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So called Achievements of the Cuban Revolution

Manuel Sánchez Herrera
and Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique
Transcripción y Edición de Ruth Montaner

Introduction

During many years the Cuban government has bragged about the huge success of its social programs, to a large extent carried out thanks to the extraordinary help it received from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, and to the constant sacrifices demanded from the population. After 1959, those social programs have been constantly hammered in Cuba through the mass media. The media has also given all sort of excuses for the persistent and costly mistakes of the revolutionary leadership. At the same time, the new generations have been given a  very bleak picture of the Cuban past

“We have the first place in education among the Third World countries and over several industrialized countries; first place in health among the Third World countries, with indexes over several industrialized countries and we are rapidly getting closer to the first places in the world.”[1]

From the very beginning, much of the resources used to achieve an accelerated social development were used without taking into account that Cuba was a sugar monoculture economy that would not be able to support it and would make the country more and more dependent on the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, a certain development in the rural zones was achieved in regards to public education, health, housing, etc., especially in the most isolated areas. Many people, mainly from the left, and even some international institutions, believe these statements as fact without considering that the Cuban people has lived under a rationing system of consumer goods since March 1962. It came about with a serious deterioration of the conditions in urban zones in  consumer goods, utilities, housing, etc., (Cuba was more urban than rural in 1958) and the contracting of a huge external debt, one of the higher per capita in the whole world (every Cuban child owes more dollars at birth than any other in Latin America). It is true that the rationing was somehow tempered with imports from the socialist’s countries, particularly  during the brief experiment of the first five years of the 80s. But this, in turn, raised the external debt, imposing restrictions of every kind and more political repression.

We still remember the men; the women and the children sleeping the whole night in front of shops, with their queue number, waiting for an opportunity to buy some rationed goods that have suddenly appeared. Now, of course, there are much fewer queues but only because there are no rationed industrial goods distributed. Whatever is sold is done either in American dollars or in Cuban pesos at exorbitant prices. Otherwise the remittances of the Cuban Exile Community, particularly in the USA, allow a substantial part of the population to acquire the basic goods to survive. We also remember the long lines to buy something to eat in the cafeterias, bread with something, perhaps a few sweets or a little cup of mixed coffee. Thorough the shop’s windowpanes one never saw mannequins, clothes or shoes but pictures of Marx, Lenin and the Cuban revolutionary leaders. During those years, there were no advertisements in the streets but only banners with revolutionary slogans. Nevertheless, you very often hear that the supposedly miserable social conditions that existed before the revolution have been changed. Just the same things you used to hear about the dictatorships of Stalin, Mussolini or Hitler before the beginning of the Second World War. Indeed, people used to say of Hitler that he had transformed a sick and decadent people in a thriving and vigorous nation.[2]  referring to the health system in the III Reich.

The Cuban government in its effort to highlight the “social conquests” of its revolution and to present them as a model for the rest of the underdeveloped countries has never hesitated to draw a very bleak picture of the Cuban past, taking advantage of its monopoly of the mass media. This same method has been used with every foreign visitor that has come to Cuba or met the Great Leader himself. But, is this the truth?

Official propaganda still tries to make believe that the image of the “Revolutionary Cuba” is that of a healthy, happy and enthusiastic population. It tries to convince the isolated Cuban people that they live in the best of all possible worlds. And tries to persuade foreigners that it is so. To achieve that goal, it shows data from the past that contradicts its own official statistics. Statistics are always indiscreet when they are not tinkered with, like totalitarians regimens tend to do. Cuba is not the exception but the rule.

Regardless of the censorship, statistical data can be obtained  that belie those distorted reports. Even the Cuban within the island can verify them in any public library because they have been taken from the Cuban Statistical Yearbooks and United Nations publications, as well as from the Cuban magazines that have been pored over by the censor.

The belief that everything started January 1 is as false as the democratic character of the Cuban revolution. Let us examine the official statistics and the real situation before and after the revolution. This data is explained in the subsequent chapters.

Public Health

The 1958´ infant and general mortality rates in Cuba were the lowest in Latin America (83.4 and 6.3 respectively), as can be verified in Table No.1. Nevertheless, in the period between 1959 and 1971, infant mortality surpassed Cuba's rate before the revolution. Its maximum rates were 41,6 in 1962 and 46,1 in 1969, while the general mortality went under 6 between 1972 and 1983, rising again since 1984 and increasing to 6,4 in 1989, more than the 1953 (6,2) and 1958 (6,3) rates. The Cuban government has tried to hide this fact tinkering with its own statistics.

Table No. 1

Infant mortality rate x 1000 births,
General mortality rate x 1000 births

 

Despite the fact that the official infant mortality rate of 33,4, was an official figure given by the 1974 Cuban Statistics Yearbook, p. 28, in his rapport to the I Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, December 1975, Fidel Castro stated that “infant mortality, that in the pre revolutionary period was greater than 50, has diminished to 28,9 in 1974.” In fact, this figure belongs to 1973.

