Unit V: Cuba as the Vanguard of Socialism in Latin America (5/1)

Corresponding text found on p244-249 of Brief History of the Caribbean.

Economic struggles force decisions in stabilizing economy
1970 - Mass mobilization for largest sugar crop ever; failure; accepts Soviet economic advisers
1972 - Cuba joins Soviet bloc common market
Soviets reward Cuba with generous aid; global sugar prices soar
1976 - new Constitution reorganizes power structure in government

Aug 1975 - Castro sends 20,000 Cuban troops to aid Communist regime in Angola

Cuban troops in Angola

By end of 1980s, 57,000 Cubans had served in Angola

1977 - 15,000 troops to Ethiopia to aid Communist regime against Somalia

Aids Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua; incl 2,000 military advisers

1979 - aids new socialist government of Maurice Bishop in Grenada; incl 800 military advisers

Sends supplies and arms to guerillas in Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia

Close relationship with Michael Manley government in Jamaica

Cuban government used people as foreign assistance; sent doctors, agronomists, teachers, etc to more than 30 countries throughout Africa and Latin America

Economy still struggles; repression of political opposition rampant
April 1979 - Mariel Boatlift

Cubans fleeing during the Mariel Boatlift

Cuba continued to run foreign trade deficit; off-set by Soviet subsidies; overpay for sugar, sell cheap oil
Borrowed money paid for continuing social welfare programs; much in rural Cuba; urban decay

Investment in education and health paid off
  - by 1990, 1 doctor for every 300 Cubans (well trained, not well paid)
  - by 1990, 1 teacher for every 12 children

By mid-70s, alternative markets set up to allow for purchase of goods beyond ration level

Constant reevaluation and reformulation of Cuban socialist system

1986 - Rectification Process begins; return to more pure communism; central economic controls return