State and civil society in the barrios of Havana, Cuba: the case of Pogolotti

Abstract

This paper discusses the factors that influenced the success or failure of community projects in one low-income neighbourhood in Havana, Cuba. The scope for community initiatives increased in the late 1980s, in part because of citizens’ desire to take initiatives and collective action to improve their living conditions, in response to the crisis Cuba faced with the disintegration of the communist bloc. The government also allowed civil society more scope, and offered official support to participation and civil society initiatives through Talleres, groups of professionals in the urban and social fields based in each neighbourhood. This paper examines how the people in Pogolotti used available institutions to originate and channel a range of civil society initiatives, including self-help housing construction, a dance group for teenagers, a food conservation project, a children’s musical group, street lighting, forest restoration, recycling and a senior citizens’ house project. It finds that both the state and civil society were positive influences in the origination of successful community projects, which contradicts the assumption that civil-society-initiated projects are more likely to succeed. The state-created Talleres seem to be creating new relationships between civil society and the state; these may be a very small part of Cuban society but they may contain the seeds of new forms of socialist organizations.