In 1976, the rates became again the lowest in Latin America. And is since this moment that the Cuban government introduced in its propaganda system the issue of infant mortality, altering the data from these two indicators.

In the booklet, “Cuba, social and economical development during 1958-1980”, published by the State Commission for Statistics, Havana, December 1981, we find again the statement that infant mortality before 1959 was greater than 60. The same happened with the general mortality. In the 1974 Cuban Statistics Yearbook, p. 28, the 1958 rate of 6,3 is shown as the official figure. Nevertheless, in this booklet the rate is raised by a percentage point, instead of 6,3 it appears as 7,3. We must remember that the president of this State Commission since its creation in 1976 until its dissolution in the early 90s, Fidel Bancos, was a high-ranking army officer.

On the other hand, the present Minister of Economy and Planning, José Luis Rodriguez, in his book “The Eradication of Poverty in Cuba,” Havana 1990 (second edition), in p. 137, shows in the third line the following figures:

Chart 53

Public Health Indicators

 

In the same book, but in the “Statistical Yearbook”  he presents the following figures

 

 

As anybody can see, the figure under year 1959 32,5 (1958) is very similar to the 1958 one (See Table No. 1). In the presentation of the book “Eradication of Poverty in Cuba,” the author points out that “This work was made by CEPAL in September 1983”, thus the rapprochement.

Yet, in his other book, “The Strategy of Economic Development in Cuba,” Havana, 1990, in Table 22, p. 296, he changes the figure of the same indicator.

 

 

(b) There are various estimates

Conclusion: The government has tried to modify the figures from these two indicators: rate of infant mortality and rate of general mortality (for 1958) for its propaganda campaigns. Nevertheless, even with these modified figures, Cuba was ahead of nations that are considered today as highly developed.

Table No. 2

Infant mortality rate x 1000 births

 

In 1989 y 1993, as can be seen in the previous chart, these countries had higher infant mortality rates than Cuba.

Table No. 3

General Mortality Rate  (per 1000 inhabitants)

 

Together with the decrease of the infant mortality rate, announced vigorously, the birth rate has also decreased[3]

Table No. 4

5-Year Infant Mortality and Birth Rates

In 1993 the birth rate was 14,0 (Population and Vital Statistics Report United Nations Bulletins, 1995. World Almanac 1998). That is to say, there are fewer deaths but also fewer births. Today, with the “special period” it is difficult to see a pregnant woman in the streets. In 1990-1995, Cuba had one of the lower rates in both indicators.

In 1993 the birth rate was 14,0 (Population and Vital Statistics Report UN Bulletins 1995. World Almanac 1998.)  With the general mortality rate and the life expectancy at birth (average years) we find a rather weird phenomenon because both indicators rise with time, something not found in the rest of the Latin American countries.

Table No. 5

General Mortality Rate and Life Expectancy at Birth

The Cuban 1993 mortality rate was  7,2, while the life expectancy at birth rose to 76,0 years.

Between 1990 and 1995, Cuba was in the first place of  Latin America in the inhabitants per physician’s average.

Table No. 6

Average doctors by inhabitants

And yet, it was not the first time it happened. We will now reproduce what the Cuban economist Jacinto Torras[4] wrote in relation to the number of physicians in Cuba in 1954: “In regard to the number of physicians, now we have in Cuba 6,250 bachelors of Medicine…” This number of physicians gives us an average of A DOCTOR FOR EVERY 960 INHABITANTS.

The ratio of physicians' availability in relation to the general population can be better appraised when it is compared to other countries, as shown in the next table in data taken from the World Health Organization.

 

Table No. 7

Relative and Total Number of Medical Doctors (In 1950 and 1954)

 

From this comparison we can see that Cuba had the 11^th place in the world in relation to the relative availability of physicians...  and the first in Latin America.[5]  Nevertheless, in the period of full economic soviet aid, several countries that in the 50s were well behind it in this indicator amply overcame Cuba.

 

Table No. 8

Inhabitants by Medical Doctors  -1981-

 

Something very similar happened with dentists. The Cuban Statistical Yearbooks only considered those working for the State in 1958 (250). Yet, the right figure was 1900, which includes those in private practice. In 1958 the ratio of inhabitants for dentists raised to 3559. Cuba could not lower that figure until 1977.

 

Table 10

Inhabitants by estomatólogo

 

In 1953, as stated in Jacinto Torras’ report to the National Medical Association, Cuba had one bed (for medical attention) for every 234 inhabitants.

 

Public beds16322

Private beds   8507

Total24829

Inhabitants per bed    234

 

In 1958 the rate of inhabitants per beds raised to 237. But, before any comparisons, a precision has to be made. Cuba has been informing this indicator to the international institutions as of planned or budgeted beds and not as of the average of real beds. For example, in 1983, Cuba informed 216 inhabitants per bed in hospitals (Cuba’s Statistical Yearbook 1988, International Statistics, p. 675). That year the budgeted beds were 45838, while the real average was 41786. This figures in relation with the average population of that year, which was 9.896,985 inhabitants, gives us 216 inhabitants per budgeted bed, but o 237 inhabitants per real bed, that was exactly the same figure registered in 1958 (see Table No 11)

This is not all. In 1970 there was a considerable raise in the number of budgeted beds and in the average of real beds, going down in the following years. ¿What was the reason for this raise and fast decrease? That year the beds in the camps of the Juvenile Army of Labor, for those with health problems, were informed to the State Commission for Statistics as beds for medical attention and in hospitals.

