This [UBPC] is not a temporary organization, nor a conjunctural one; it is a definitive one. —Fidel Castro, October 10, 1993 All openings have brought risks. If we must make additional openings and reforms, we will. But, for the moment, they are not necessary. —Fidel Castro, July 5, 1995 The main theme of this conference […]

The Cuban revolution of 1959 and Cuba’s subsequent revolutionary government represent a remarkably unique historical process. Over the four and a half decades since the victory of the July 26th Movement, Cuba has gained and maintained an international reputation for acting with deliberate contrariness to established international norms of diplomacy, ideology, economic development, and political […]

In the 1990s, during the unending economic crisis known as the “special period in time of peace,” foreign investment became an important factor for Cuba. Not only did foreign investors provide badlyneeded capital inflows, but they also provided management know-how, technology, raw materials, and markets for goods and services produced in the island. 1 It […]

This paper presents a preliminary “thought” model of the putative causes of ecological change and desertification of Cuba’s eastern provinces (Las Tunas, Granma, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo), once known collectively as Oriente Province. In particular, the paper refers to a very large part of eastern Cuba, in Oriente Province, comprised mainly of the […]

Since the flow of Cuban refugees had halted for many years, few expected the chaotic flotilla exodus in 1980. It began when six desperate young men drove a bus past the guards, straight into the Peruvian Embassy compound, asking for political asylum. A few days later, on April 4, 1980, Fidel Castro announced the unusual […]