospitals in rural areas where health
care had never been available. The laboring classes benefited significantly from
these changes and their support for the revolutionary government was
unequivocal.
Liberals and moderates, however,
harbored doubts that Castro would return Cuba to democracy. Between 1959 and
1962, more than 200,000 people, many wealthy property owners and middle-class
professionals, left the island. The government viewed them as traitors and
prohibited them from taking any transportable wealth with them.
G2 | Break with the United States |
The United States had a great deal to
lose as a result of Castro’s reforms. At the end of 1958, U.S. businesses owned
75 percent of Cuba’s fertile land, 90 percent of its public services, and 40
percent of the sugar industry. Castro’s policy of seizing businesses and
confiscating the property of the wealthy raised concerns in the United States
about Communist influence. Castro had no record of Communist affiliation, and he
had made a point of emphasizing that his revolution was not based on Communism.
Nonetheless, U.S. officials were wary of his programs and decided that Castro
had to be removed from power.
The U.S. State Department and the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), an intelligence-gathering organization under
the command of the president of the United States, plotted two approaches to
overturning Castro’s government: economic pressure and military intervention.
The U.S. government tried economic pressure first. On July 3, 1960, the Congress
of the United States decreased the Cuban sugar quota. This action reduced the
amount of sugar that Cuba could legally import into the United States and caused
a serious reduction in Cuba’s income from foreign trade. The United States cut
the quota after Cuba seized installations belonging to U.S. oil companies that
had refused to refine crude oil imported from the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR), the world’s leading Communist nation. At the time, the USSR
was involved in an ongoing struggle with the United States known as the Cold
War. In retaliation, the Cuban government appropriated U.S. sugar property. On
October 19 the U.S. Treasury Department declared a trade embargo, which stopped
all commerce with Cuba except for food and medicine. On October 24 Castro struck
back by nationalizing all U.S. holdings. The attempt to bring Castro to heel
through economic pressure only widened the gap between the United States and
Cuba. The two countries formally severed diplomatic relations in January
1961.
Next the United States tried military
action. In March 1960 the CIA had begun training Cuban exiles for an invasion.
The newly inaugurated U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, approved the invasion
plans. The plans called for an air strike by anti-Castro Cuban pilots based in
the United States. Following this attack, amphibious forces would land at the
Bay of Pigs on the southern coast of Cuba and start a guerrilla campaign.
Launched on April 17, 1961, the attack was a complete failure. Castro, who knew
about the plan, scattered his air force to save it from destruction, and Cuba’s
military overwhelmed the invading land forces within 48 hours.
The Bay of Pigs consolidated Castro’s
power. Throngs of Cubans rejoiced in defeating the strongest military power in
the world. Castro’s popularity soared at home and abroad. Those who had
disagreed with Castro’s government kept silent, as approximately 100,000 people
suspected of subversive activities were imprisoned or detained. In May 1961 the
government canceled promised elections and declared the 1940 constitution
outdated. Social and political associations were absorbed into official
government organizations. On December 2 Castro announced that he was a Communist
and would implement socialist policies in Cuba.
To deter further U.S. plans to invade
or destabilize Cuba, Castro sought economic and military assistance from the
USSR. Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to secretly send missiles armed
with nuclear weapons that were capable of hitting targets within the United
States. In September 1962 U.S. spy planes identified the missile sites. On
October 22 Kennedy announced a naval blockade of the island and informed
Khrushchev that any Soviet ship crossing the blockade line risked starting a
nuclear war. At the last minute, the two leaders resolved the Cuban Missile
Crisis before it erupted in hostilities. Khrushchev recalled the ships and
agreed to dismantle the missile sites. In return the United States agreed not to
invade Cuba and to remove U.S. missiles from sites in Turkey. Cuban leaders were
left out of the negotiations, which infuriated Castro and briefly chilled
relations between the USSR and Cuba.
G3 | Building a New Economy |
With most Cubans united behind his
government, Castro completed the transformation of Cuba’s economy. The
government centralized and coordinated all economic decisions. It provided every
Cuban with work and set salaries that distributed wealth more equitably among
workers. To inspire the population, revolutionary leader Che Guevara, a close
associate of Castro, introduced the New Man Theory. This doctrine proposed that
people would work not for their own material advancement, but to benefit the
community. Castro and Guevara attempted to use the New Man Theory to motivate
Cubans to work harder for the revolution. It did not prove successful. Although
working-class and poor Cubans supported the goals of the revolution, many were
not willing to work long hours without increased financial compensation.
In 1962 the economy collapsed due to
poor government planning and a decline in trade with the United States resulting
from the embargo. The amount of goods available, especially food and clothing,
declined sharply. Inflation followed, since Cubans had money but little to buy.
