Difference between revisions of "Cuba"

Revision as of 20:53, January 6, 2021

The Republic of Cuba (sometimes abbreviated ROC) is a people’s republic in the Caribbean that was led by Fidel Castro. They have withstood the longest blockade in all history.^[1]

Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan stated in April 11, 2000 that the Republic of ‘Cuba’s achievements in social development are impressive given the size of its gross domestic product per capita. As the human development index of the United Nations makes clear year after year, Cuba should be the envy of many other nations, ostensibly far richer. [The Republic of Cuba] demonstrates how much nations can do with the resources they have if they focus on the right priorities — health, education, and literacy.’

History

Cuba was colonized by the Spaniards during the nineteenth century, and its prime exports were coffee, sugar, and tobacco. The Spanish aristocracy imported a great deal of African slaves for this colony. Political tendencies such as national independence and other (mild) reformisms became popular, but none was indigenous. Around 1850 the colony received an influx of lower-class Spanish immigrants, but even they were treated poorly by the aristocracy: sixteen or eighteen hour workdays, seven days weekly, were common, and work conditions in for example the tobacco industry were rife with poor pay, monotony, and health hazards. Mutualism grew in popularity, and Cuban workers held their first strike in 1865. By the 1880s, the profusion of libertarian socialist propaganda in the form of pamphlets and newspapers that arrived regularly and clandestinely from Barcelona reinforced the transmission of socialist ideas. As a result a new wave of Cuban workers proceeded to involve themselves in the Alianza Revolucionaria Socialista (ARS). Anarchists organized all of the strikes that shook the Cuban tobacco industry at the end of the decade. Socialists were widely divided on the importance of either obtaining independence from Iberia or concentrating on assisting other workers. Finally in the late 1890s the American ruling class successfully intimidated the Spanish aristocracy into transferring their colonies over to them, including Cuba.^[2]

Cold War era

In spite of the good GDP, the neocolony was rife not only with poor working conditions but also gambling, drugs, unwilling sex work, and political corruption, all before the Cuban Revolution:

“Opinions aside, although Cuba ranked as one of the most prosperous developing countries in the 1950s based on gross domestic product (GDP), social indicators for this period portray dismal social conditions, particularly among the rural peasants.”

~ Andrea Carter on [3]

It was a popular tourist resort for the white bourgeoisie,^[4] and possibly as many as 91% of the rural workforce was malnourished.^[5] In July 1953 a crew of revolutionaries, including Fidel Castro, assaulted Fort Moncada, but the move failed. Nonetheless, the Cuban lower classes were growing increasingly restless, and consequently the neocolonial government (headed by Fulgencio Batista) suppressed trades unions, strikes, and censored much of the press.^[6] Castro pretended to be noncommunist in hopes of discouraging foreign aid to the neocolony. Nevertheless, by January 1959 the Cuban masses had successfully overthrown the neocolonial government and Batista fled to Europe. Statistics indicate that the antisocialist dictatorship caused somewhere between 1,000–20,000 deaths,^{[7][8][9][10][11]} but the CIA has suggested that 20,000 is actually only one portion of the total deaths.^[12]

While the upper classes left in anger and relinquished much of their property, which the Cubans subsequently reappropriated,^[13] a minority of anarchists were also dissatisfied with the revolution’s course and either quit the Republic of Cuba in disappointment or committed acts of terrorism against the state.^[14] Nevertheless, the lower classes overall favored the new administration, and they have shown no inclination to use explosives in order to commit terrorist attacks against the government despite many exile claims to the contrary;^[15] a State Department memo in 1960 admitted that anticommunists should not intervene militarily but rather by economic means, as the ‘majority of Cubans support Castro.’^[16] In January 1963, the CIA conceded that despite several hundred executions, ‘the large-scale campaigns of murders and terrorism characteristic of the last years of the Batista regime have not occurred during the Castro regime.’^[12] Education and healthcare in the Republic of Cuba improved massively,^[17] as did agricultural output,^[18] but in some respects progress was slow due to the excess of unfinished projects.^[19] Some Western antisocialists established a programme in the 1960s to provide economic growth, employment, agrarian reform, education, housing, healthcare, more equitable distributions of national income, and other benefits to the people of Central and South America in order to discourage their interest in communism. But in 1970, researchers Jerome Levinson and Juan de Onis discovered that the Republic of Cuba actually came closer to these goals than most of the programme’s members.^[20]

“The Revolution has been wildly audacious, experimental, and diverse. It has evolved under often adverse circumstances. It created unprecedented socioeconomic equality, and showed the world that it is indeed possible for a poor, Third World country to feed, educate, and provide health care for its population. It fostered astonishing artistic and intellectual creativity, while also creating stifling bureaucracies and limits on freedoms that many in the United States take for granted. It also showed just how extraordinarily difficult it is to overcome economic underdevelopment. […] If we want to imagine a better world for all of us, I can think of no better place to start than by studying the Cuban Revolution.”

