Cuban economic dependence and relationship with the USSR

Document Type:Research Paper

Subject Area:Politics

Document 1

This relationship also transformed Cuba into a major power in the Third World. During the regime of Castro, Cuba received a lot of military and economic support from the USSR especially from the 1980s. The economic support of Cuba increased so much that it became very dependent. Initially, Cuba only focused on the production and exportation of sugar. This Cuba-Soviet relationship affected Cuba in a number of ways but most importantly, it helped Cuba to grow economically. At the same time, the Soviet Union announced that it would be giving Cuba a loan of $100 million. This money was to be used to purchase machinery, equipment, technical assistance, as well as materials from the USSR for the following five years. Cuba was to pay back the credit at a 2.

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5% interest. This was to be paid over a period of 12 years using traditional exports. The relationship Cuba had with the US was somewhat oppressive. However, with the new relationship with the USSR, Cuba had the ability to do negotiations from a point of more strength and autonomy. For instance, the USSR, unlike the US, provided Cuba with stable prices and a guaranteed market for their sugar (Tsokhas 321). Well, the economic relationship favored both the USSR and Cuba. It was a very profitable time for the USSR as well when Cuba produced sugar due to the increased consumption of sugar at the time. The Soviet Union provided Cuba with a large-scale economic aid. If Castro had not allowed the USSR to take over, then it would never have been possible to prevent the economic collapse of the country in the 1960s.

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At the same time, Castro would not have managed to maintain the country’s economic independence from the United States of America (Katz 11). Still, it can only be said that gaining economic independence from the US only earned Cuba an economic dependence on the USSR. The country even made attempts in the 1960s to break off their dependence on USSR by creating a Cuban socialist economy making them totally independent from other nations (Katz 15). At this point, all the attempts of making Cuba an independent economy were all discarded and the same people in opposition went back to the office as if nothing had happened (Dolan). The introduction of the USSR methods was strongly re-introduced after this including relying on the material incentives and structuring the economy of Cuba in a way that would favor the USSR.

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Around the middle of 1970, the economy of Cuba was strongly growing again. This was the time when the sugar world market prices were also increasing at a sharp rate as well. The relationship between Cuba and the USSR was especially important to the leaders of Cuba because it gave them relevance and hence the power to rule over the people the way they desired (Dolan). As seen above, the country’s economy grew very fast and sugar production and exporting experienced a great boost. Still, most Cubans thought it was their time to have independence from the Soviet Union. Everything comes to an end they say. There was an attempted coup against the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev who was then the president of the USSR.

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This failed coup greatly diminished his power as the president. For this reason, around the 1990s, a big part of Cuba’s imports originated from the Soviet Union. The countries that were majorly involved included Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Byelorussia with the chief import being petroleum. Looking back at it, the Soviet Union for a good part of 1991 furnished oil in the amount of 10 million tons to Cuba each year. As a way of paying them, Cuba would export a number of products to the Soviets including sugar, nickel, citrus, and tobacco(Purcell). Following the disbandment of the USSR towards the end of 1991, the economy of Cuba went into a critical stage. Cuba is a country that became extremely important and fully depended on fossil fuels.

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However, when the USSR was disbanded, it brought about the complete paralysis of transportation, agricultural, and industrial systems. Because of this, there were great losses in productivity (Bain). During the early stages of the broken relationship between Cuba and the Soviets, Cuba experienced a major breakdown in the agricultural and transport sectors, food shortage, as well as in the pesticide and fertilizer stocks. This prompted the arrival of the Australians as well as other permaculturists to distribute help and teaching the techniques they had to the local that were able to implement the same in their fields(“Cuba History. Org - Special Period and Recovery. Cuba’s economy since the fall of the USSR has therefore been very disappointing. Even with the stepping down of Raul Castro as Cuba’s president in April 2018, Cubans are still complaining.

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Even though people thought things would get better after Fidel Castro, Raul Castro’s regime did not also do much for Cuba’s economy. He ruled for a decade but still nothing much was realized. The Castros regimes have seen Cuba greatly stagnating in its economy and people are hoping that the new president will be able to change the state of things in the country (Feinberg 4). Conclusion The relationship between the USSR and Cuba was a bittersweet one. While trying to rid them from the grip of the US, Cuba found itself in another web of dependence with the USSR. The essay is written based on the fact that the fall of the USSR impacted Cuba negatively. It is clear that Cuba would have the limit of trading their sugar with the products made in East Europe and the Soviet.

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