The government imposed price and wage freezes and rationed food, clothing, and
gasoline. The black market offered scarce items at high prices.
Despite the shortages in goods during
the 1960s, the government successfully redistributed wealth more equitably and
provided a better quality of life for most Cubans. The government provided
schools, medical clinics, retirement pensions, and public transportation. It
also reduced rents and utility charges, lowering the cost of living. The poorest
40 percent of the population saw their per capita income rise, despite the
faltering economy and the scarcity of many goods.
By the end of the 1960s, stabilizing
the economy had become the government’s first priority. The reforms of the
revolution and Castro’s ability to implement independent policies depended upon
Cuba building an economy that could support extensive social reforms. To this
end, Castro pledged that Cuba would produce 10 million tons of sugar in the 1970
harvest. As early as 1968, resources, both human and material, were being
mobilized for sugar production. Cubans were pressured into “volunteering” their
time to perform unpaid work in the sugar fields. Approximately 1.2 million
workers from all sectors of the economy joined 100,000 members of the army and
300,000 sugar workers in the fields. In the end, the effort failed. On July 26,
1970, Castro informed the Cuban people that the nation had produced only 8.5
million tons. The consequences of the failure were harsh. All sectors of the
economy declined sharply because labor and resources had been diverted to the
harvest.
G4 | Political and Economic Changes in the 1970s |
The political ramifications of the
harvest failure were just as sobering. The USSR agreed to provide financial
assistance to Cuba, but it insisted that Castro create a Soviet-style
bureaucracy that limited his personal influence on policy. The Communist Party
assumed more authority and pushed for efficient economic practices. In 1972 Cuba
became a member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), the
trade association of Communist nations. By the mid-1980s, the USSR purchased 64
percent of Cuba’s exports and provided 62 percent of its imports.
Many experts predicted that the
reforms demanded by the USSR would diminish Castro’s authority. Contrary to
expectations, however, the new bureaucracy left Castro free to deal with
political issues and international affairs. In 1976 Castro introduced a new
constitution for Cuba, which allowed people a greater voice in choosing their
leaders and approving legislation. Citizens elected representatives to local,
provincial, and national assemblies. Representatives to the National Assembly
selected a president, who had authority over the ministers who ran government
departments. The assembly chose Castro as president.
The new constitution encouraged
popular participation through large government-approved organizations. The
Federation of Cuban Women, the Confederation of Cuban Workers, the Small
Farmers’ National Organization, and the Committees for the Defense of the
Revolution drew members from every occupational and social sector. These
organizations were designed to allow the people to recommend policies to the
central government. Conversely, the central government implemented policies by
sending directives to citizens through these organizations. The government
decided domestic issues regarding family law, education policies, and child care
after taking into consideration dialogues among people and between people and
the government.
G5 | International Relations |
Following the rupture of Cuban-U.S.
relations in the early 1960s, the United States pressured Latin American
countries to break ties with Cuba. At U.S. insistence, the Organization of
American States (OAS), an organization that coordinates economic, social, and
security issues among the nations of the Western Hemisphere, expelled Cuba. As a
result, Cuba sought diplomatic relations with the Communist nations of Eastern
Europe and developing countries in Africa.
Cuba also encouraged revolutionary
movements in Latin America. In 1967 Che Guevara was captured and executed while
trying to start an insurrection in the mountains of Bolivia. Cuba’s commitment
to exporting revolution caused a serious disagreement with the USSR in the
mid-1960s. The Cubans showed little patience with the world’s traditional
Communist parties, which in the 1950s and early 1960s tried to win power through
democratic methods, rather than by armed revolt. However, the rift between Cuba
and the USSR narrowed significantly after the USSR showed its displeasure by
reducing shipments of oil to Cuba and withdrawing its technical advisors.
In 1973 relations between the USSR and
the United States improved, and Cuba benefited from a reduction in international
tensions. The OAS voted to allow its members to determine their own relations
with Cuba. Under U.S. president Gerald R. Ford secret meetings with Cuban
authorities dealt with diplomatic and economic openings with Cuba. This changed
abruptly in 1975 when Cuba sent military forces into the African nation of
Angola, which had just won its independence from Portugal. Cuban troops aided
leftist forces fighting for control of the newly independent nation. From 1975
to 1989 Cuba committed 250,000 troops to Angola before a peace settlement was
eventually reached.
Under the administration of U.S.
president Jimmy Carter, Cuba and the United States each established a diplomatic
office in the other country. In 1977 Americans were allowed to visit Cuba as
tourists. But attempts to improve Cuban/U.S. relations foundered on a buildup of
Soviet technicians and advisers in Cuba and on Cuba’s commitment to the
Sandinista rebels. The Sandinistas ousted Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza
in September 1979 following a bitter struggle known as the Nicaraguan
Revolution.
