Cuba

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.

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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.

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