~ Aviva Chomsky on [21]

Modern era

After the short twentieth century, the republic was left with almost no other planned economies to turn to in case of emergency, and nobody was interested in purchasing their machinery. Hence a food crisis commenced^[22] and many people wanted to leave, an option which the Cuban administration deregulated only to be further obstructed by the American ruling class.^[23][24] During this time the same ruling class also arrested and permanently imprisoned five Cubans for counterterrorism (albeit under the arbitrary accusations that they were violating travel laws and intended to commit conspiracies against the U.S.).^[25] Medical data indicate that at least 47,000^[26] youths died as a result of the sanctions that antisocialists imposed on the Republic of Cuba.^{[27][28][29][30]} The upper classes were betting that the Republic of Cuba would soon collapse.^[31] International pressure from the white bourgeoisie continues to place the republic under strain.

“The difficult challenges facing Cuba as it moves forward are not unlike those facing social benefits systems everywhere: budget-buster pension and health costs, increasing demands due to economic crisis, demands to improve both efficiency and effectiveness. All face the challenge of engaging the participation of consumers and require the development of effective mechanisms for monitoring access, reach, and quality of services at the community level, particularly for vulnerable groups. But, unlike the people of many other countries, Cubans face these challenges as a people who have constructed a society that is equitable and humane. Those values and that experience inspire and inform new systems as Cuba moves into the future.”

~ Oxfam America on [32]

Politics

U.S. officials have privately stated that there ‘is no question that the bureaucracy operates relatively freely and probably makes decisions without consulting Castro.’^[33] The Communist Party does not select candidates, nor does it decide elections, nor does it track voters, nor does it participate in the elections at all; individuals directly nominate any adults whom they think should be candidates.^[34] The Republic of Cuba has abolished corruption through the semidirect democracy of electing people to the National Assembly of Peoples Power.^[35][36][37]

“Most Cubans I speak to support the reshaping of the economy and the greater ties with the US. Just like us, they want to better their lives, they want a better mobile phone, a bigger house, they want to travel. But none of them would want to live in a Cuba, no matter how rich, without universal free education, free healthcare, cheap public transport and the lowest rates of violent crime in the Americas. None of them. This is Fidel’s legacy.”

~ The Independent on [38]

Cubans are significantly more satisfied with their political system than U.S. citizens are with theirs. The same holds true for the healthcare and education systems:

“More than two-thirds of Cubans—68 percent—are satisfied with their health care system. About 66 percent of Americans said the same in a November 2014 Gallup poll. Seventy-two percent of Cubans are satisfied with their education system, while an August 2014 Gallup poll found that less than half of Americans—48 percent—are “completely” or “somewhat” satisfied with the quality of K-12 education.”

~ New Republic on [39]

The Cuban populace also recently ratified a new constitution, which reasserts the role of the Communist Party, and affirms that the Republic of Cuba is a socialist state advancing towards communism. The constitution also includes some political and economic reforms, such as the recognition of small businesses, and the presumption of innocence in the court system. Independent evidence supports the official vote tally (approximately 90% support):

“The independent online newspaper El Toque asked readers to send in local tallies, a dozen of which showed overwhelming support for ratification.”

~ Reuters on [40]

Yoani Sanchez, sometimes known as ‘Cuba’s best-known dissident,’ witnessed the count at her local polling station, reporting the results as ‘400 yes votes, 25 no votes and 4 blank ballots.’ This suggests that the official results were correct, and the Cuban people did overwhelmingly support the new constitution.^[40]

While the Cuban people largely support economic reform and normalization of relations with the United States, their overall support for the achievements of their planned economy remains high:

“Objective indicators, like the country’s low infant mortality and illiteracy rates, have long shown that Cuba has relatively strong social services. This new polling data suggests that Cubans are well aware of it.”

~ New Republic on [39]

Opposition

A common argument against communism is that the Cuban exile population (and their antisocialism) ‘proves’ that communism is only harmful. This omits a key fact: the exiles come primarily from the wealthy class of the neocolonial era. A study conducted by researchers from Stanford University (published in the Oxford University Press), entitled Cubans in Exile: A Demographic Analysis, discusses this topic:

“Comparison of the occupational, age, and educational composition of the community with the Cuban population indicates that the refugees are better educated and come from higher status occupations than the population from which they have exiled themselves. [M]ore recent exiles are more representative of the Cuban population, but the rural worker is still vastly underrepresented.”

~ Oxford University Press on [41]

Another factor to consider is that the exodus occurred during a time of conflict and difficulty for Cuba; the revolution was still very new, and the government had not entirely established itself yet. This likely explains why there were some outliers (i.e. exiles from the working-class population), although the majority were still from the wealthy sectors of Cuban society.

Foreign policy

Massive Soviet military assistance enabled Cuba to project power abroad. It was involved in a broad range of military and humanitarian activities in Guinea-Bissau, Syria, Angola, Algeria, South Yemen, North Vietnam, Laos, Zaire, Iraq, Libya, Zanzibar, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, Congo-Brazzaville, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.^[42] Cuba sent more than 300,000 of its citizens to fight in Angola (1975–91) and defeated South Africa's armed forces using tanks, planes, and artillery.^[43] Cuban intervention in Angola contributed to the downfall of the apartheid regime in South Africa.^[44] The presence of a substantial number of blacks and mulattos in the Cuban armed forces (40–50 percent in Angola)^[45] helped give teeth to Castro's campaign against racism and related prejudice like xenophobia.

