The Socioeconomic Legacy Of Fidel Castro

The Socioeconomic Legacy Of Fidel Castro / Miriam Leiva

ABC International, Miriam Leiva, 26 November 2016 — Fidel Castro left
Cuba in disastrous economic conditions after exerting absolute power for
more than 47 years. His brother received a country "on the precipice" on
31 July 2006.

Raul Castro has had to eliminate the "genial" initiatives of the
comandante en jefe, without repudiating them, presenting it as an update
of the economic model, always inspired by Fidel's ideas. In fact, his
speeches and aphorisms were so many that he could use them according to
his needs. However, most Cubans are convinced he squandered them in his
great failed works and caused the most comprehensive crisis in the
nation's history.

While arguing he was defending Cuba's sovereignty, Fidel Castro was
strengthened in power by economic dependence on the Soviet Union and
Venezuela; he depreciated the value of labor; he impoverished the
population; he destroyed moral and civic values; he extinguished hope
for a solution and increased the exodus abroad, mainly of young people,
with very serious implications for the future of the country.

At the time of the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, Cuba shared with
Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Costa Rica the most advanced economic and
social indicators in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although it did
face challenges, such as a slow rate of growth; excessive dependence on
the sugar industry; outsized economic ties with the United States,
particularly in investment and trade; high rates of unemployment and
underemployment; significant inequalities in living standards,
especially between urban and rural areas; unjust distribution of land,
with extensive estates, poorly cultivated; and a lack of industrial
development and infrastructure, among others.

Rupture

Fifty-five years later, reality indicates that the problems inherited
from the pre-revolutionary period were not solved. The breaking off of
economic and trade ties with the United States did not lead to the
achievement of independence in these areas.

The Soviet Union and its allies replaced the United States until 1989,
when the USSR disappeared and there began a period of great shortages
that Fidel Castro called "a special period in times of peace." GDP fell
by a third between 1990 and 1994. Castro authorized, though with strong
restrictions, farmers markets, tourism, a certain independence of state
enterprises and foreign investments. But he reestablished restraints
when Venezuela's strong petro-dollar contributions began.

Without sugar

One of Castro's most notable disasters was the destruction of the sugar
industry, which began with the failed plan for a "10 million harvest" in
1970. Several years of preparation leading up to the grand plan
annihilated the country's non-sugar agriculture production and damaged
livestock farming in favor of sowing sugar cane and huge investments in
mills, which were not ready in time.

In 2002 he decided to restructure the 156 remaining sugar centers,
dismantling 85 mills, 21 of them supposedly dedicated to producing honey
or tourism. This involved the demolition of cane fields, the destruction
of roads, the dispersion of experienced personnel and the decline of
villages.

Cuba had been the largest producer and exporter of sugar in the world,
with more than 6 million tons in 1959 and 8.2 million tons in the 1980s,
which fell to 1.1 million annually, without being able to recover
despite the reorganization. In 2013, 49 plants operated, producing about
1.6 million tons (similar to 1909). Cuban culture and nationality
developed with this industry, starting in the seventeenth century. In
those days it was said, "without sugar there is no country."

Land confiscated after 1959 was not used efficiently. The state-owned
estates created have been more unproductive than the previous ones.
Agriculture remained for many years with enormous tracts of land poorly
cultivated, empty or overrun by the invasive marabou weed.

Production levels in relative terms do not exceed what was achieved per
inhabitant before 1959, with about 80% of the food that makes up the
much-reduced basic food basket now imported, despite the leasing of land
to private farmers and cooperatives since 2008.

Cuba had more than 7 million head of cattle, but today the number does
not exceed 4 million, with a substantial decrease in the production of
meat and milk.

Manufacturing has a production volume equivalent to 43% of that obtained
in 1989. The average monthly salary and pension at the end of 2014 were
467 and 269 pesos respectively (the equivalent of 15 and 10 euros at the
official exchange rate).

In order to survive, Cubans depend on remittances from family abroad,
work in areas related to foreigners – where they can earn generous tips
– or the informal market, all of which has led to a growing loss of
ethical and moral values ​​due to deception, theft and illicit
activities. The elimination of accounting, contracts and other practices
in the 1960s prompted a great lack of control and administrative
corruption, which Raul Castro is attempting to eliminate through the new
Comptroller General of the Republic.

Without goods to export

In July 2007, Raul Castro acknowledged the need for structural and
conceptual changes, which are contained in the "updating of the economic
model, without haste but without pause." However, the changes have been
few, limited and late, and the economic levels of 1989 have not been
regained.

In the last 24 years, the investment rate has been very low, causing a
process of decapitalization. There are no savings or access to credits
due to the unreliability of repayment. The new Mariel Special
Development Zone is intended to bring in 2.5 billion dollars annual in
foreign investment, which has not been achieved. The Minister of Economy
and Planning acknowledged in July 2014 that "the economy grows in
relation to 2013, although it does not reach the expected levels, which
leads to a greater deceleration than expected."

With virtually no goods to export, Cuba has become a supplier of skilled
labor abroad, in particular health workers which are "leased" to other
countries, and which has become the country's main source of foreign
exchange earnings. Characterized as having an advanced population, today
the country exhibits a generalized technological backwardness, which
places it behind the nations of the region on crucial issues such as
internet access.

Progress at the beginning of the Revolution in public health and
education has deteriorated. These vital sectors are set back by the lack
of resources due to the crisis; at the same time graduates and
specialists, generally poorly utilized and underpaid, prefer work that
requires lesser qualifications but is better paid (for example, in the
tourist sector), or choose to leave the country.

Colossal catastrophe

The dreams awakened by Fidel Castro as the Maximum Leader of the process
begun on January 1, 1959 have ended in a great nightmare, a catastrophe
of colossal magnitude. He squandered the opportunity to leave a legacy
of progress and well-being for the Cuban people, prioritizing his
desires to satisfy immense longings for absolute power and an
uncontrollable delirium of grandeur.

Source: The Socioeconomic Legacy Of Fidel Castro / Miriam Leiva –
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