A History of the Cuban Revolution

Aviva Chomsky is Professor of History and Coordinator of Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies at Salem State University. An active member of Latin America solidarity and immigrants’ rights movements for decades, she is the author of several books, including Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal (2014), Linked Labor Histories: New England, Colombia, and the Making of a Global Working Class (2008), and They Take Our Jobs! And Twenty Other Myths about Immigration (2007).

List of Illustrations viii

Series Editor’s Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Timeline xii

Introduction 1

Talking about Freedom 2

Scholars Weigh In 3

Why Revolution? 5

Comparing Capitalism and Socialism 8

Latin American Attitudes 12

1 Cuba through 1959 15

Colonial History 15

The Colony in the Republic 20

Revolution: A War, or a Process? 28

2 Experiments with Socialism 36

Analyzing the Situation: Economic Backwardness 37

The 1960s: Experimentation and the Great Debate 40

The 1970s: Institutionalization and the Soviet Model 45

Cuba in the 1970s: How it Worked 46

1986: Rectification 51

How Democratic was Cuban Socialism? 51

3 Relations with the United States 54

The United States and Cuba 55

In their Own Words: U.S. Policymakers Respond to Revolution 57

Covert War: Up to the Bay of Pigs 63

Covert War: After the Bay of Pigs 65

The Missile Crisis 68

After the Missile Crisis 70

The War Continues 72

4 Emigration and Internationalism 75

Miami 78

Beyond Miami 80

Cuba’s Global Reach: Beyond the Cold War 81

Cuba and Black Internationalism 82

Cuba in Africa and Latin America 84

Civilian Aid Missions 86

5 Art, Culture, and Revolution 88

Literature 89

Film 94

Music 98

Sport 100

Dance 102

Food 103

Political Culture and Cultural Politics 105

6 Cuba Diversa 110

Race 110

Gender 116

Sexuality 119

Religion 123

7 The “Special Period”: Socialism on One Island 126

1993–95: Rapid‐Fire Reforms 126

Social Impact of the Market Reforms 130

Limits to Capitalism 132

Charting New Territory 134

Contradictions: Inequality and Jineterismo 135

Opting to Leave: The 1994 Exodus 138

Debate and its Limits during the 1990s 141

Debating Democracy 142

Limits to Debate 146

8 Cuba into the Twenty‐First Century 149

From Perfeccionamiento to Recentralization 150

Disillusionment 153

Cuba after Fidel: A New Era? 155

Civil Society into the New Century 159

U.S. Policy: The Bush Era 163

Cuba, Venezuela, and the ALBA 164

Barack Obama and Raúl Castro: A New Relationship? 166

Analyzing the Changes 168

Conclusion 171

Glossary 174

Notes 177

Bibliography 198

Index 214