Table No. 11

Inhabitants per bed, real average in hospitals and medical assistance

In the years after 1958 there was a raise in the rates of morbidity for contagious diseases. With the exception of polio that was controlled through massive vaccination campaigns and disappeared in 1963, the morbidity rates increased. Some reached a peak in 1962 and went down after, but the majority kept raising and reached their peaks between 1965 and 1969, going down afterwards, though some rose again in 1975-1977. (See Annex Nro. 1)Between 1958 and 1967 there was a 108% raise in infant deaths for diseases typical of the first year, going from 2302 to 4787 (Cuba’s Statistical Yearbook 1968).

Now, in the “special period”, the government does not give any data whatsoever about these health indicators. Official propaganda only points out the large number of physicians, the low rates of infant mortality, etc. Yet, even if tries to hide it, the Cuban health systems are in crisis. Drugstores in the main cities are practically empty while many others have been closed. The most elementary medicines are extremely scarce and are subject to speculation. Cotton, diazepam, aspirins and tape rolls are sold in the streets of Havana as if they were bananas or tomatoes.

Education

 

It is a fact that the Cuban government has done much for public Education. The revolutionary government brags to have built many more schools than any other in the past. Indeed, it has built many elementary and secondary schools as well as universities. But it has used the whole education system, including professors, as an instrument of revolutionary indoctrination to mold the minds of children and youngsters, like other totalitarian governments in the past. It has followed the old rule that “The school is the best way to introduce ideology”.[6]

The illiteracy rate in 1943 was 28,7% [7] and went down to 23,6%[8]

In this last year, Cuba's literacy rate was fourth in Latin America (76,4%). In 1995 went to second place (96%), behind Argentina (Ver Annex Nr. 2). In Cuban Geography by Carlos de la Torre, Alfredo M. Aguayo and  Leví Marrero (Havana 1957, p. 174) we read: “At the end of the wars of independence, from every 100 persons older than 10 years only 16 know how to read and write”; that is the 16%.  In the main document to the V Congress of the Cuba’s Communist Party it is stated that, before 1959, 40% of the Cuba population did not know how to read and write, notwithstanding than in the main rapport to the I Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, the government had said that “by the time of the Moncada (1953) 23,6 per cent of the population older than 10 years was illiterate.”

The Cuban government says that the illiteracy rate was reduced to 3,9% after the literacy campaign of 1961 in most rural areas. Nevertheless, 1970 Census registered an illiteracy rate of 12,9%.[9] Leaders, spokesmen and apologists of the revolutionary government have always tried to convey the impressions that there were virtually no schools or students before 1959. So, let us look at the official statistics, starting with the primary schools.

In the class of 1956-1957, according to the Cuban Statistics Yearbook 1989, p. 319, there were  8435 elementary schools, public and private, and in the 1989-90 class the number raised to 9417.

In the 1950-1951 class, Cuba had 7614 elementary public schools placed like this:

Table No. 12

Elementary Public Schools   Class of 1950-1951

As you can see from the former Tables, there were more elementary schools in the rural zones than in the urban ones. It was the same for the 1958-1959 school year with 2678 urban schools and 4889 rural (Cuban Statistics Yearbook 1988, p. 519) private schools are not included. Let us remember this quotation: “¿Who did not learn his first letter in little public school?”[10]

Even in the 1958-1959 school year there were more elementary urban public schools than after, except in the 1975-76 school year, as can be seen from Table No. 13.

 

Table No. 13

Elementary urban schools   (a) does not include the private sector

 

As to registration, the situation in the elementary schools was as follows:

Table No. 14

Initial registration in the elementary schools

 

As we can see, the initial registration in the elementary schools for every 10000 inhabitants was greater in these three school years of the 50s than in the last three of the 80s.  Elementary students as percentage of the population, before and after, 1959:

Table No. 15

Elementary students percentage of the population

 

 

Before 1959, in the Cuban elementary school system there was also the kindergarten, today’s preschool teaching.

Table No. 16

 

Taking into account both elementary and the kindergarten students, the situation would be like this:

Table No. 17

Primary and Pre Scholar

This situation not only occurred during the 50s but long before that. According to the National  Committee for Statistics, in the school year 1926-27 there were  3722 schoolhouses with 6953 premises devoted to elementary public schools.

328044 students registered in day school with an average school attendance of 240317, or 73,2%. In night school, 8377 students registered with an average daily attendance of 3101, or 37%.

 In regular common ambulatory 4214 students registered with an average daily attendance of 3247, or 77%.

