Even when some where free, spanish enslaved indians around the Americas in order to create a faster way to profit themselves. In addition, slave indian migrations took place soon after the decline of some natives population around the andean region. To make matter worst, Portugal who first introduce african slave migrations in New Espanola expanded slavery trade around the globe into brazil who needed worker in their sugar fields. The introduction of slavery reduced the other labor forces; nevertheless, it didn't really work in all the Americas. For example, Mexico and Peru who had incorporated slaves as primary agricultural labor force had a less common slavery rate than Portugal/Spain did in Cuba and Portugal in Brazil.
Losing oil means not just problems for auto transport, but massive problems for agriculture. Our food is almost totally dependent on oil and natural gas to power tractors, for fertilizer, to bring food to market. Cuba had widespread blackouts, not only did the economy suffer, but so did food. Without refrigeration, food must be eaten soon after it is harvested or else it would spoil. According to the film, Cubans were on the edge of starvation child malnutrition was rampant and the average Cuban lost 20 pounds.
Is the United States at War with Cuba? Before the embargo, the United States and Cuba had a tremendous trade relationship. The US purchase millions of pound of sugar from Cuba and they purchase good by the tons. But this all change when Fidel Castro and his rebels began to wage war against the Batista government, who was later forced into exile in 1959. After the Batista government fled the country, Castro and his government aligned with the Soviet Union.
These deprivations prevent Cubans from living the kind of life that everyone values causing vulnerability to illness, and economic disparities. The society of Cuba is one with a long history of economic, social and political growth and decline. From a reliance on sugar cane as a vital commodity the Cuban society highly values sugar as its largest export and as a means to a higher standard of living. In the early 1960’s Che Guevara attempted to convert Cuba into an industrialized state, however results were disastrous (Buckman, 2007, pg.151). Depending on Soviet Union subsidies as a means of finance Cuba appeared to be an independent, self-sufficient, growing economy providing many necessary services most countries cannot afford, such as free education, free health care, and free housing.
The president of Cuba, Rahul Castro, announced on September 13, 2010 that at least half a million state workers would be laid off in the next six months. The reason for this reduction of workers is Castro's attempt to get Cuba's socialist economy going by creating more jobs in the private sector. Many people will lose jobs that they took for granted under the communist government but at the same time government regulations on many businesses will be loosened in the attempt to boost the economy. Also Rahul Castro has launched a few free-market reforms since he has taken over as president. In the video that goes along with the article, the reporter shows the general population of Cuba while they are going on with their every day lives.
This model – adopted by many Latin American countries after WWII – consisted in the substitution of imported goods by the creation of similar domestically produced goods. Such policy resulted in very high import tariffs and the restriction of capital inflows from foreign investors. Although the economy of Chile was virtually isolated, President Frei’s administration was able to get stable macroeconomic figures. However, during Allende’s rule (1970-1973) this isolation could not be sustained. Allende´s goal of the socialization of Chile accelerated the nationalization of the copper industry and the agricultural reforms previously started by Frei Montalva.
“In June 2004, the Administration further restricted family and educational travel, eliminated the category of fully-hosted travel, and restricted remittances so that they could only be sent to the remitter’s immediate family. In 2005, the Administration further restricted religious travel to Cuba by changing licensing guidelines for such travel”. My question is this, “how do Cubans, as well as Americans feel about the travel restrictions”? It is my belief that the Cubans do not like the travel restrictions imposed by the Bush Administration, and also that not as many American people are as fond of it as we may think, especially students and scholars. Since 2000, there have been several attempts to lift the Bush imposed travel restrictions on Cuba, however, the Bush Administration always threatened to veto legislation that seemed like it was meant to weaken the sanctions against Cuba.
Ties between Cuba and America brought obvious prosperity to a limited segment of Cuba’s population though they did so at the expense of Cuba’s national potential and economic independence. Source two discusses the way in which “in 1895 … the Americans appropriated our country” (that is, Cuba) . The U.S control of the economy added to the gap between the rich and the poor which exacerbated social problems and led to the emergence of a society in need of revolution. The inequality within Cuban society was another main cause for social dissatisfaction which eventually sparked the revolution. The upper class consisted of wealthy people and business owners while the lower class made their living in fields and factories .
This process began in the early 1960s with the arrival of middle- and upper-class Cubans who did not want to live under the Castro regime. In the decade following Castro’s victory, 260,000 Cubans fled the country, mostly to South Florida, which historically had always been the refuge for Cuban political exiles, including two Cuban presidents buried here. Cuban immigrants to the United States numbered 265,000 in the 1970s, 140,000 in the 1980s, and 170,000 in the 1990s. The U.S. government classified them as refugees and provided them special benefits which aroused the resentment of other immigrant groups. In 1980, the Castro regime permitted and even encouraged the migration of 125,000 Cuban’s through the port of Mariél to Florida.
The social, economic and political growth and development of the Cuban society under the leadership of Fidel Castro, was solely attributed to the Marxist-Leninist ideology of non-capitalism, socialist transformation up to the 1970s and international relations along with economic assistance from the Soviet Union. Consequently, it is to a great extent that the social transformation in Cuba from 1959-1970 after the revolution, had more negative effects than positive effects on the Cuban society and its people. In order to fully understand and critically analyze the effects of the socialist transformation in Cuba under Castro’s leadership, one must ask the following questions: What was the state of the Cuban society before the revolution? What does the political ideology of Marxist- Leninism entail and what were the effects of Castro’s socialist policies on his nation and people? After the War of Independence in 1898, Spain had surrendered to the United States of America for control over the affairs of Cuba, through the signing of the Treaty of Paris.