Figure 1.-- Communist Cuba likes to depict the period before Fidel as kne of desperate povrty and want. The truth is that Cuba was a more wealthy country before Fidel and his Communist Revolution. Before Fidel, it was not hard to find meat, milk, eggs, and other basic items. Here we see meat waggons, we think in Havana about 1910. One of the most notable successes of the Revolution is education. Cuba has one of the best edicated populations in Latin America. What Fidel and his Communist aparatchiks cannot explain is whuy with all that talent, Cuba is such a poor coutry. The Chinese have figured it out to spectacular success and the Vietnamese are beginning to, but Cuba is caught in a 1960s Cold war timewarp.

Cuba before the Revolution had been one of the most affluent Latin American countries, albeit with great social inquities. Cuna had a very substantial middle class. And percapita income was high in relative terms. The gap between the middle class and poor in Cuba may have been relativly high in Cuba because the middle-clas was more substantial than in many other Latin American countries. Like other Latin American countries, the rural labor force was poor, but not especially poor in regional terms. Tourism in the 20th century became an important industry, creating a degree of diversification. Cuba has a largely agrculatural economy based on sugar and to a lesser extet tobacco. these were the major export products. There was also a strong sector supplying the domestic market. Until the Revolution there were no shortages of milk, meat, and other products. There also was some mining, esoecially nickle. The Revolution in fairness has addressed social inquities, but in the process made Cuba one of the poorest countries in the region. The Communists have put a flooe under just how poor people can be, but at the cost of making the entire popultion poor. Ordinary workers make about $25 per month and professional like dentists may make as much as $50 a month. There is no doubt that the Revolutin's investment un education has trained quite a number of qualified professionals. What has not done is established an econmy that has created jobs and opportunity for the Cuban people or even the most basic foods and consumer goods needed let alone desired by the Cuban people.

Created: 1:39 AM 11/20/2016
Last updated: 1:39 AM 11/20/2016