Cuba’s prestige as an international
leader peaked in 1979 when Castro became the head of the Non-Aligned Movement, a
group of nations that sought to remain neutral during the Cold War. Although
Cuba was an ally of the USSR, members of the movement supported Castro’s
leadership to demonstrate their disapproval of the 19-year-old U.S. embargo.
Cuba also became the host country for international humanitarian meetings, such
as the International Youth Conference in 1980.
G6 | Dissent and Economic Decline |
Despite increased national debate as a
result of the political reforms of 1976, the government of Cuba did not tolerate
criticism of its programs. Officials and experts who could have predicted policy
failures were censored and even punished. With no outlet for frustration and no
legally permitted dissent, tensions increased at the end of the late 1970s
despite improved economic conditions.
In 1980 a small number of Cubans broke
into the Peruvian Embassy in Havana asking for asylum. Several thousand more
followed until they overflowed the embassy grounds. When U.S. president Jimmy
Carter offered to take the people who wanted to leave, Castro opened the doors.
Both presidents were shocked when over 120,000 people spontaneously left homes
and families to seek political asylum in the United States in an incident dubbed
the Mariel boat lift.
The exodus demonstrated that Cuba had
serious problems deriving from the lack of personal freedom and chronic economic
austerity. Castro moved quickly to ease the difficulties of daily life. Between
1980 and 1985, the government allowed farmers’ markets to provide food to urban
areas where rationed products had been inadequate.
But in 1986 Castro reversed this
process, declaring that farmers were earning unreasonably large sums in the open
markets. A new policy known as the Rectification Process gave priority to the
production of exportable goods over goods made for consumption within Cuba. The
government also tried to replace imported goods with domestically produced goods
to prevent cash from flowing out of the country. Increasing efficient production
and bureaucracy downsizing became paramount. Finally, the government increased
the amount of “voluntary work” that it required from Cuban citizens and preached
against the evils of a material world.
G7 | Post-Cold War Era |
In 1989 two events shook the
foundations of Cuban society. The first involved a political scandal. The
government charged General Arnaldo Ochoa Sánchez, a decorated hero and the
architect of Cuban victories in Angola, with drug smuggling. Ochoa had been an
advocate for Cuban troops returning from overseas, helping them find employment.
His efforts had made him popular among Cuban troops and the second most
important person in Cuba. Many Cubans suspected that Ochoa’s crime was his
popularity and his potential to challenge Castro for power. After a brief trial,
Ochoa was executed.
The second event was more far-reaching.
It began in the USSR when political and economic reforms were implemented in the
late 1980s. These reforms decreased centralized control of the Soviet economy
and increased citizens’ ability to participate in government. The idea that
socialism could exist with a less regulated economy and a more participatory
government appealed to younger Cubans. In 1989 the USSR disintegrated into a
number of smaller republics. Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev visited Cuba in
early 1990 to warn the government that economic reforms were forthcoming and not
to count on the $5.5 billion yearly subsidies that the USSR had previously
provided Cuba. The news was devastating in Cuba, since 86 percent of foreign
financial and economic relations were with the USSR and its allies.
The Cuban economy faltered during the
mid-1980s and declined precipitously into 1993. Beginning in 1991, Cuba had to
import sugar from Brazil and other Caribbean countries to fulfill its foreign
trade commitments with the Eastern European countries. As a result, Cuba
borrowed money from capitalist countries and amassed a significant debt, which
it has not yet repaid. Like other debtor nations, Cuba has imposed severe
austerity programs on the populace and diverted money from social programs to
pay for the debt. In addition, the price of Cuba’s imports rose from 16 to 40
percent from 1989 to 1992, while the price of Cuba’s exports, namely sugar and
nickel, dropped by 20 and 28 percent, respectively.
As U.S. president Bill Clinton took
office in 1992, Castro sent word to Clinton through diplomatic channels that
there was a potential to improve relations. Cuba, however, was not a high
priority for Clinton, who announced that the United States would not normalize
relations with any country that had abandoned democracy. In 1992 U.S. senator
Robert Torricelli authored the Cuba Democracy Act, which extended the trade
embargo beyond U.S. companies. The act penalized foreign subsidiaries of U.S.
companies trading with Cuba, as well as other nations that engaged in commerce
with the island. His intention was to topple Castro in a matter of months by
extending the 30-year-old embargo to cut off all trade with the island.
The economic situation in Cuba became
grave. Inflation spiraled as the Cuban peso lost ground against foreign
currency. The even distribution of wealth, so fundamental to the revolution’s
ideology, was dismantled when Castro allowed Cubans to possess and spend dollars
in 1993. People employed in the tourism industry and those who received money
from relatives living abroad greatly increased their buying power compared with
those with Cuban pesos.
