A New Kind of Vanguard: Cuban−North Korean Discourse on Revolutionary Strategy for the Global South in the 1960s

During the 1960s, the Cuban government attempted to play a leadership role within the Latin American Left. In the process Cuban leaders departed from Marxist−Leninist orthodoxy, garnering harsh criticism from their Soviet and Chinese allies. Yet Cuba found a steadfast supporter of its controversial positions in North Korea. This support can in large part be explained by the parallels between Cuban and North Korean ideas about revolution in the developing nations of the Global South. Most significantly, both parties embraced a radical reconceptualisation of the role of the Marxist−Leninist vanguard party. This new doctrine appealed primarily to younger Latin American militants frustrated with the established leftist parties and party politics in general. The Cuban/North Korean theory of the party had a tangible influence in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Mexico, Bolivia and Nicaragua, as revolutionary groups in these societies took up arms in the 1960s and 1970s.

Cuban government will struggle to rein in social media

Significance It is also creating a new ministry-level Institute for Information and Social Communication (IICS) to replace the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) and modernise the state’s communication apparatus. With social media use now widespread across Cuba, however, the prospects of either strategy defusing the government’s communication challenges look dim. Impacts Reform will be at least as much about asserting control as regaining the hearts and minds of Cubans. Clear examples of openness and fresh faces on television would help Havana to demonstrate that meaningful reform is coming. Havana will look to China for surveillance technology, but will be unable to impose its state internet management.

Overview of the Constitutive Model and Numerical Calibration by FEM to Compute Bearing Capacity and Embankment-Core Deformability

Numerical modeling is a powerful tool to determine the stress-strain relationships of structures. However, for a reliable application, physical and mathematical models must be calibrated and validated. This paper presents an overview of numerical calibration through the finite element method and plate-load tests in an embankment. Additionally, an analysis of the constitutive models used in soils is performed, and the elastic-plastic constitutive model of Mohr-Coulomb was selected since it is the best suited for this study. The results from three test areas within a refinery project that the Cuban government undertook in the province of Cienfuegos are used. The numerical model used in this study was calibrated by means of the error theory and the non-parametric hypothesis tests from Mann-Whitney U. From the practical point of view, this study gives two procedures to calibrate the numerical model with experimental results.

Photovoltaic Sun Energy Supporting the Health Services

Background. In Cuba all health services are covered by the fiscal resources. That’s why the Cuban government most takes heavy decisions to support the transportation and electrician services for health services. The majority from the electricity generated in Cuba is obtained by gross petroleum. Then, the health services and the patient’s satisfaction are close related to the importation of gross petroleum to support the electrician and the health services transportation demand. The use of photovoltaic sun energy contributes to reduce the electrician demand generated by fossil fuel, to reduce the importation of gross petroleum to generate electricity and the save in international currency obtained may be used to cover the importation costs related to transportation services for the health services. Objective. To value the use of photovoltaic sun energy to support the hospital services in Havana. Materials and methods. Was made a descriptive research about the benefits utilizing the photovoltaic sun energy to support the hospital services in Havana. As theorical methods were utilized the inductive – deductive, the comparative and the historical – logical. As empiric methods were used the document and bibliographic research and the arithmetic calculus. Results. If these hospitals considered should install 5000 photovoltaic cell, they should generate 236.25 MW during 350 days at year. This electricity represents the substitution of 65677.5 MT of this fossil fuel annually. Conclusions. Photovoltaic sun energy shows several benefits for developing countries in tropical zones as Cuba. The example showed before should be taken account in health systems of tropical countries as example to reduce the health services costs and increase the patient satisfaction too.

Creating Stakeholder Legitimacy in the Eyes of Stakeholders: The Case of Havana’s Paladares

In desperation for survival, the Cuban government legalized limited forms of self-employment in the fall of 1993, and the Paladar industry (in home restaurants) was born and their numbers proliferated. For the next 25 years, the state oscillated between legalizing entrepreneurship to outright forbidding it; yet, the paladares thrived. This work explores and documents how different stakeholder evaluations of legitimacy of an entrepreneurial endeavor change over time and how these endeavors shape stakeholder’s evaluations of legitimacy. Utilizing archival data, in addition to firsthand interviews with various stakeholders, this paper documents key stakeholder evaluations of legitimacy in an endeavor’s context, the differences in these evaluations, how they change over time, and how these endeavors responded to and shaped these conflicts. The endeavors in our context shaped stakeholder views of legitimacy in ways that enabled them to gain access to the resources they needed to survive and prosper. This work brings a nuanced understanding of how stakeholders evaluate the legitimacy of entrepreneurial endeavors in contexts that are changing and emerging and how these evaluations are co-created in an iterative process between stakeholders and the endeavor.