Economy

Since the very beginning, the Cuban revolution has been committed to the improvement of life for the people in both the economic and social spheres:

“When Cuba’s revolution came to power in 1959, its model of development aimed to link economic growth with advances in social justice. From the start, transforming economic changes were accompanied by equally transforming social initiatives. For example, in 1959, Cuba carried out a profound agrarian reform which ended latifundia [land estate system] in the island and distributed land to thousands of formerly landless small farmers.”

~ Oxfam America on [32]

The Republic of Cuba is a planned economy, but it did reintroduce some liberal reforms in the 1990s. Nevertheless, today they have a body of elected delegates who direct the economy away from the established framework and into one that successfully allows for workers’ self-management.^[46][47] With over five thousand in existence, the cooperatives have already achieved a prominent rôle in the planned economy over the last decade and are likely to develop further in the previsible future.^[48] Despite economic pressure, the Republic of Cuba has largely succeeded in providing a decent quality of life for its people. The unemployment rate remains below 3%, as it has for decades.^[49]

The republic currently has one of the lowest malnutrition rates of any nation;^[50] all citizens are legally entitled to food.^[51] It is currently a world leader in organic farming,^[52][53] and Havana in particular has a good deal of food providers.^[54] Nevertheless, the World Food Program has claimed that 70–80% of its domestic food requirements derive from imports, with most slated for social protection programmes,^[55] but the republic has been reducing its reliance on foreign imports for a couple decades now.^[56] Data from the World Health Organization indicate that as of 2017 they have a malnutrition rate of less than 2.00.^[57][58] The FAO concluded that the Republic of Cuba’s ‘remarkably low percentages of child malnutrition put [them] at the forefront of developing countries’^[59] and World Food Program USA has likewise concluded that over the last five decades, their ‘comprehensive social protection programs’ have ‘largely eliminated hunger and poverty.’^{[55] [60]} As of 2018 the Global Hunger Index has rated the Republic of Cuba as ‘low’ on their index.^[61] According to a report from the United States Department of Agriculture, the average Cuban consumes approximately 3300 calories per day, far above the Latin American and Caribbean average, and only slightly lower than in the United States. Approximately two thirds of nutritional needs are met by monthly food rations, while the rest is bought independently. The report also states:

“The Cuban economy has made remarkable progress toward recovery from the economic disaster generated by the collapse of the Soviet Bloc.”

~ USDA on [62]

Oil accounted for about 85% of their electricity generated in 2013, but they have set a goal of producing 24% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030 in an effort to diversify their energy portfolio. The state-owned power company Unión Eléctrica has been planning thirteen wind projects with a total capacity of 633 MW, and the republic plans to add 755 MW of biomass-fired capacity, 700 MW of solar capacity, and 56 MW of hydroelectric power as well. The republic’s demand for electricity has been growing as a result of new economic reform, but production has remained stagnant, causing occasional blackouts and other deficiencies. Consequently they have taken measures to reduce the amount of electricity that the government consumes so that the private sector can remain safe from blackouts or other deficiencies.^[63]

The Republic of Cuba’s successful models of sustainable development — in areas of food, housing and health — have been widely replicated throughout Latin America.^[64] The Global Footprint Network has evaluated them as being ecologically sustainable (in contrast to the U.S.A.),^[65] in fact it is only country in the world that meets WWF conditions of sustainable development,^[66][67] for both the Human Development Index and Ecological Footprint.^[68][69][70] They have 30.6% forest coverage due to their reforestation programme^[71] for example, and the Guardian has stated:

“[T]he evidence suggests that Cuba has made excellent progress towards the MDGs in the last decade, building on what are already universally acknowledged to be outstanding achievements in equitable health and education standards. According to a new MDG Report Card by the Overseas Development Institute, Cuba is among the 20 best performing countries in the world.”

~ Jonathan Glennie on [72]

This also includes a statement from a Cuban economist on how this progress is made:

“The Cuban economy is planned and we redistribute income from the most dynamic sectors, which generate most foreign exchange, towards those that are less dynamic but necessary for the country. That’s how we maintain a budget to keep health and education high quality and free of charge to the user.”

~ Anonymous Cuban on [72]

Infrastructure

The revolution greatly improved the housing situation in the Republic of Cuba, and also brought significant urban development:

“Initiatives in the cities were no less ambitious. Urban reform brought a halving of rents for Cuban tenants, opportunities for tenants to own their housing, and an ambitious program of housing construction for those living in marginal shantytowns. New housing, along with the implementation of measures to create jobs and reduce unemployment, especially among women, rapidly transformed the former shantytowns.”

~ Oxfam America on [32]

Likewise, the social security and pensions system in the republic has drastically improved since the revolution:

“Both coverage and distribution have improved significantly since the revolution. With a pension system since the 1930s, Cuba was one of the first Latin American countries to establish one. It consisted of independent pension funds and by 1959 covered about 63% of workers, but the system varied greatly in terms of benefits and relied almost exclusively on workers’ contributions. Since 1959, the program has been funded completely by the government. In 1958, about 63% of the labor force was covered for old age, disability, and survivors insurance; today, the coverage is universal.”