     In private schools there were 525 house-schools with 1309 classrooms. 31949 elementary students registered, with an average daily attendance of 26902, or 84,2%.

That was the situation in the elementary schools in the 1926-27 school year.

We follow with the 1955-56 school year.

85547 students registered in the night school year of 1955-56. In that school year, the English centers had a larger registration than any language school after 1959.

43490 in 1955-56, versus 3602 in 1976-77.

Table No. 18

Night school, public sector  School year 1955-56.

Part of the education system also were the high schools, Teachers schools, Homemaking schools, Kindergarten teachers schools, Commerce schools, Fine Arts schools, Land Surveying schools, Journalism schools, Arts and Crafts schools, Advertisement schools and Technological schools among others.

In the school year 1955-56, 70029 students registered in these centers.

Table No. 19

Middle and High School

 

 

During the school year 1955-56, the registration in special education, private, rural, logopedia, foniatria, blinds and disabled schools reached  122479 students.

Table No. 20

Special Education  School Year 1955-56

 

Cuba had five official universities and two private ones with a total registration in the school year 1955-56.

Table No. 21

High School Year  1955-56

 

Pinar del Río and Camagüey´s centers were being organized.

The students registered in the different universities for every 10000 inhabitants in the school year 1955-56 could not be surpassed in the school year 1970-71.  The 1953 coverage was 5,5% while in 1970 it was, 9%.

 

Table No. 22

Registration  High Schools per 10000 Inhabitants

 

The summary of all types of education, official and private, for the 1955-56 school year, could be obtained on Table No. 23.

Table No. 23

Summary   (Includes public and private schools) 
1955-56

 

 

In 1957 Cuba had 50 libraries with more than 100000 books, among them: National (250000 volumes), Economic Society (180 000), Academy of Sciences (105 000), Congress (55 000), University de La Habana (50 000), Pan-American (40 000) and Municipal (25 000), all in Havana. Among the more important provincial libraries were Matanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba (Cuban Geography, Leví  Marrero, p. 395). According to José Luis Rodríguez book: “The eradication of poverty in Cuba,” Figure 42, p. 120, in 1958 Cuba had 129 libraries, 51 in 1970 and 121 in 1975.

Besides, during the 50s, according to the Yearbook of United Nations, Cuba had the third place in Latin America in number of newspapers (58), after Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Today, there are only 17.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Several Cuban economists have written about unemployment before 1959, among them  Jacinto Torras: “Analyzing briefly the causes of the different forms of unemployment in Cuba we can point out the chronic or permanent unemployment is due to a deep structural crisis of the Cuban economy, arising from the sugar industry crisis that carries along with it the rest of the Cuban economy. An economy that was, and still, is heavily dependent on it.”

And Torras adds: “Until 1926 the sugar industry  ...  had employed the Cuban working class”[11] but since that critical time, while the population kept rising, sugar and tobacco production, and the foreign exports fell uninterruptedly, plainly showing then, in all its harshness, the evil of monoculture.[12]

And to support the previous assertion he gives the following example.

The sugar industry relative employment supply for that period was as follows:

 

Relative employment supply
Sugar Industry

 

That is to say, the sugar industry is giving the Cuban population 33 percent less relative employment that in 1919,  42% less that in 1925 and 38 less that in 1929.

This obvious source of chronic or permanent unemployment that we suffer is due to the inefficiency and incapacity of the sugar industry and other export activities...  to supply employment to the national work force as the population requires.[14]

Unemployment Evolution in Cuba

 

Following the same analysis as Jacinto Torras, we can immediately understand that the sugar industry and the majority of employment opportunities supplied less relative employment to the Cuban population after 1958.

Table No. 24

Per capita sugar production and exports

 

The per capita productions of corn, beans, bananas, tubercles, tobacco, coffee and others were inferior to those of 1958. The per capita’s heads of cattle also went down in relation to that year.

Table 25

Per capita of Agricultural production  (Kg)

 

The tobacco industrial production also dropped its per capita levels in relation to the years before 1959.

Table No. 26

Twisted Tobacco Production

 

The per capita’s mineral exports also dropped in relation to 1958.

In 1988 per capita production of condensed sweet milk, leather shoes and detergent were lower than those of 1958.

Table No. 28

Total and per capita production of condensed sweet milk, leather shoes and detergents

We have seen that the relative supply of employment in all the previous activities was inferior to the one reached in 1958. In this situation, ¿how is it that a rate of only 1,3% unemployment was reached in 1970?

Simply through over employment, overstaffing the productive and service enterprises many times over their economic rationality, expanding employment in social services, the armed forces and the bureaucracy, even taking advantage of the emigration and the trek to exile.

In the first two years (1959-1960) the new Cuban government aimed at raising the employment of the labor force, the salaries pool and at changing the form of ownership of the means of production. In the following Table we can see the first:

 

Table No. 29

Dynamics of employment and salaries

 

During that brief period unemployment was lowered thorough overstaffing, lowering the efficiency and productivity of the enterprises since the very beginning.

