Fidel Castro (top) has ruined a once-thriving economy. In today's Havana (above), old, pre-revolution cars still are common. (Photos: Government of Venezuela)
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Will there be any significant economic reforms in Cuba this year?
Cuba's GDP is now five percent of what it was before Fidel Castro assumed power.
BY JOACHIM BAMRUD
On Sunday, Raul Castro became Cuba's new president, succeeding his brother Fidel Castro. Fidel had ruled Cuba since January 1959, when he led a popular revolution. However, once in power he failed to deliver on promises of democracy, and implemented a totalitarian system which also suffocated private enterprise.
Nearly 50 years of Fidel Castro have nearly ruined a once-prosperous economy, experts say. "It is a basket case, with a continuously shrinking basket," says Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, a professor of economics at FloridaInternationalUniversity.
William Ratliff, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at StanfordUniversity, agrees. "Cuba’s economy is as moribund as Fidel, its creator," he says. "It is an absolute disaster," adds Jose Azel, director of the Cuba Business Roundtable at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. "The Cuban economy has deteriorated tremendously."
STANDARD OF LIVING HALF OF 1993
Although the Cuban economy has largely bounced back from its economic collapse in the 1990s, mainly due to a strengthened tourist sector and the subsidized oil it is receiving from Venezuela, the standard of living for the average Cuban has not recovered and stands at roughly half what it was fifteen years ago, says Daniel Erikson, director of Caribbean programs at the Inter-American Dialogue.
Even worse: Cuba today is far worse than it was before the 1959 revolution that swept Castro to power. Adjusted for inflation, the GDP per capita of Cuba is now only five percent of the one enjoyed in 1958, according to calculations by Salazar-Carrillo.
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From: Rodrigo Blanco, Washington, DC How or why anyone would take your article seriously when you make zero attempt to calculate the effect the US blockade has had on their GDP is beyond me... The editors at the Latin Business Chronicle are not doing a very good job. Either that or they're intentionally politicizing the content of their reporting. In either case you've lost credibility with me.
From: Other , New Jersey The embargo does not play a role. In fact, the U.S. is the biggest exporter of edible goods into Cuba. Stop blaming everything on the embargo. There are goods in Cuba, the fact is that the Cuban's can't buy them because they work on slave wages.
From: mlb, miami Fidel Castro has not only utterly ruined Cuba's economy but has also devestated the Cuban national psyche and any expectations of a better future. Most people live day to day in Cuba with one hope: to get out!
How anyone can defend Castro after reading this article is beyond me.
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