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Revision as of 19:29, 13 November 2005 by 71.246.95.29 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Special Period In Time of Peace in Cuba was an extended period of economic crisis that began in 1991 and lasted through the early-to-mid 1990s, gradually declining in severity before finally dissipating in societal impact by the beginning of the 21st Century. The period is defined primarily by severe shortages of hydrocarbon energy resources in the form of gasoline, diesel, and other oil derivatives. The period radically transformed the Cuban society and economy by way of necessitating the successful introduction of sustainable agriculture, increased use of alternative modes of transportation, and overhauls of industry, health, and diet. Relocalization, permaculture, and innovative modes of mass transit are examples of these.
The Special Period was inaugurated immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union and, by extension, the Comecon. Contractual shipments of crude oil that had been tankered in from the Soviet Union no longer arrived in Cuba after 1991, and by the next year the Cuban economy was importing and utilizing only around 10% of the crude oil that it had been importing prior to the collapse. Cuban president Fidel Castro appeared on Cuban national television to alert Cubans about imminent energy shortages a mere week before his government received notice from Russia that it had no intention of shipping the quota of discounted crude oil that had been guaranteed Cuba by the Soviet Union.
The oil shortages caused extensive loss of productivity in both Cuban agriculture — which was dominated by modern industrial tractors, combines, and harvesters, all of which required oil to run — as well as in Cuban industry. The early stages of the Special Period were defined by the general breakdown in the transportation and agricultural sectors, fertilizer and pesticide stocks (both manufactured primarily from oil derivatives), and widespread food shortages (although outright starvation and famine was averted). Australian and other permaculturists arriving in Cuba began to distribute aid and taught their techniques to locals, who soon implemented them in Cuban fields, raised beds, and urban rooftops across the nation. Organic agriculture was soon after mandated by the Cuban government, supplanting the old industrialized form of agriculture.
The Castro government was forced to contract out more lucrative economic and tourism deals with various Western European and South American nations, in an attempt to earn the foreign currency necessary to replace the lost Soviet oil via the international capitalist markets. Additionally faced with a near-elimination of imported steel and other ore-based supplies, Cuba closed refineries and factories across the country, eliminating the country's industrial arm and millions of jobs — which were replaced, but how effectively is open to question. Alternative transportation, most notably the Cuban "camels" — immense 18-wheeler tractor trailers retrofitted to carry many dozens of Cubans each — flourished. Meat and dairy products, being extremely fosssil fuel-intensive in their former industrial mass production under the factory farming mathods, soon diminished in the Cuban diet. Cubans by necessity adopted diets higher in fiber, fresh produce, and more vegan in character than before the period. No longer needing sugar as desperately for a cash crop-- the oil-for-sugar program the Soviets had with Cuba had, of course, dissipated — Cuba hurriedly diversified its agricultural production, growing things like oranges in former cane fields.
The Cuban government also focused more intensely on cooperation with Venezuela once the democratic socialist Hugo Chávez was elected in 1998. As the country began to visibly recover from the shock of the implosion of their economic underpinning, Castro gradually told the Cuban people that this "Special Period" was over; that it had succeeded in generally maintaining the long life expectancies and health statistics (roughly equivalent to those enjoyed in the United States) and stated that the country was (relatively) prosperous once again. Island Cubans, however, continue to live at a much lower overall standard than they did before 1991. Most have learned to adapt.