Cuba in the Age of Perestroika

Abstract

Hurricanes are endemic to Cuba, and so are political upheavals at 30-year intervals. At the turn of the century, again in the early 1930s, and in the late 1950s, political tumult resulted in new governments. Whether the Castro government will survive the disappearance of the Soviet bloc and a reduction of its trade turnover by over 50 percent is a hotly debated subject. Right-wing Cuban exiles in Miami have been predicting Christmas in Havana since 1989, but Cuba scholars have pointed to the great resilience of the revolution. The revolution's changing legitimacy in the eyes of the Cuban people and its ability to adapt to the new world circumstances will be telling factors. The efficiency of the government's repressive apparatus and the policy of other governments toward trade with and aid to Cuba will also be important. Understanding the direction and/or survivability of the Castro government, then, depends ultimately on understanding the Cuban Revolution itself. Each of the books under review makes a contribution to this goal. Jean Stubbs's Cuba: The Test of Time is a welcome overview of the revolution concentrating on the late 1980s. Stubbs is a British historian who lived in Cuba for the better part of the 20 years between 1968 and 1988. Her view of the revolution is filled with firsthand knowledge and experience and free of ideologically driven rhetoric. Stubbs's work includes informative and critical discussions on the current rectification drive, the impact of the U.S. blockade, Cuba's external trade, international relations, religious freedom, and human rights. Her analysis is, however, at its best in the rich chapter on agriculture and the cooperative hope. The chapter begins with a brief history of Cuba's agrarian