Cuban Socialism on This Day in History

Cuba Before 1959

This day in history: Cuba instituted Law 851, nationalizing more than 150 American investments, including the hotels, casinos and racetrack on this day in 1959. Foreign tourism, which had been nearly 275,000 in 1957, fell to 87,000 by 1960.

In 1958, before the revolution Cuba had a higher gdp per capita ppp adjusted than Ireland and Austria, almost double that of Spain and Japan's per capita income. It was about 30% to 40% of GDP per capita of the US and larger than at least 10 US states. Despite its small size and only 6.5 million inhabitants in 1958, Cuba was the 29th largest economy in the world.

"While most of the world has witnessed stunning economic advances over the last half century, Cuba has been left behind. Data show that income per person in Cuba — one of the wealthier countries in the Western Hemisphere prior to Castro’s takeover — is now barely half the world’s average (54 percent), and that the country now lags far behind its neighbors. This may explain why many sympathizers with the Cuban regime have pivoted from denying Cuba’s poverty to rationalizing it." Source

"Despite the lack of freedom and the poor economic track record, Cuba is often praised for its social achievements in health care and education, some of which rival developed countries...This seems counterintuitive. How could a poor country like Cuba, whose income per capita is a fraction of those of developed countries, outperform two of the world’s wealthiest nations?" The reason for this is because the Cuban government lies about its achievements in health care and education. "That Cuba’s dictatorship manipulates self-reported statistics shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the Castros have been trying for years to prove that, despite the lack of freedom in their country, their regime has built a welfare state where high-quality public services are guaranteed for all citizens.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The only achievement of the 1959 Revolution was to turn Cuba into a huge prison where misery and repression dominate the lives of millions of Cubans that haven’t had the opportunity to flee the country in search of a better life.

Dictatorships have always resorted to data manipulation for political purposes. This isn’t new. What is really disturbing is that Western intellectuals continue to buy the propaganda of the oldest tyranny in the Americas." Source

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