The Cuban dream; a different way to welfare?, a study of poverty, disadvantaged groups and inequality in Cuba

Abstract

This research is the result of our curiosity about Cuba related to our interest in the poverty question. The fact that some measurements placed Cuba in line with developed countries while others placed Cuba among developing countries raised our interest. The purpose of our research was first of all to look at the complexity of poverty in Cuba, which we considered have to be analyzed in relation to disadvantaged groups and social politics. During the entire extent of the study, our purpose was to understand these topics in relation to the history of the country, with the main focus on the 90s. We also wanted to broaden our study by also try to catch the unofficial view in Cuba related to our subjects. The data, collection in our study are from interviews with Cubans expertises, observations in the country and read literature. In the data collection with the interviews we chose a qualitative research method. In the conclusion part we were able to tie together some important facts from all the sources of data collection and make some conclusions about poverty, disadvantaged groups and social politics in Cuba. In our conclusion part we remark the need to understand and have some knowledge of the poverty’s complexity, to better understand the character of poverty in Cuba. We state that poverty in Cuba has to be considered from a wider perspective, when extreme poverty with the question of survival does not exist. We could be fast in drawing this conclusion from the information we received during our interviews, observations and also when we compare it to our knowledge of the poverty in Latin America. One character of poverty in Cuba was related to the income and exclusion to products because of the dual currency (CUC) which exist in Cuba since 1993. The main conclusion concerning the disadvantaged groups in the Cuban society was that the most vulnerable groups are the elderly. But also other characteristics are seen as large families, single mothers, the black population and also other minorities not considered as white. In the discussion part are we discussing hidden values against certain people, especially black people. According to us in the discussion/observations part we related this to an invisible racism and almost to a light apartheid. A clear statement we make in our conclusion about disadvantaged groups is the raised vulnerability related to the dual currency system. This currency system also creates a big inequality among the Cubans, the one without CUC don’t access to welfare and make it difficult to satisfy the basic needs. In both the discussion and conclusions part we give some credit to the Cuban government for its attempts to improve social development, especially when comparing to the situation in other poor countries and the Latin American context. Through these reforms, the Cuban government has lifted the people out of absolute poverty. On the other hand according our observations, interviews and the literature shows that the generous social politics in Cuba seems to have been weakened by the hard economical situation which occurred in the country since the 90s. All through our research, we could note a growing frustration among young people with less and less positive opinions about the existing social politics in Cuba. The problems by the crisis are something that everyone is aware of but no official changes have yet been announced. The situation remains obvious but unresolved.