FOREIGNPOLICYINFOCUS: “Review: Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959”, por Rebecca Whedon (Inglés)

Widely hailed as the most consequential revolution in 20th century Latin America, the Cuban revolution has permeated all aspects of Cuban life. Though countless analyses evaluate just how thoroughly the revolution has transformed Cuba over the past 50 years, few rival Samuel Farber’s work Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959: A Critical Assessment. Simultaneously informative and critical, Farber’s book offers a comprehensive, if self-admittedly biased, evaluation of the changes in Cuba’s society, economy, and government. Farber assesses the past and current Cuban political and economic systems while also proposing possible improvements.
Cuba’s economic development is the most thoroughly covered topic in Farber’s piece. Farber notes that the level of economic development Cuba has seen under Castro’s government falls dramatically short of earlier, revolutionary expectations. Though the initial economic forecast seemed promising, Cuba has failed to industrialize and even seen a great decline in the once booming sugar industry.
Farber weighs the impact of the U.S. economic sanctions, a hotly contested subject in the international community. Although widely seen as the main cause of Cuba’s economic underdevelopment, sanctions have had the adverse effect of concealing from international eyes the “inefficiencies and waste” of a broken, state-controlled economy. Systemic flaws in the centralized authoritarian bureaucracy and not U.S. sanctions, Farber argues, have been the Achilles heel of Cuban economic development. Lack of innovation and overspecialization in sugar production, for instance, have been the main causes of Cuba’s economic woes. Although Farber maintains that U.S. sanctions cannot be wholly blamed for curbing growth, he does acknowledge their effect on one industry in particular: tourism. The continued loosening of U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba – which will result in at least 800,000 additional visitors a year – may provide a large source of revenue for the country in the near future.