 

Table No. 30, Estimated Work Productivity
(In percentages at regular prices)   1958 = 100

 

Between 1965 and 1970 work productivity had an average  yearly increase of only 0,4 %, while in 1986-88 lowered in 2,6% as a yearly average.

The policy of over employment, now acknowledged, remained in place up to the very threshold of the crisis. But it was in the 60s when it became stronger.

Table No. 31

Average annual increase (In percentages)

The Economic Commission for Latin America (CEPAL) summarized the impact of this policy of over employment on the labor productivity, particularly during the 60s, as follows: “The widespread absorption of underemployment, necessary under a social perspective, created several distortions in the economy. One of them was the drop in productivity, because initially it was not possible to create the necessary employment able to absorb, in a productive way, all the work force.”[15]

Even the Cuban leader himself talked about this situation in 1970, using as an example the sugar industry where there had been a 38% increase between 1958 and 1970 (going from 91655 to 126643 workers) without any substantial increase in production. At that time (after 1959) we virtually had to invent jobs to give work to everybody (the unemployed)… nobody never mentioned the problem of productivity as something essential … Our population (and the work force) has increased and yet in several areas, the production is not higher: as a matter of fact it is lower.[16]

Nevertheless, in 1986 he said: “It is the first time in the history of the Revolution that the Party discovers that we have too many people”[17]

Although he had acknowledged before, in 1978, that “what we are is inefficient, inefficient! The inefficiency is in us.”[18]

Due to the raise in demand and the stagnation or reduction of the state supply, the social cost for the virtual elimination of the unemployment was transferred to the whole population, including the very beneficiaries of that reduction, under the form of reduced consumption.

To reach a more egalitarian rent distribution “egalitarian”[19], nevertheless it also induced the consumer goods´ rationing, in force since March 1962 until now. Now, of course, much more drastic due to the economic crisis. And, in our case,  rationing does not mean egalitarianism, but productive inefficiency. Besides, the elites have a much higher consumer level than the majority of the population, in quantity as well as in quality.

Before the present economic crisis, Cuba did not publish any statistical information about its labor force or unemployment.  The available information until 1989 only comprised the civil state and the private employment, excluding the armed forces, the police and the security personnel. With the crisis, the urban government discarded all the statistical data it gave through its yearbooks and quarterly bulletins.

The only information now available relates to the economically active population (PEA) [20] that appears in the CEPAL yearbooks.

According to the 1970-95 data, la PEA went from 2578,7 thousands in 1970 to 4988,7 thousand miles in 1955, this represents an average yearly increase of 2,7%. This rate is lower that the Latin American average in the same period (3,15%), but higher than that of the more developed countries, like Argentina (1,7%), Chile (2,5%) and Uruguay (1,0%).

Nevertheless, the must interesting thing about this indicator is the steady increase of its share in the total economically active  population.

Table No. 32

Participation of the economically active population in the population total  (Thousands)

 

This issue adds another problem to the present Cuba situation.

Usually, data about work and unemployment are among the must detailed economic information gathered in any democratic country, due to its obvious importance. This data is gathered through a procedure known as random population poll. Nevertheless, the Cuban government, though it criticizes unemployment figures of others, does not publish its own. According to the estimates of 1993-94, the unemployment rate in Cuba was approximately 20% of the economically active population, around 900 thousand persons. To these problems we have to add that Cuba is in an inflationary spiral. From the start of the economic crisis, the cost of living has risen considerably.

¿What has this raise in prices meant for the Cuban people? The practical  result is that the acquisitive power of each Cuban peso is now worth much less than in 1990. That is to say, the real wages of the workers have been reduced to levels never known before due to the inflationary process.

There are in Cuba now three different types of markets:

1)The market for rationed goods

2)The market for free goods, that comprises  the agricultural, the industrial, the artisan and the private for elaborated foodstuffs and

3)The dollar market.

In fact, the first is minimal, its supply does not guarantee basic survival. The second supplies a greater variety of goods at rather high prices, very much out of reach for a large part of the population with low incomes. The third, in foreign exchange, is within the reach of about 49% of the population and it has the greater variety in all sorts of goods. The following analysis is mainly about the behavior of the prices in the second type of market, in relation to the acquisitive power of the Cuban peso and the real wage of the workers. When you compare the prices of 1957 and the present ones, mainly in the agricultural market (See Annex Nro. 3) you find the following indicators:

Cost of living expenses index4026,2

Peso value2,48

Workers real wages

(average 214 pesos)5,30

This means that at present you need 40,32 pesos to buy the same goods that you bought with one peso in 1957. As a curious fact, we would like to point out that in bulletin No. 4 of the Chase Manhattan Bank of New York, for the fourth quarter of 1957, there is an analytical study about inflation in Latin American countries. According to that work (See Annex 4), between 1946 and 1956 Cuba had the lowest average yearly raise in the cost of living, with 1,4%.  This figure is in line with the data from the Cuban Statistics Yearbook of 1957. In 1945 the index of the cost of food was 194,4, while in 1956 it raised to 227,0, an average yearly increase of 1,4%.  Besides, in 1957, the Cuban peso had a one to one relation with the American dollar, they were interchangeable within Cuba. If we convert the average monthly salary of 214 pesos to the present value of the American dollar (19 pesos), it will correspond to a monthly salary of only $11,26, very inferior to the salary of an agricultural worker in 1985 in the Third World countries. “If we refer to sugar, with sugar cane cut and lifted by hand, with a few exceptions, we are talking about monthly salaries that never go beyond $60 or $80.”[21]

