Cuba, once known as the world's "sugar king," has undergone a dramatic transformation, making it an importer of this commodity after having been the world's largest producer and exporter of sugar for nearly 200 years. This appalling decline not only represents an economic change but also symbolizes a deep structural economic crisis in Cuban society and the best demonstration of the failure of the Castro-communist dictatorship.
The Golden Age of Production
During the 1950s, Cuba was a world leader in sugar production, growing and processing millions of tons of cane. This industry not only generated significant government revenues, but also provided a guarantee of employment to hundreds of thousands of Cuban citizens in addition to being a source of foreign exchange, renewable energy, and by-products for domestic industry and exports.
The Cultural Impact of Sugar
Sugar has had a profound impact on Cuba's cultural landscape, influencing its economy, social structure, and traditions. The sugar industry was also a symbol of prosperity and fostered wealth, creating in the pre-Castro era a class of landowners and workers who helped develop other agricultural and industrial sectors.
On the cultural level, it inspired musical genres such as “son”, salsa, and bolero, with themes that reflected life on the plantations and in the bateyes (town places where sugarcane industry workers live). Sugar is also an essential element of Cuban culinary art in traditional dessert dishes such as flan and dulce de leche, and an essential touch to traditional foods such as black beans and an innumerable list of Cuban dishes, as well as influencing the shape of local events and celebrations.
It has also influenced the independence movements of Cuban history since October 10, 1868, when the Ten Years' War or War of Independence began at the "La Demajagua" sugar mill when Carlos Manuel de Céspedes proclaimed the manifesto of the revolutionary junta of the island of Cuba. This cry for independence had a very enriching moral support, which was the Constituent Assembly of Guáimaro, which proclaimed freedom and independence.
Sugar Is Today a Delicacy Absent From the Cuban Table
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According to unofficial media of the Castro government, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, during his speech in the National Assembly, had expressed the elimination of subsidies to the basic basket.
According to the unofficial media of the dictatorship, Marrero had expressed that the process of eliminating subsidies would be implemented gradually, product by product, but without the possibility of reversal. "It is a path that has no turning back," he said, stressing that the measure is part of a broader plan to reactivate the Cuban economy. The plan includes price policies and the elimination of subsidies to basic products and services, decisions that Marrero described as "complex" due to their impact on the purchasing power of Cubans and the stability of the national currency. One analysis that we concluded is to completely eliminate the subsidy from the basic basket, but the issue is complicated because it would not only be necessary to subsidize people in vulnerable conditions. Practically most of the budgeted workers their salaries would not allow them to cover that difference," Marrero said.
This "news" described as false by the regime could have been generated by the dictatorship itself as a strategy of the dictatorship to measure and know in more detail the reaction of the people, since they know that the elimination of subsidies would be a direct blow to the purchasing power of Cubans, especially in a context where the ridiculous monthly installments of the few products that are supposed to be available to the Cuban people. consumers are not regularly distributed, in addition to the fact that prices of basic foodstuffs, such as rice, sugar, salt, eggs, and bread, are already unaffordable for many families who are forced to buy them on the black market or in MSMEs. The "news" spread on social media, in the press, websites, as well as television and radio programs.
According to the official Cuban website "cubadebate.cu" The Ministry of Domestic Trade (Mincin) denied a news circulating on social networks about the elimination of food products from the regulated family basket. In X, Mincin urged the population to stay informed through the official channels of the institution.
The denial of the news in Cubadebate gave rise to opinions that were not in favor of the dictatorship, such as the comment that we reproduce below:
Survivor said: The best thing is that they withdraw the ration book, it denies the news but months go by and the products do not enter, where is the coffee, well what looks like coffee because it is so mixed with so many things, they give you 7 pounds of rice, my question is someone survive a month with that, where is the protein, the gas, Now they reduce the size of the bread, everything is reducing, temporarily removing how many children without milk, chronically ill without medical diets, and they stand at the round table and say that the basic basket is guaranteed, I challenge them to live a month with what they give in the basic basket to see what happens, my opinion take away the ration book.
The ration book has been a fundamental part of the Cuban socialist economic system since its creation in the 1960s. This mechanism, designed to ensure control of and access to basic products, represents an attempt by the Cuban government to show false equality by providing a small number and quantities of food products for the subsistence of the population and a population control mechanism. However, the total elimination of subsidies to the basic basket and the failure to deliver the measly quotas of basic products, plus the imposition of the dollarization of the market have transformed the economic and social panorama of the country, leaving the population facing a difficult reality of inequality due to the scarcity of basic products for the subsistence of the average Cuban. This essay will analyze the roots of the ration book, the impact of its elimination (possible), the dollarization of the economy, the unfulfilled promises of the Cuban regime, and the myth of the equality of socialism.
The Roots of the Ration Book
The so-called "supply" booklet was conceived as a tool for social and economic control of the Cuban population. For decades, it provided access to minimum basic goods at subsidized prices, which was used as propaganda to demonstrate socialist equality. However, as the Cuban economy faced recurring crises caused by the inefficiency of the Castro dictatorship, this system's effectiveness began to crumble. With the Soviet Union's collapse in the 1990s, the shortage of basic products worsened, as the subsidy provided by the former Soviet Union to the parasitic Castro dictatorship was lost, and the ration book became a symbol of a declining system. This context laid the groundwork for the final elimination of subsidies, which, under the handpicked President Díaz-Canel's regime, has come to an end as economic aid from socialist allies like Russia, Venezuela, and China has been lost or considerably diminished.
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Unfortunately, all peaceful means have failed, and the Castro-communist dictatorship has left no other option. Cuba's freedom can come at a high cost in human lives.
