A Contemporary Cuba Reader A Contemporary Cuba Reader The Revolution under Raúl Castro Second Edition Edited by Philip Brenner, Marguerite Rose Jiménez, John M. Kirk, and William M. LeoGrande ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham • Boulder • New York • London Published by Rowman & Littlefield A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com 16 Carlisle Street, London W1D 3BT, United Kingdom Copyright © 2015 by Rowman & Littlefield First edition 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A contemporary Cuba reader : the revolution under Raúl Castro / edited by Philip Brenner, Marguerite Rose Jiménez, John M. Kirk, and William M. LeoGrande.—Second edition. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4422-3098-9 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4422-3099-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4422-3100- 9 (electronic) 1. Cuba—History—1990- I. Brenner, Philip, editor of compilation, author. II. Jiménez, Marguerite Rose, 1982– editor of compilation, author. III. Kirk, John M., 1951– editor of compilation, author. IV. LeoGrande, William M., editor of compilation, author. F1788.C67 2014 972.9107—dc23 2014008031 TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America List of Tables Preface On July 31, 2006, the Cuban government announced that President Fidel Castro Ruz had relinquished temporarily all of his government and party responsibilities. Nearly dead from complications due to abdominal surgery, the iconic Cuban leader had designated his younger brother, Raúl Castro Ruz, to serve as provisional president, head of the Cuban Communist Party, and commander in chief of the armed forces. Over the next eighteen months as the elder Castro recuperated but lacked the physical ability to resume any of his previous official roles, it became clear that a peaceful succession of power had occurred in Cuba. This book examines the consequences of the succession by focusing both on the changes that have occurred since mid-2006 in Cuba’s economics, politics, social relations, culture, and relations with other countries and on the continuities, especially how the country has attempted to maintain its social safety net, guarantee of good health care and education to everyone, and prestige among Third World nations as well as a tradition of collective responsibility and shared burden in the face of increasing individualism. In assembling chapters for this edition of A Contemporary Cuba Reader, we faced the challenge that Cuba is a rapidly moving subject. To prevent this collection from becoming obsolete within months of publication, we commissioned a larger percentage of original chapters for this edition than we did for the first, asking authors to identify the dynamics of their subjects in order to provide readers with a sense of what drivers lie behind the process of change. Moreover, we have created for readers a continually updated website that includes data on Cuba’s demography and economy, information about current political events and political leaders in Cuba and Cuba’s international relations, and links to films, music, photos, and topical articles. The first edition of A Contemporary Cuba Reader examined what President Fidel Castro declared in 1990 to be a “Special Period in a Time of Peace”—a period of extreme hardship that led to a dramatic reversal in the quality of life for most people on the island. The collapse of the socialist trading bloc in 1989 and the subsequent breakup of the Soviet Union caused the Cuban economy to decline by nearly 30 percent in four years. The first edition described and analyzed both the myriad ways that Cubans had reinvented their Revolution during the “Special Period” and the way that some changes, such as the dual currency, contributed to undermining fundamental goals of the Revolution by increasing inequality and diminishing the value of education. The government still has not officially announced an end of the Special Period, but we would argue that by 2006 it was over, as the Cuban economy was again expanding and the worst years seemed past. In 2006, Cuba hosted the summit of the 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement, elevating Cuba once again to a position of Third World leadership. Cuban music and the arts were flourishing, and there was a new openness on the island in discussions about Cuba’s future. Still, as Raúl Castro took the baton from his brother, there was considerable uncertainty about the path he would take in leading the country. There was even the question of his own ability to replace Fidel, a giant whose charismatic relationship with Cubans had conferred legitimacy on his authority even in the worst times.[1] In Washington, fears of turmoil and a possible onslaught of Cubans trying to enter the United States led President George W. Bush to warn Cubans not to leave the island. Yet no hint of turmoil followed the announcement of Raúl’s assumption of leadership. As Julia Sweig wrote in the first edition of A Contemporary Cuba Reader, “Despite Fidel’s overwhelming personal authority and Raúl’s critical institution-building abilities, the government rests on far more than just the charisma, authority, and legend of these two figures.”