Social Security

In 1958, near 63% of the labor force was covered by the old age insurance, disabled and survivors, while the totality of the labor force was insured against work accidents and professional diseases, and the workers had maternity insurance. That year, Cuba had the second place in Latin America in social security. Thought it is true that in 1963 the management of all social security funds was unified and the coverage was extended to the whole work force (for old age, disability and survivors) and the difference between the higher and the lowest pension was reduced (before 1959 the ratio was 13 to 1, 30 and 400 pesos, afterwards was four to 1, 60 to 250 pesos), the average yearly pensions per capita registered fluctuations between 1959 and 1978, going down occasionally in almost 10% in relation to 1959.

The average yearly per capita pension went down gradually between 1959 and 1968, going up in 1969 and remaining stagnant until 1971. In 1978 was a 5% higher than in 1959, but saved under 5,5% of the 1974 figure.

At the present time, one of every 10 Cubans is retired. In 1988, after the latest data, pensions for old age, total disability and death climbed to 994,3 million  pesos and the pensions for partial disability raised to 14,5 million pesos, that is to say, a total of 1008,8 million pesos, that amounted to a monthly average of 80 pesos.

In the present conditions: low levels of rationed market supply and high prices in the free market, the pensions are hardly sufficient for surviving. Nevertheless, the government dos not envisage raising the pension levels, as stated recently by an officer of the Labor and Social Security Ministry in a TV program. Besides, the rate of pesos to dollars, the 1988 average (80 pesos) turns into $4,20 a month.

Pensions and provisions per capita 1959-1978

Housing

One of the worst actual social problems is housing.  The estimated national total in 1958 was estimated in 1763700, and the 1981 Housing and Population Census showed a grand total of  2364778, which represented a modest growth rate of 1,3% in that period. (Claes Brundenius: Economic Growth, Basic, Needs and Income Distribution in Revolutionary Cuba, University of Lund, Malmo, 1981 Housing and Population Census, Havana, December 1981)

Since many years ago, most of the houses have not been repaired or maintained. Complete buildings have collapsed without an atmospheric problem.

46% of the Havana dwellings (550 000) are in bad shape.

Rooms, solares (ghetto houses), citadels (slums), have not disappeared from our country.  They exist, but more deteriorated than ever before.

After 1959 some new words were coined, such as:

BARBACOALoft. Addition built with wood on high beam dwelling

ALBERGUERefuge- Place where the tenants of the collapsed dwellings are sent.  In reality, are overcrowded, promiscuous centers

PERMUTAExchange.  Dwelling exchange, because it is not possible to move to new or empty dwellings (houses, apartments, rooms, etc.)

After the Law of Urban Reform was enacted, the State sold the dwellings to the tenants and gave them an apparent title, which cannot be really used, except inhabit them, because of their increasing deterioration.

Consumption

Before the fall of the socialist countries, during the 80s, Cuba imported large amounts of food from those countries, specifically from the Soviet Union.  This situation forced a declaration of the head of the state in 1985; “the levels of food are amongst the first in Latin America, an average of  80 grams of proteins, 3000 calories per day”[22]  However, in 1995 Cuba was in one of the last places in calorie consumption, even after Honduras.  Before 1959, according to the UN´1960 Statistical Yearbook, Cuba was in the third place on this indicator, among 11 Latin American countries.

Table No. 34

Latin America: Daily consumption of calories

 

In 1992 Cuba was at the 9^th. place in calories consumption.

Table No. 35

Latin America: Daily protein consumption

This Is The Reality
Everything Else Is Just Propaganda
Summary

The Cuban government tried to show an ugly picture of the past and a perfect paradise of the present.  Nevertheless, this paradise falls when the immigration before and after 1959 is analyzed.  The situation in 1951 and 1952 was the following:

Table No. 36

However, from this “paradise” fundamentally almost 1,000,000 persons immigrated to the United States. The migratory balance until 1988 was 840585.

Table No. 37

Migratory external balance

ANNEX No. 2

Latin America: Alphabetism (a) Rate  Percentages

 

ANNEX No. 3

1957 and Actual Prices

ANNEX No. 4

Average Rate  Increase of Cost of Living  1946 - 1956

 

Breve Reseña Biográfica:

Adolfo Rivero Caro

Profesor de Filosofía. Uno de los fundadores del Movimiento de Derechos Humanos de Cuba. Estuvo en el presidio político y actualmente reside en Miami. Es escritor y publica sus columnas en revistas, periódicos y en Internet.