~ Oxfam America on [32]

In 1959, approximately 50% of Cuban households had access to electricity. By 1989, more than 95% of households had access to electricity, including in rural areas, which had previously been almost entirely deprived.^[73] They achieved full electrification by the 2010s,^[74] and have surpassed many of their neighbors in terms of electricity generation:

“By 1990 Cuba had roughly 1.8 times more generating capacity per person than the Dominican Republic and 1.3 times more than Jamaica.”

~ Environmental Defense Fund on [73]

In Cuba, access to clean water and sanitation has drastically improved since the revolution. As of 2018, 96.4% of the urban population and 89.8% of the rural population had access to clean drinking water, while 94.4% of the urban population and 89.1% of the rural population had access to improved sanitation services.^[75]

“This is Fidel’s legacy. Clean water and electricity for all. And universal free education and healthcare. Cubans often joke that they’re healthier and better educated than Americans despite the 50-year-plus US blockade.

So for me, rural Cuba is Fidel’s Cuba. His ideals live on here — and the rural poor of Cuba have benefited the most from his cradle-to-grave policies. Here, the grandchildren of peasants really do go on to become consultant surgeons and commercial airline pilots.”

~ The Independent on [38]

Health

“Whether it is a consultation, dentures or open heart surgery, citizens are entitled to free treatment. As a result the impoverished island boasts better health indicators than its exponentially richer neighbour 90 miles across the Florida straits.”

~ Guardian on [76]

Another source on this is the study Health in Cuba, published by the Oxford University Press’s International Journal of Epidemiology:

“Cuba represents an important alternative example where modest infrastructure investments combined with a well-developed public health strategy have generated health status measures comparable with those of industrialized countries. […] If the Cuban experience were generalized to other poor and middle-income countries human health would be transformed.”

~ International Journal of Epidemiology on [77]

This is demonstrated by the particular health statistics of the republic after the revolution. For example, prerevolutionary life expectancy was approximately 6.3 decades, compared to approximately 7 decades in the U.S.A. By 1973 (thirteen years after the revolution), the republic had caught up to the U.S.A.; it has since surpassed them in terms of life expectancy with an average of 7.5 decades;^[78] UNICEF^[79] and World Bank statistics indicate that the republic has achieved a higher life expectancy^[80] and better mortality rate^[81] than the United States. The prerevolutionary adult male mortality rate was also already slightly lower than that of the United States, but the gap has widened significantly in the Republic of Cuba’s favor since the revolution.^[82] The prerevolutionary percentage of women surviving the age 65 was significantly lower in the republic than in the United States; today, it is slightly higher.^[83] Maternal mortality rates, while not as good as those in Canada or the U.S.A., have improved massively since the 1950s and today are better than the rates of other countries of comparable backgrounds in the Americas:

“Under the Revolution, Cuba has enjoyed some meaningful progress in lowering maternal mortality rates (the number of pregnancy or delivery related deaths per 100,000 live births per year). In 1955, the maternal mortality rate in Cuba was 145, and in 1958, it was 125. According to the PAHO, however, by 2012, Cuba showed a maternal mortality rate of 41, better than the rates of 56–68 in Brazil or 120–158 in Guatemala, although not as good as 9–12 in Canada or 21 in the USA. According to data provided by the British medical journal, The Lancet, in 2013, the maternal mortality rate in Cuba had fallen to 39.8 per 100,000 live births, compared to 54.0 in Mexico, and 58.7 in Brazil.”

~ Ronn Pineo on [84]

Presently, the Republic of Cuba possesses best healthcare system in the developing world.^[85] The republic is also famous for its number of medical professionals, causing some people to return there^[86] or seek their medical training there.^[87][88] Since the 1990s the Republic of Cuba has had the most doctors per capita, one for every 214 inhabitants, of all the countries in the world,^[78] and presently has the most doctors per capita in the world.^[89][90]

Cuban scientists were the first to introduce a vaccine for lung cancer,^[91][92] an anti-AIDS contagion pill,^[93] and they designed new hepatitis B vaccines;^[94][95] Time reported that the Republic of Cuba has eliminated the transmission of HIV and syphilis through pregnancies,^[96] making them the world’s first country to do so,^[97] and since 2019 they have been distributing PrEP gratis to those who need it,^[98] reducing the chance of HIV infection by as much as 90%.^[99] In 2000, the performance of the Republic of Cuba’s provision placed the country at #39 on the World Health Organization’s league table,^[100] and in 2014 the republic was spending 11.1% of its GDP on healthcare.^[101] The Food Security and Nutrition Monitoring System indicated in 2015 that youths over the age of two have a 31.6% chance of developing anaemia, however.^[55] Today the republic offers genital reconstructions gratis,^[102] and vulnerable demographics such as the ill, the disabled, and those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged receive special protections and other benefits.^[103] Bloomberg placed the Republic of Cuba’s healthcare above the U.S.’s,^[104] and the New York Times has confirmed that U.S. students do travel there to seek medical training.^[105]

