CUBA LIBRE breaking the chains?

• Main Author: Marshall, Peter
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: London Unwin Hyman 1988
• Subjects: Cuba > History > 1959-
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 For 450 years Cuba suffered cruelly from colonial domina tion, bound by the chains of underdevelopment, imperialism and poverty. In 1959, a revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrew the old corrupt regime. Since then Cubans have achieved sweeping social and economic reforms. They have kept the USA at bay and avoided control by the USSR. They have actively supported socialist revolu tions and movements in Latin America, Africa and else where. A success story. But is it a total success? Are the 10 million Cubans all happy with their lot? What will happen after Castro? Has the revolu tion really destroyed the old colonial structure? Have the chains really been broken? Peter Marshall's answers to these questions are based on extensive research and discussions with Cubans of every sort. Unlike almost every other commentator, he writes objectively, with none of the usual bias for or against the extraordinary living experiment that Cuba has been for the last 30 years. And his conclusions are optimistic: 'Most Cubans live in the confident knowledge that the present is better than the past and the future is likely to be better still'. Peter Marshall, born in 1946, is a specialist in Third World issues. After an academic career, he turned to writing full time. He now lives in the mountains of North Wales. 'Peter Marshall's book is a critical, sympathetic, and extremely informative study of this middle-aged revolution... There are excellent chapters on economic management and mis-management, on the position of women, on race and on culture... there could be no better survey of contemporary Cuba, or more convincing vindication of the real achievements of its revolution.