Reinaldo Bragado

Licenciado en Historia, escritor con una extensa obra publicada. Fue uno de los fundadores del movimiento pro derechos humanos de Cuba.  Ex prisionero político cubano. Uno de los organizadores de la Primera Exposición de Arte Disidente de Cuba. Algunos de sus trabajos literarios han sido traducidos al inglés. Ha preparado los dos tomos de la Obra “La Fisura: Los Derecho Humanos en Cuba”, y ha escrito el ensayo “Castro Contra Castro”. Escribe para la cadena de televisión UNIVISION y es columnista de Diario Las Américas.

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas

Ingeniero, presidente y fundador dentro de Cuba del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación.

Gustavo Arcos Bergnes

Uno de los fundadores del Movimiento 26 de Julio, ex-Embajador de Cuba, ex prisionero político cubano, es el Secretario General del Comité Cubano Pro Derechos Humanos en la Isla.

Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz

Profesor de filosofía, es uno de los fundadores del movimiento de derechos humanos de Cuba, ex preso político y Presidente de la Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional en la Isla.

Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello

Graduada y profesora de economía en la Universidad de La Habana, fundó en Ciudad de La Habana el Instituto de Economistas Independientes de Cuba

Miguel Sigler Amaya

Directivo del movimiento disidente “Opción Alternativa” en Pedro Betancourt, Provincia de Matanzas, Cuba.

Héctor Palacio Ruiz

Licenciado en economía, ha sido presidente del Partido Solidaridad Democrática de Cuba y es uno de los fundadores de la Mesa de Reflexión Moderada. Ha sido encarcelado por reclamar a Castro que cumpla sus compromisos internacionales en materia de derechos humanos.

Oswaldo de Céspedes

Uno de los mas importantes integrantes del movimiento de periodistas independientes de Cuba. Colabora en diversos órganos de Prensa del Mundo.

Raúl Rivero

Es un periodista independiente que trabaja en Cuba. Su columna se reimprime en “The Miami Herald”. Es un poeta y escritor; también es fundador de la Agencia independiente de noticias “Cuba Press”. Rivero ha publicado varios libros en Cuba y en el extranjero. Es acosado y perseguido sistemáticamente por la policía política de Fidel Castro. Es vicepresidente de la Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa y posee muchos premios de literatura y periodismo.

Pablo Alfonso

Periodista y graduado de sociología en la Universidad de Saint Thomas, de Miami. Fue un líder de la juventud católica cubana desde los años 60. Estuvo encarcelado dos veces en Cuba por este motivo y viajó a los Estados Unidos en 1979. Ha publicado varios libros sobre la Iglesia Católica cubana y sobre la historia del castrismo. Desde hace años es uno de los especialistas en temas cubanos del periódico El Nuevo Herald, de Miami.

Wilfredo Cancio Isla

Escritor y ex profesor de la Universidad de La Habana. Posee varias obras literarias publicadas. En la actualidad es periodista de el diario El Nuevo Herald de Miami.

Belkis Cuza Malé

Es una de las mejores poetas de su generación. Posee varios libros publicados. Fue duramente represaliada en Cuba por sus posturas contestatarias. Fundadora y directora de la Revista Cultural Linder Line Magazine. Es columnista del diario El Nuevo Herald de Miami.

Angel Cuadra

Poeta y escritor. Encarcelado  en Cuba durante l5 años por su oposición al Castrismo. Es uno de los grandes poetas del presidio político cubano.  Cuenta con numerosas obras publicadas. Es profesor de la Universidad Internacional de la Florida y directivo del ExClub. Es columnista de Diario Las Américas.

Rafael Bordao

Rafael Bordao (La Habana, Cuba). Poeta, escritor y editor. Doctor en Filosofía de la Universidad de Columbia, New York. Ha publicado, entre otros, “Proyectura” (1986), “Acrobacia del abandono” (1988), “Escurriduras de la soledad” (1995), “Propinas para la libertad” (1998) y “La revolución de Castro: un aborto perfumado” (1999). Vive exiliado en Estados Unidos desde 1980. Ha recibido numerosos premios nacionales e internacionales en poesía. Los más recientes son Homme de Lettres (Francia, 1998) y el Fernand Esquío (España, 1998). Enseña literatura hispánica en New York.

Armando Alvarez Bravo

Escritor cubano con una extensa obra publicada.  Es uno de los críticos de arte mas importantes del diario El Nuevo Herald de Miami.