The Exhaustion of Peaceful Ways in Cuba: A Critical Analysis
Cuba's history under the Castro regime has consistently demonstrated the failure of peaceful ways to bring about democratic change. For more than six decades, every attempt at nonviolent opposition has been met with brutal repression, selective assassinations, and mass incarceration, evidencing the regime's intransigence in the face of any form of request for democratic opening and even the slightest claim for a human right has been brutally repressed with imprisonment and exceedingly in fabricated cases against peaceful opponents.
Systematic Repression of Peaceful Dissent
The pattern of dictatorial violence against advocates of peaceful change is manifested in emblematic cases such as that of Pedro Luis Boitel, who died in 1972 during a hunger strike after being denied water on direct orders from Fidel Castro. This pattern continues to this day, as evidenced by the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo in 2010 after 86 days of hunger strike initiated after being brutally beaten in prison and denied water for 18 days in Kilo 8 prison, and the suspicious death due to lack of medical attention and induced death of Laura Pollán, leader of the Ladies in White, in 2011.
The assassination of Oswaldo Payá in 2012 represents perhaps the clearest example of the regime's hostility to peaceful democratic initiatives. Payá, who had collected more than 11,000 signatures for the Varela Project seeking a democratic referendum, was eliminated in a vehicle accident orchestrated by the Ministry of the Interior, demonstrating that the regime will not tolerate even the most moderate reform proposals.
The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights holds the Castro regime responsible for the death of 4 political prisoners who were peaceful demonstrators on July 11, 2021.
Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugas, a peaceful protester July 11, 2021, who was being held in the Combinado del Este, a Havana prison died on November 30, 2024, Jesús Guillén Esplugas died from a beating he was given in prison, according to Justicia 11J and Cuba Decide, of which he was a promoter, becoming the third prisoner killed related to those historic protests against the dictatorial regime of Cuba.
The OCDH also recalled the death of Luis Barrios Díaz, 37, who died on November 19, 2023, due to respiratory complications due to medical negligence by prison authorities at La Covadonga Hospital in Havana.
Failure of Diplomatic Initiatives
International diplomatic efforts have been equally unsuccessful. The historic opening of the Obama administration, far from encouraging reforms, resulted in an intensification of repression. The Vatican's efforts for a democratic opening were similarly ignored. The regime's violent response to the peaceful protests of July 11, 2021, which resulted in thousands of arrests and long prison sentences, confirms its absolute rejection of any form of dialogue or democratic concession.
The Inevitability of Armed Resistance
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Historical evidence demonstrates that the Cuban regime has systematically closed all peaceful avenues for democratic change. The deaths of 14 political prisoners on hunger strikes between 1966 and 2020, documented by the International Commission for Justice Cuba, underscores the human cost of nonviolent resistance. The regime has shown that it will respond with lethal violence to any challenge to its power, regardless of how peaceful.
This reality raises an inevitable conclusion: after 66 years of totalitarian dictatorship, the armed path emerges as the only remaining option to achieve the liberation of the Cuban people. This conclusion is not reached by ideological preference but by the systematic elimination of all peaceful alternatives by the regime itself.
The failure of every peaceful initiative, every attempt at dialogue, every nonviolent protest, and every diplomatic effort has not been accidental, but the result of a deliberate policy of the regime to maintain its power at any cost. History shows that the Castro regime will never voluntarily relinquish power, regardless of the peaceful pressure applied to it.
This reality presents the international community and the Cuban people with a difficult but clear choice: accept the indefinite perpetuation of a totalitarian dictatorship or recognize that the liberation of Cuba will inevitably require the use of military force to dismantle a regime that has proven impervious to any other form of change.
The Last Peaceful Chance for a Transition
The policies of the new Trump administration with new leaders in its cabinet such as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz may also increase the pressure with more drastic sanctions against Castroism and the countries that negotiate with the dictatorship as the last attempt to force it to make a peaceful transition. Although all the cards are supposed to be in play and some kind of armed intervention is also on the table.
The Million-Dollar Question: Can Cuba Free Itself From Castroism Through Peaceful Civic Struggle?
Many of the Cuban and exile dissident organizations are committed to peaceful civic struggle, including many that in the past bet on military confrontation with the dictatorship, but they should be thinking of a plan B and C that does not rule out armed confrontation with or without the intervention of the United States.
The Harsh Conclusion
Unfortunately, the Castro-communist dictatorship has left no choice, and Cuba's freedom could come at a high cost in human lives if the United States does not intervene to surgically execute the murderous Castro-communist leaders who oppose peaceful change. The United States has the duty and the right to participate in an armed confrontation against the Castro dictatorship since it historically represents one of the enemies that has caused the most damage to its national security and the lack of political will has allowed Castro-communism to continue promoting not only hatred of the United States from the backyard and even participating in the espionage and support of the powers communists and Islamic terrorists.
José Tarano is a technical producer, graphic designer, collaborator, and researcher at Patria de Martí ► and TheCubanAmerican Voice ►. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in Telecommunications from José Antonio Echeverria Superior Polytechnic Institute (ISPJAE). In addition, he is the founder and director of Electronics JR Computer Design and Service ►, a computer and information technology services company. Originally from Santiago de las Vegas, Havana, Cuba, he currently resides in the United States.
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Invitation Permanent Exhibition "The Cuban Experience"
American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora
Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs
América TeVé
FIU - Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom
Patria de Martí - The CubanAmerican Voice
We are pleased to invite you to the permanent exhibition
"The Cuban Experience"
The untold story of Cuba from the Republic, the Castro-communist dictatorship, the confrontation of a courageous exile, and a glimpse into the Cuba of the future.
Starting on
Saturday, December 7, 2024. 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM
American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora
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The Sugar King is Now a communist Beggar
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🖋️Author Jose Tarano