The Republic of Cuba has sent teachers, doctors, and workers to dozens of superexploited countries gratis. For example, in the 2010s they became the most important supporter to the Haitians after the 2010 earthquake.^[106] During the same decade they assisted Mozambicans that survived a hurricane,^[107] and they provided the most important medical support to western Africa during the Ebola outbreak.^[108] Their republic has also treated more children (13,000) who were victims of the Chernobyl incident^[109][110] than all other countries put together.^[78] Both the Republic of Cuba and the People’s Republic of China have distributed 933 tons of medicine to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.^[111]

In 2020, they transported their doctors to fourteen other countries due to COVID-19,^[112] including Grenada, Jamaica, the Republic of Nicaragua, Suriname and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, increasing the more than 28,000 medical volunteers it has serving in sixty-one other countries. Each student is expected to visit eighty houses daily, and they have visited more than a million people by March 20. On March 23, the Republic of Cuba announced new measures such as suspending school for four weeks; closing dance clubs, pools and gyms; giving special attention to seniors who live at home or who live alone; increasing food production; and cancelling most travel between cities. All Cubans returning to the republic are quarantined for two weeks, and for now tourists cannot reenter the country.^[113]

They are highly prone to tropical storms, hurricanes, heavy rainfalls, drought and occasional earthquakes,^[55] consequently they have developed the best response system in the Caribbean,^[114] with less than a hundred deaths in the past decade or so.^[115] They have successfully evacuated up to 1.5 million people^[116] and weathered the most catastrophic hurricanes to date.^{[117][118][119]} Each residential block has somebody assigned to take a census on who is being evacuated to which shelter, with special attention paid to elders and pregnant people, and as efforts are organized locally, compliance is increased.^[120] A big part of the Cuban resilience to hurricanes and similar extreme weather (compared to other Caribbean nations) is also that they have not cut down all their forests; it is a conscious decision to keep forests up as that keeps the force of winds down. (Comparatively: other islands get devastated as they have done more deforestation.)

Education

Since the revolution, the Republic of Cuba has made enormous strides in education. One of the most significant developments was the National Literacy Campaign (which Che Guevara spearheaded):

“The National Literacy Campaign of 1961, recognized as one of the most successful initiatives of its kind, mobilized teachers, workers, and secondary school students to teach more than 700,000 persons how to read. This campaign reduced the illiteracy rate from 23% to 4% in the space of one year.”

~ Oxfam America on [32]

The revolutionary literacy in the repubic was between 60% and 76%, depending on the estimates used. Today, the CIA World Factbook gives the Cuban literacy rate as 99.8%.^[121] International entities such as UNESCO corroborate this.^[122][123] In addition, the republic spends a greater percentage of GDP on education than any other country in the world.^[124]

At one point the Republic of Cuba had 25,000 Third World students studying on scholarships, and it still has many scholarship students from Africa and other continents. Since the 1990s they have been the republic with the most teachers per capita of all countries in the world, including developed countries.^[78] UNICEF data indicate that they have a higher literacy rate than the United States.^[79]

Demographics

Cuban citizenry is 64% white and 36% black and mulatto combined. Although the republic has made great strides towards equity, socio-economic inequalities may still persist. For example, using the survey results conducted by an unknown ‘small Cuban research team’ that one author worked with during her time at the Cuban Research Institute, GIGA (a German Foreign Office project) researchers Katrin Hansing (associate director for the Cuban Research Institute at FIU) and Bert Hoffmann argued that Afro-Cubans have less access to bank accounts, the Internet, remittances, and other amenities,^[125] although the procedure for validating these surveys remains unclear.

In the late 1990s there were 2,000–3,000 Americans living in the Republic of Cuba, most of whom were born in the Anglosphere to Cuban parents. Motives for immigrating included love, escaping neoimperialist authorities, and seeking a better life.^[126]

Migration

A legal immigration agreement between the Republic of Cuba and the United States facilitates visas for Cuban citizens each year who want to join their many family members in the U.S., and since the Republic of Cuba is a developing country suffering under six decades of aggression and blockade from antisocialists, many people emigrate for economic reasons. Cubans are nonetheless completely free to leave the Republic of Cuba at any time so long as they have visas from other countries in order to travel and the money to pay for the travel. As part of their campaign against the republic, antisocialists have maintained a policy of encouraging dangerous illegal migration. The U.S. had a so called ‘wet foot, dry foot’ policy that gave special incentives to Cuban nationals to migrate illegally to there where they were guaranteed citizenship.^[127]

Cuba has one of the lowest immigration rates in South and Central America as well as the Caribbean. The majority of immigrants from the Caribbean islands and South America have been from Haiti and other capitalist countries^[128]. One of Cuba’s Caribbean neighbors is the Dominican Republic. 41,000 Dominicans immigrated to the US in 2012 (not including the tens of thousands more that came undocumented). Under 10,000 total came from Cuba that year, a fraction of the Dominicans that immigrated. The Dominican Republic produces far more immigrants than Cuba, and yet has a smaller population by 2 million, and requires a longer and more dangerous journey to the US for immigrants. Indeed, millions of people from all over the world immigrate to the US, including 11.7 million Mexicans. Millions more have come from all other Latin American countries. What’s clear is that there is not a mass exodus of refugees from Cuba. Cuban emigres are given the spotlight by the US government and media because it can be conveniently used to as ammunition to demonize a country that is not compliant with imperialism. The simple fact is that any time there is a developed country nearby a less developed country, there is a tendency for the latter to produce immigration towards the former. Cuba experiencing emigration is nothing abnormal or unexpected.

