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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
© 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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© 2008 Microsoft
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