[2] Indeed, while there is little doubt that Fidel Castro played the central role in determining the character, the successes, and the failures of the Cuban Revolution, it had not been “Castro’s Revolution.” The calm that ensued after he stepped down suggested both that he was replaceable and that the Revolution he led had been forged by the Cuban people who continued to support its fundamental goals of national independence and social justice. As we highlight in the introduction to this book, contemporary Cubans carry with them the legacy of many prior generations who were determined to build a Cuba independent of foreign domination—whether by Spain, the United States, or the Soviet Union—and at least since 1959 to foster an ethos of egalitarianism. Raúl Castro has thus sought to retain the wide-ranging social programs that have provided substantial benefits to the Cuban population while introducing a series of measures intended to modernize the economic structure and provide incentives to the growing self-employed sector. This has resulted in a radically new stage of the Cuban revolutionary process, significantly different from anything seen to date—yet with the same underpinnings of revolutionary society as found before. Although Raúl Castro’s era is not over yet—he has announced that he will serve as president until the end of his current term in 2018—he has determined Cuba’s path clearly enough that we can ascribe the period since 2006 as the Revolution under his leadership. Several people have assisted us as we worked on A Contemporary Cuba Reader. We thank Amy Ruddle, Kia Hall, Uri Lerner, and Alex D’Agostino for their research assistance, and Will Pittinos for his work on the index. We have benefited from the advice and contributions given to us by numerous colleagues at American University, Dalhousie University, the University of Havana, and Cuba’s Instituto Superior de Relaciones Internacionales and from anonymous reviewers and students and faculty who have used the book. Officials at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana and the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., have facilitated our travel and research. Our families have been generous with their support and patience. All of the editors’ royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba), a U.S. nonprofit organization working to enhance cooperation among U.S., Cuban, and global health communities. The second edition of A Contemporary Cuba Reader—like the first—would not have been possible without our editor at Rowman & Littlefield, Susan McEachern, who engaged in this project with the spirit of a team captain, combining her collegiality and gentle pressure with experienced judgment and a shared appreciation for the editors’ objectives. We dedicate this edition of A Contemporary Cuba Reader to Saul Landau, who died in September 2013. As he was to countless students of Cuba, Saul was to us a dear friend, a mentor, and a colleague who encouraged us to know Cuba from the perspective of Cubans, to write about Cuba honestly, and to work tirelessly to improve U.S.-Cuba relations for the benefit of people in both countries. Philip Brenner Marguerite Rose Jiménez John M. Kirk William M. LeoGrande May 2014 NOTES 1. Nelson P. Valdes, “The Revolutionary and Political Content of Fidel Castro’s Charismatic Authority,” in A Contemporary Cuba Reader: Reinventing the Revolution, edited by Philip Brenner, Marguerite Rose Jiménez, John M. Kirk, and William M. LeoGrande (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008). 2. Julia E. Sweig, “Fidel’s Final Victory,” in Brenner et al., A Contemporary Cuba Reader, 237. Chapter Introduction History as Prologue: Cuba before 2006 Philip Brenner, Marguerite Rose Jiménez, John M. Kirk, and William M. LeoGrande On July 31, 2006, a gravely ill Fidel Castro handed his conductor’s baton to Raúl Castro. The younger brother of Cuba’s larger-than-life revolutionary leader accepted the provisional reins of power as head of state, first secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party, and commander in chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. A new era had begun. It was the moment about which U.S. policymakers and many Cuban exiles had been dreaming, when chaos would ensue and the revolutionary regime would collapse. Fearing its wishes might come true, the Bush administration warned Cubans “against leaving the island”[1] as it anticipated a massive exodus. But there was no turmoil, no rush for the exit. The transition occurred almost seamlessly. Historian Julia Sweig aptly characterized the handover as the Cuban leader’s “final victory.”[2] Fidel Castro was the indispensable person without whom the Cuban Revolution would have taken a different course. But he was not a traditional Latin American caudillo. From 1959 to 2006, the country’s economy, politics, foreign policy, culture, and social organization were not merely a reflection of Castro’s personality and personal predilections because the Cuban Revolution had an organic quality. It grew from below and was shaped by the relationship between leader and followers. As sociologist Nelson Valdés explains, Castro was a charismatic leader. “His charismatic authority would not have been possible without the revolutionary practices which the Cuban populace embraced.”[3] For a government to remain legitimate after the passing of its charismatic leader, it needs to substitute one of two other forms of legitimacy, which sociologist Max Weber termed traditional and legal-institutional.[4] Consider that the U.S. federal government at first relied on George Washington’s charismatic leadership for its legitimacy and then turned to tradition. Succeeding presidents through John Quincy Adams endowed the new government with legitimacy by their ties to the American Revolution. But fifty-three years after the start of the Independence War, the revolutionary heroes or their sons were no longer available. President Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, who took office in 1829, had been born outside one of the original thirteen states and was only nine years old when the Revolution began. He ushered in a new era during which the right to vote was expanded significantly to non–property owners, which contributed to the government’s legal-institutional legitimacy.[5] Establishing governmental legitimacy was a primary task that confronted Raúl Castro in 2006. Of course, as one of the Cuban Revolution’s leaders, he could rely on traditional authority. And at first he did surround himself with leaders whose right to rule derived from their personal participation in the Revolution. But Raúl was seventy-