The claim that “Cubans are fleeing communism/socialism” is also tremendously hypocritical. When immigrants come from any other Latin American country, almost all which are capitalist. Regardless of their actual reasons, any immigrant that comes from Cuba is automatically a victim of communism who is fleeing their government. Nearly all immigrants from Central America and the Caribbean migrate for economic reasons: they have little food, no way to make a living, may lose their home, or are employed on a poverty wage. Thus, they emigrate in hopes of alleviating economic problems. What’s more ironic is that these are problems that capitalist Latin American countries face at higher rates than Cuba. Homelessness, unemployment, and poverty in Cuba are among the lowest in the Americas and even the world. In fact, Cuba is the 2nd-most developed country in Latin America, per the 2014 Human Development Index. While capitalist countries produce immigrants out of their systemic inability to provide such basic human rights, Cuba produces immigrants merely because some Cubans wish to live in a more developed country, and reap whatever individual benefits may come with development. If it is true that Cubans leave because “socialism/communism made their lives hard,” one must also acknowledge that statistically speaking, socialism provided the best lives they could’ve had in Latin America.

Ironically many families of Cuban exiles and immigrants live even more poorly than they did in Cuba^[129]. A distinct example includes the family of Cuban Dictator Batista, deposed by Castro and the communist movement decades ago^[130]. A myth spread by popular culture and media, is that Cuban immigrants - read bourgeoisie - 'fleeing Castro' helped improve the economy of Southern cities like Atlanta and Miami^{[131] [132]}.

Culture

“Social policy has also favored the development of equity across society, including the equitable distribution of benefits across all sectors of the population, sometimes favoring the most vulnerable. In the last 40 years Cubans have greatly reduced differences in income between the lowest and the highest paid persons. Women have benefited significantly from the revolution as they have educated themselves and entered the labor force in large numbers. The differences among Cubans of different races have also been reduced.”

~ Oxfam America on [32]

Further reading

Reading material on Cuba

External links

• https://www.invent-the-future.org/?p=40
• https://web.archive.org/web/20100316013355/http://www.cubatruth.info/

