Generalmente en períodos de crisis, como el que inevitablemente tendrá que atravesar Cuba cuando se produzca el cambio hacia una democracia y una economía de mercado, emergen las evaluaciones negativas hacia los exogrupos, entre ellos, lógicamente, el español, que en la actualidad tiene una presencia importante en las inversiones en la isla. El sentimiento antiespañol […]

As professionals studying Cuba, probably the first question we are asked by people with only a faint acquaintance with the country is what will happen after Fidel Castro passes away. For years this observer’s pat answer has been that it depends on when he dies and how he dies. Does it happen tomorrow or in […]

Over recent years, much of the debate surrounding the present and future state of Havana’s (and Cuba’s) housing sector has centered around the legal and economic issues related to restitution and compensation for confiscated properties, and strategies to stimulate much needed investment in this vital sector of the economy (e.g., Ashby, 2004, 2005; Driggs, 2005; […]

Although a so-called “transition to market economy and democracy” in Central and Eastern Europe has lasted for fifteen years, several issues remain far from being unambiguous. First, contrary to many optimistic linear visions characteristic of an early “transitology,” the exit out of socialism turned out to be a complex, difficult, open-ended, historical process. As a […]

La decisión cubana de bautizar el 2005 como “Año de la Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas,” no debe verse como un simple gesto de simpatía política. La propia supervivencia del régimen castrista y de su economía, ha dependido del suministro de 53,000 barriles diarios de petróleo acordado con el gobierno de Hugo Chávez mediante el […]