Luis de la Paz

Luis de la Paz (La Habana, Cuba, 1956). Salió de Cuba durante los dramáticos sucesos de la embajada de Perú y el posterior éxodo del Mariel, en 1980. Desde entonces reside en Miami. Fue miembro del consejo de editores de la revista literaria Mariel, y en la actualidad lo es de Nexos, de difusión electrónica. Trabajos suyos han aparecido en publicaciones de España, Estados Unidos y Latinoamérica. Ha publicado “Un verano incesante” (1996) y “El otro lado” (1999). Actualmente trabaja en “Tiempo vencido”

Manuel C. Díaz

Manuel C. Díaz (La Habana, Cuba, 1942). Trabajó como contador hasta que fue encarcelado por intentar abandonar el país en una balsa. Indultado en 1979, se radica en Miami con su familia, donde vive desde entonces. En 1993 publica “El año del ras de mar”, una novela corta donde narra parte del horror que le ha tocado vivir al pueblo cubano. En 1995 ve la luz su libro “Un paraíso bajo las estrellas”. Dos de las narraciones fueron dramatizadas por Radio Martí y transmitidas a Cuba. Actualmente escribe reseñas literarias para El Nuevo Herald y trabaja en su próxima novela.

Armando de Armas

Escritor disidente cubano. Fue prisionero político en Cuba. Ha publicado la novela “La Mala Jugada” y está a punto de publicar varias otras obras de literatura. Es directivo del Ex Club y funcionario del Instituto para la Democracia en Cuba. Es columnista de Diario Las Américas.

Diosmel Rodríguez

Fue fundador dentro de Cuba del Movimiento Político Disidente “Seguidores de Eduardo R. Chivas”. También fue fundador y presidente de Movimiento de Cooperativas Campesinas Independientes, del cual es su representante en el exterior. Es director del Instituto para la Democracia en Cuba.

Vicente Lago

Doctor en Medicina, ha sido fundador y presidente de numerosas instituciones médicas, profesionales y políticas en los Estados Unidos. Posee una larga trayectoria histórica en la batalla por los Derechos Humanos y la Democracia en Cuba. En la actualidad es uno de los principales directivos del Instituto para la Democracia en Cuba.

Evelio P. Ancheta

Ex-Coordinador Estudiantíl Nacional de el M.R.R. Vice-Presidente del Partido Pro Derechos Humanos de Cuba

Dr. Samuel Martínez Lara.

Presidente del Partido Pro-Derechos Humanos en Cuba. Es doctor en medicina que hizo curso de postgrado sobre psiquiatría en Estados Unidos. Ex-preso de conciencia, uno de los fundadores del Comité Pro Derechos Humanos en el presidio político. Ha escrito varios ensayos sobre psiquiatría y represión en Cuba.

José Antonio Font

Consultor Profesional, y Ejecutivo de Empresas. Fundador de la Institución Alianza Democrática Cubana. Es creador de uno de los programas  mas rigurosos de Formación Educacional para la Democracia en Cuba. En la actualidad es uno de los principales directivos del Instituto para la Democracia en Cuba.

Frank Hernández-Trujillo

Profesor, fundador y directivo del Grupo de Ayuda a la Disidencia en Cuba (GAD). Durante muchos años ha sido un gestor de proyectos para la transición a la democracia en Cuba. Fue uno de los fundadores del Instituto para la Democracia en Cuba.

Eddie López Castillo

Profesor de idiomas y ex-diplomático cubano. Fue encarcelado en 1967 y n 1980 como prisionero de conciencia. Fue uno de los fundadores del CCPDH y en la actualidad es uno de sus principales directivos.

Roberto LuqueEscalona

Escritor e historiador cubano, tiene varios libros publicados, entre ellos “Los niños y el tigre” y una biografía crítica de Ernesto Ché Guevara. En Cuba fue un baluarte del CCPDH y del grupo Criterio Altrnativo, motivos por los que fue encarcelado por la policía política. Cuenta con una columna semanal en el diario El Nuevo Herald, de Miami, y participa activamente en el debate cultural y político de nuestra época.

Ruth Montaner

Ejecutiva de Empresas, ha sido una activista de larga perseverancia en la promoción de los derechos humanos y la democracia en Cuba. Fundadora de las Organizaciones “Grupo de Apoyo a Concilio Cubano” y “Grupo de Apoyo a la Oposición Interna en Cuba”, en la actualidad es presidenta del Capítulo para el Sur de la Florida de la Fundación para los Derechos Humanos Andrei Sajarov.

Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique

Licenciado y profesor de  economía, es uno de los principales ensayistas de temas económicos de la disidencia cubana. Escribe y brega en la oposición democrática cubana desde dentro de la Isla.

Manuel Sánchez Herrera

Brillante pensador de la disidencia cubana. Posee numerosos estudios de temas económicos y sociales sobre la situación cubana publicados en el exterior. Falleció dentro de la Isla, en medio de una represión brutal, hace algún tiempo.

Haydée Marín

Doctora en Derecho Civil, fundadora del Instituto de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad Internacional de la Florida. Ha sido Embajadora de la República de Nicaragua en la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de la ONU.  En la actualidad es directora ejecutiva del Comité Panamericano de la Sociedad Internacional para los Derechos Humanos.

Orlando Martinez-Paz

Periodista, poeta y escritor, Vice-presidente de la Liga Civica Martiana, ex-preso politico y residente en la ciudad de Miami, Secretario Ejecutivo del Presidio Politico Historico - Casa del Preso y Director del programa “Surcos de Libertad”.

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