References

1. ↑ Vandepitte, Marc. 60 Years of Tropical Socialism. Assessment of the Cuban Revolution. Archived from the original on 2019-01-25.
2. ↑ Fernández, Frank (2001). "1", Cuban Anarchism: The History of A Movement. 
3. ↑ Carter, Andrea; Søren E. Frandsen, Arie Kuyvenhoven, Joachim von Braun (2013). Per Pinstrup‐Andersen:Cuba’s Food‐Rationing System and Alternatives. Cornell University.
4. ↑ Farber, Samuel. Cuba Before the Revolution. Archived from the original on 2016-04-20.
5. ↑ Carter, Andrea; Søren E. Frandsen, Arie Kuyvenhoven, Joachim von Braun (2013). Per Pinstrup‐Andersen:Cuba’s Food‐Rationing System and Alternatives. Cornell University.
6. ↑ The Truth About Cuban Socialism. Archived from the original on 2017-04-22.
7. ↑ Swanger, Joanna (2015). "seven", Rebel Lands of Cuba: The Campesino Struggles of Oriente and Escambray, 1934–1974. Lexington Books. 
8. ↑ (2012) "1", Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance. Univ of North Carolina Press. 
9. ↑ Wickham-Crowley, Timothy (1990). "3", Exploring Revolution: Essays on Latin American Insurgency and Revolutionary Theory. M.E. Sharpe. 
10. ↑ Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 4th, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc.. 
11. ↑ Conflict, Order, and Peace in the Americas; Samuel Shapiro, Invisible Latin America, The World Guide 1997/98: A View from the South; H. A. Reitsma & J. M. G. Kleinpenning, The Third World in Perspective
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} Political Murders in Cuba--Batista Era Compared with Castro Regime (1963-01-21).
13. ↑ (1969) Socialism in Cuba. Monthly Review Press, 110–1. 
14. ↑ Fernández, Frank (2001). "4", Cuban Anarchism: The History of A Movement. 
15. ↑ Minutes of Meeting of the Special Group (Augmented) on Operation MONGOOSE, 6 September 1962 (1962-09-06).
16. ↑ Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Cuba. 
17. ↑ (1969) Socialism in Cuba. Monthly Review Press. 
18. ↑ (1969) Socialism in Cuba. Monthly Review Press. 
19. ↑ (1969) Socialism in Cuba. Monthly Review Press, 168–9. 
20. ↑ (1970) The Alliance that Lost Its Way: A Critical Report on the Alliance for Progress, second, Chicago: Quadrangle Books. 
21. ↑ Chomsky, Aviva (2015). "9", in Jürgen Buchenau: A History of the Cuban Revolution, second, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 172–3. 
22. ↑ Rutledge, Kristen (1993). Thousands of Cubans Losing Their Sight Because Of Malnutrition. Retrieved on 2020-02-10.
23. ↑ Franklin, Jane. "The politics behind Clinton's Cuba policy", 1994-08-30. Archived from the original on 2019-05-13. 
24. ↑ Parenti, Michael, The Face of Imperialism, p. 111.
25. ↑ Cuban Political Prisoners ... in the United States – William Blum. Retrieved on 2019-10-09.
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27. ↑ Gordon, Joy (1999). "A Peaceful, Silent, Deadly Remedy: The Ethics of Economic Sanctions". Ethics & International Affairs 13 (1): 123–142. doi:10.1111/j.1747-7093.1999.tb00330.x. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1747-7093.1999.tb00330.x. 
28. ↑ Hidalgo, Vilma; Martinez, Milagros (2000). "Is the U.S. Economic Embargo on Cuba Morally Defensible?". A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 3 (4): 100–120. doi:10.1353/log.2000.0005. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/20345/pdf. 
29. ↑ Nichols, Dick (2005). The Cuban Revolution: Defying Imperialism, Building the Alternative. Resistance Books. ISBN 1876646462. 
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31. ↑ Quinn, Shane. Collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuban Revolution Survives Despite Widely Held Predictions. Archived from the original on 2020-01-01.
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33. ↑ CASTRO (1975).
34. ↑ https://invidio.us/embed/2aMsi-A56ds
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49. ↑ UNData. Retrieved on 2020-02-11.
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54. ↑ https://invidio.us/embed/YoCYIRUXE3A
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57. ↑ MALNUTRITION DEATH RATE BY COUNTRY. World Life Expectancy. Retrieved on 2019-10-09.
58. ↑ https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#malnutrition
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63. ↑ https://www.eia.gov/beta/international/analysis.php?iso=CUB
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67. ↑ As World Burns, Cuba Number One for Sustainable Development (2016-10-27). Archived from the original on 2019-05-02.
68. ↑ José Cabello, Juan; Garcia, Dunia; Sagastume, Alexis; Priego, Rosario; Hens, Luc; Vandecasteele, Carlo (2012-02-19). "An approach to sustainable development: the case of Cuba". Environment, Development and Sustainability (Springer Netherlands) 14 (4): 573–591. doi:10.1007/s10668-012-9338-8. ISSN 1573-2975. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-012-9338-8. 
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70. ↑ Christine, Ro. Every Country Is Developing, According To The New Sustainable Development Index. Archived from the original on 2019-12-02.
71. ↑ Cuba has 30.6% Forest Coverage Due to Reforestation Program (2016-08-25). Retrieved on 2020-01-15.
72. ↑ ^{72.0 72.1} Glennie, Jonathan. "Why we should applaud Cuba’s progress towards the millennium development goals", 2010-09-30. Retrieved on 2020-02-11. Archived from the original on 2013-09-16. 
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74. ↑ Liu:Cuba achieves full electrification in 2018 (2018-12-15). Archived from the original on 2018-12-15.
75. ↑ https://data.un.org/en/iso/cu.html
76. ↑ Healthcare in Cuba (2007-07-17). Archived from the original on 2014-10-05.
77. ↑ Cooper, Richard; Kennelly, Joan; Orduñez-Garcia, Pedro (2006-08-04). "Health in Cuba". International Journal of Epidemiology 35 (4): 817–24. doi:10.1093/ije/dyl175. Archived from the original on 2006-05-04. https://academic.oup.com/ije/article-pdf/35/4/817/2003802/dyl175.pdf. 
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79. ↑ ^{79.0 79.1} https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/cuba_statistics.html