Towards 100% Renewables by 2030: Transition Alternatives for a Sustainable Electricity Sector in Isla de la Juventud, Cuba

Renewable Energy Sources (RES) have become increasingly desirable worldwide in the fight against global climate change. The sharp decrease in costs of especially wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) have created opportunities to move from dependency on conventional fossil fuel-based electricity production towards renewable energy sources. Renewables experience around 7% (in 2018) annual growth rate in the electricity production globally and the pace is expected to further increase in the near future. Cuba is no exception in this regard, the government has set an ambitious renewable energy target of 24% RES of electricity production by the year 2030. The article analyses renewable energy trajectories in Isla de la Juventud, Cuba, through different future energy scenarios utilizing EnergyPLAN tool. The goal is to identify the best fit and least cost options in transitioning towards 100% electric power systemin Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. The work is divided into analysis of (1) technical possibilities for five scenarios in the electricity production with a 40% increase of electricity consumption by 2030: Business As Usual (BAU 2030, with the current electric power system (EPS) setup), VISION 2030 (according to the Cuban government plan with 24% RES), Advanced Renewables (ARES, with 50% RES), High Renewables (HiRES, with 70% RES), and Fully Renewables (FullRES, with 100% RES based electricity system) scenarios and (2) defining least cost options for the five scenarios in Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. The results show that high penetration of renewables is technically possible even up to 100% RES although the best technological fit versus least cost options may not favor the 100% RES based systems with the current electric power system (EPS) setup. This is due to realities in access to resources, especially importation of state of the art technological equipment and biofuels, financial and investment resources, as well as the high costs of storage systems. The analysis shows the Cuban government vision of reaching 24% of RES in the electricity production by 2030 can be exceeded even up to 70% RES based systems with similar or even lower costs in the near future in Isla de la Juventud. However, overcoming critical challenges in the economic, political, and legal conditions are crucially important; how will the implementation of huge national capital investments and significant involvement of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) actualize to support achievement of the Cuban government’s 2030 vision?

The Impact of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic on the Cuban Tourism Industry and Recommendations for Cuba’s Response

Cuba has been affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic as has most countries. The pandemic has all but shut down the tourism industry, with global flights being cancelled and governments taking drastic actions to stop the spread of the virus. The impact will especially hurt developing countries without strong economies and those heavily reliant on the tourism industry, such as Cuba. Government initiatives have included stay at home orders and temporarily closing businesses, restaurants, sports, and music venues as well as manufacturing facilities. With these shutdowns, there exists the probabilities that many businesses will not survive, but for those with sufficient cashflow, this presents opportunities for organizations and governments to re-tool, re-balance and alter their methods of operations. Cuba is different, in that they have a centralized planned economy and do have an opportunity to make significant changes to their industries which can improve the future of Cuba. The present paper looks to evaluate the impact of this on the country and the tourism industry and make economic recommendations in order for the Cuban government to move forward.

“We Have No End”

In the spring and summer of 1980, 125,000 Cubans fled from the port of Mariel outside of Havana to Florida. By 1987, close to 2,400 Mariel Cubans were being held in prisons in Oakdale, Louisiana, and Atlanta, Georgia, because they had committed crimes in the United States and been ordered deported. Lacking the ability to carry out the deportation, the US government incarcerated the Cubans indefinitely. Upon learning in November 1987 that the Cuban government would accept some of these deportees, detainees in these two prisons rose up, seized 138 hostages, and set the prisons ablaze. After two weeks, the Cuban detainees surrendered once the US government agreed to individually review their asylum claims. The story of the longest prison uprising in US history reveals how law and order politics, emphasizing a heavy-handed policing of crime, merged with immigration restrictions in the 1980s to produce mass immigrant incarceration.

Precarity in the Time of COVID-19: Aging Housing and Aging Population in Cuba

In January 2020 the Cuban government launched a rapid and comprehensive multisectoral response to the threat posed by SARS-CoV-2. This response built upon the strengths of the nation’s public health infrastructure, including an expansive health professional workforce experienced with prior epidemics (e.g., dengue, HIV, and Ebola). It also revealed the challenges posed by the vulnerabilities of aging and weak municipal infrastructures. Deteriorating housing, poor airflow, and sweltering heat undermined adherence to lockdown measures, putting those over age sixty—an increasingly large proportion of Cuba’s population—at particular risk. I discuss challenges posed by a rapidly graying population, vulnerabilities and increasing inequality stemming from Raul Castro’s 2009 economic reforms, and the island’s struggle to address its precarious housing stock to highlight the severe difficulties sheltering in place posed for the most vulnerable: elderly Cubans living without family support. The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has underscored the multiple forms infrastructure—including pipes, energy grids, and social networks—takes on the island, and the implications infrastructural strain and weakness have for maintenance of the socialist state and its continued provision of universal health care, housing, and nutrition.

The Monroe Doctrine 2.0 and U.S.-China-Latin America Trilateral Relations

The election of Donald Trump caused a change in the direction of U.S. foreign policy for Latin America with the imposition of new sanctions on the Cuban government (starting a new cold war with the island) and the attempted regime changes in Venezuela and Nicaragua, whose governments are seen as a threat by Washington’s elite. In September 2018, during a speech at the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Donald Trump took up the principles of the Monroe Doctrine as formal a U.S. policy and rejected the alleged interference of foreign states in the western hemisphere and in the internal affairs of the United States — a direct allusion to China and Russia. This change in U.S. policy toward Latin America has had a great impact on Sino-Latin American relations in the context of political pressures and aggressive rhetoric seeking to curb the Chinese presence there. This article explores the motivation behind the new attitude of the United States in its relations with Latin America and how it impacts Sino-Latin American relations.