Social unrest rumbled under the
surface of daily life. Blackouts caused by deficient oil supplies left families
without electricity, sometimes for days at a time. Food shortages were common.
Transportation difficulties added hours to short trips. Cuba’s public health
system, which had been the best in Latin America for decades following the
revolution, ran short of medicine, sheets for hospital beds, and food for
patients.
G8 | “Special Period in a Time of Peace” |
The government instituted economic
austerity measures, which Castro characterized as the “special period in a time
of peace.” In September 1993 the government announced that large state-farms
would be broken into workers’ cooperatives. A year later the government again
allowed free agricultural markets in order to supply food for a malnourished
population. The government also invited industrialists from foreign countries,
principally Mexico, France, Canada, Britain, and Spain, to establish businesses
in partnership with the government in tourism, medicine, and exports of
food.
Discontent continued, however, as
evidenced by the number of people trying to escape Cuba on the high seas. In
1993 and 1994 record numbers of people left Cuba on rafts and asked for asylum
in the United States. On August 5, 1994, a crowd in Havana’s old city rioted.
Castro made a personal appearance and convinced the crowd to disband. He then
publicly announced that anyone wishing to leave Cuba could. Almost immediately
the beaches of Havana province were full of people in makeshift boats setting
out for Miami. More than 6,000 rafters reached the United States by mid-August
and an unknown number perished at sea.
The United States found the exodus
impossible to control, and on August 18, 1994, ended a 28-year-old policy of
automatically granting asylum to Cubans. Efforts to negotiate an orderly exodus
failed when the United States denied a Cuban request to end the trade embargo.
When negotiations failed, the Cuban government closed its borders.
Conservative U.S. legislators stepped
up efforts to tighten the trade embargo by passing the Helms-Burton law, which
penalized any nation or individual that traded with Cuba and leveled sanctions
against U.S. citizens who traveled to the island. Under the law, U.S. citizens
caught traveling to Cuba without government permission can be fined $200,000 and
sentenced to up to six months in jail. At first Clinton delayed signing the
bill. On February 24, 1996, the Cuban air force shot down two airplanes owned by
the Miami-based Brothers to the Rescue, an anti-Castro Cuban exile organization.
Controversy arose about whether the aircraft were in Cuban airspace when the
shooting occurred. Following the incident, Clinton signed the Helms-Burton bill
into law.
As 1997 drew to a close, the greatest
hope for Cubans seemed to be a spiritual one. Pope John Paul II had planned a
visit to Cuba, and the aging Castro permitted him to come. Interest in the visit
grew, even though most Cubans did not practice a religion. Of 11 million Cubans,
only about 1 million were practicing Catholics, and about 4.5 million
participated in Santería, a blending of African and Catholic rituals. For the
first time in decades, churches filled with worshipers, and people openly wore
crucifixes and religious medals. Castro invited the pope to demonstrate that his
revolution shared much in common with Christian teachings of charity and
community love. He also hoped that the pope’s strong condemnation of the U.S.
embargo would add weight to world pressure against U.S. policy.
In 1999 a five-year-old Cuban boy,
Elián González, was rescued by American fishermen after surviving a shipwreck
while trying to reach the United States with his mother. Backed by some U.S.
lawmakers, relatives of the boy in Miami sought to keep Elián in the United
States, despite calls from his father to return him to Cuba. Castro called the
incident a “kidnapping.” The incident energized support for Castro in Cuba, with
thousands of people participating in anti-U.S. rallies in Havana. In June 2000
Elián returned to Cuba with his father, after the Supreme Court of the United
States refused to hear an appeal from his relatives to keep Elián in the
country.
In 2003 Cuba again made international
news when it cracked down on political dissidents. The Cuban government arrested
about 80 journalists, activists, and opposition party leaders for supposedly
plotting to undermine the government and threaten national security. During
closed trials, the dissidents were sentenced to prison terms of varying lengths
up to 28 years. This incident represented Cuba’s largest crackdown in many
years, and the international community reacted strongly. Many people called on
Castro to free the dissidents, who wanted to foster democracy in Cuba and
pressure Cuba to open its society and improve its human rights record.
In 2006 Castro temporarily ceded
power to his brother Raúl Castro as he underwent and then recovered from
intestinal surgery. In February 2008 Fidel announced his permanent resignation
as president, saying that he could no longer perform the duties of the office.
However, he remained the head of the Cuban Communist Party. The National
Assembly selected Raúl as the new president of Cuba. Raúl turned over his duties
as defense minister to General Julio Casas Reguiero.
No comments:
Post a Comment