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86. ↑ Moreno, Sarah (2018-03-12). Thousands of Cuban exiles are exploring an unusual option: Returning to Cuba to live. Retrieved on 2020-01-17.
87. ↑ Why Are Americans Getting Their Medical Degrees In Cuba?. Archived from the original on 2020-01-01.
88. ↑ MacLeod, Alan (2019-03-31). Meet the Americans Studying Medicine on the Cuban Government’s Dime.
89. ↑ Social Services in Cuba. National Association of Social Workers. Retrieved on 2020-02-24.
90. ↑ Density of physicians (total number per 1000 population, latest available year) (2018-12-28).
91. ↑ Carroll, Rory (2008-06-26). Cuba approves first therapeutic vaccine for lung cancer. Archived from the original on 2013-09-02.
92. ↑ McGinley, Laurie (2016-10-27). In a first, U.S. trial to test Cuban lung-cancer vaccine. Archived from the original on 2016-10-28. Retrieved on 2020-01-17.
93. ↑ Robinson, Circles (2019-05-29). Drug Trial in Cuba to Prevent HIV Infections. Retrieved on 2020-01-17.
94. ↑ Henriques, Carolina. New Chronic Hepatitis B Treatment Available in Cuba. Archived from the original on 2015-12-24.
95. ↑ LLA, Rodríguez Lay; M, Bello Corredor; MC, Montalvo Villalba; AG, Chibás Ojeda; S, Sariego Frómeta; M, Diaz González; Y, Abad Lamoth; M, Sánchez Wong et al. (2017-04-24). "Hepatitis B virus infection assessed 3 to 18 years after vaccination in Cuban children and adolescents born to HBsAg-positive mothers.". Archives of Virology 162 (8): 2393–2396. doi:10.1007/s00705-017-3365-6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28439708. 
96. ↑ Worland, Justin (2015-07-01). Mother to Child HIV Transmission: Cuba Eliminates HIV in Newborns. Archived from the original on 2015-07-01. Retrieved on 2020-01-17.
97. ↑ WHO validates elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis in Cuba (2015-06-30). Archived from the original on 2018-01-11.
98. ↑ Smith, Gwendolyn (2019-04-12). Cuba just started giving PrEP away for free to those who need it. Archived from the original on 2019-04-13.
99. ↑ Cuba starts giving out free preventive HIV pill (2019-04-04). Archived from the original on 2019-04-10.
100. ↑ The world health report 2000 - Health systems: improving performance.
101. ↑ Total expenditure on health as a percentage of the gross domestic product (%) (2014).
102. ↑ Darlington, Shasta (2011-06-01). Cuban enjoys new benefit of free sex-change operation. Archived from the original on 2011-08-12.
103. ↑ (2013) Caribbean Countries Health Care System Profiles Handbook - Strategic Information, Development and Opportunities. 
104. ↑ These Are the World's Healthiest Nations (2019-02-24). Archived from the original on 2019-02-24.
105. ↑ Americans graduate from Cuban medical school (2007-07-25). Archived from the original on 2018-01-31.
106. ↑ Maddox, Sarah (2010-10-02). Cuba Provided the Greatest Medical Aid to Haiti after the Earthquake. Archived from the original on 2018-07-25. Retrieved on 2020-01-25.
107. ↑ New Cuban Doctors' Mission in Mozambique Ensures Quality (2019-03-29).
108. ↑ Cuba’s Ebola response puts US embargo to shame (2014-12-05). Archived from the original on 2016-07-19.
109. ↑ Chernobyl victims heal in Cuba (2005-07-06). Archived from the original on 2020-02-25.
110. ↑ Cuba and Chernobyl. Retrieved on 2020-04-16.
111. ↑ Venezuela recibe 933 toneladas de medicinas y materiales médicos (Spanish) (2019-02-14).
112. ↑ Fernandez, Belen (2020-04-14). Cuba Under Media Attack for Sending Doctors, Not Bombs, to Help Covid-19 Victims.
113. ↑ Evans, Terry (2020-03-28). "Working people in Cuba set the example for int’l solidarity". The Militant 84 (13). https://themilitant.com/?p=47833. 
114. ↑ Marcetic, Branko (2017-08-30). Before the Hurricane. Archived from the original on 2017-09-01.
115. ↑ Gorry, Conner (2005). Gail A. Reed, MS; Michele Frank, MD; Conner Gorry; Diane Appelbaum, RN, FNP, MS; Debra Evenson, JDS. ed. "Hurricane Wilma: Living to Tell the Tale". MEDICC Review VII (9). ISSN 1527-3172. Archived from the original on 2005-11-00. https://www.medicc.org/resources/documents/medicc-review-disaster-management.pdf. 
116. ↑ Hurricane Ivan brushes Cuba's tip (2004-09-14). Archived from the original on 2007-09-21.
117. ↑ Caribbean Hurricane Network - Updates from the Islands - 2004 Season (2004-09-23).
118. ↑ Hurricanes & Tropical Storms. Archived from the original on 2010-08-15.
119. ↑ Hurricane Ivan drenches western Cuba (2004-09-13). Archived from the original on 2005-09-11.
120. ↑ Thompson, Martha; Izaskun Gaviria (2004). Weathering the Storm: Lessons in Risk Reduction from Cuba. Oxfam America, 31–2. 
121. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cu.html
122. ↑ Greenberg, Jon (2020-02-24). Fact-checking Bernie Sanders' claim on Cuba literacy under Castro. Retrieved on 2020-02-25.
123. ↑ Cuba Literacy Rate 1981-2020. Retrieved on 2020-02-25.
124. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/369rank.html#CU
125. ↑ GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies:Cuba’s New Social Structure: Assessing the Re-Stratification of Cuban Society 60 Years after Revolution. GIGA Working Papers. GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies (February 2019).
126. ↑ Abel, David (1998-10-01). Americans take refuge in Cuba Expatriates: About 2,000 to 3,000 Americans live in Cuba. Most of them were born in the United States to Cuban parents. A handful are on the run from U.S. authorities.. Retrieved on 2020-03-27.
127. ↑ Cuba reaffirms its commitment to regular, safe, and orderly migration (2017-01-16). Retrieved on 2020-03-27.
128. ↑ https://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2013/02/a-visit-to-havana-.html
129. ↑ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/this-country-is-worse-than-cuba-the-trump-eras-cruel-reality-for-cuban-asylum-seekers/
130. ↑ https://www.local10.com/news/local-10-investigates/ex-cuban-leader-fulgencio-batistas-daughter-now-homeless
131. ↑ https://vdare.com/articles/national-data-cuban-immigration-and-the-myth-of-miami
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