Abstract
Since 1986, Cuba has been engaged in a national effort to redirect its polity and economy; this effort, spearheaded by President Castro, is generally known as the “rectification” campaign. Although occurring at roughly the same time as reforms in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the Cuban process—which emphasizes dismantling market-oriented mechanisms and enhancing economic centralization—differs radically from the others. An impressionistic assessment of the economic effects of rectification after its first three years (focusing on the behavior of macroeconomic indicators and of the construction sector) suggests that rectification has not turned the Cuban economy around. Moreover, it is questionable that rectification could do so in the medium term, considering the reforms that are taking place in Cuba's main trading partners, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
References
AGANBEYAN, ABEL 1988 The economics of perestroika.International Affairs 64, 2:177–185.
BAIBAKOV, NIKOLAI 1984 Intervención sobre el punto II de la Agenda de la XXXIX Reunión de la Sesión del CAME.Granma, 30 October:3–4.
BANCO NACIONAL DE CUBA 1985Economic report. La Habana.
BANCO NACIONAL DE CUBA 1986Cuba: Foreign debt and its rescheduling process. La Habana.
BANCO NACIONAL DE CUBA 1989Economic report. La Habana.
BANCO POPULAR DE AHORRO 1988 Población y fondo de viviendas 1971–1985.Economía y Desarrollo 88, 2 (March–April):118–123.
COMITE ESTATAL DE ESTADISTICAS 1987Anuario estadístico de Cuba. La Habana. (This and earlier issues of the yearbook are referenced by the year to which the most recent data apply rather than by the year of publication.)
CASTRO, FIDEL 1978 Speech in the closing session of the 14th Congress of the Central Organization of Cuban Trade Unions (CTC), on December 2, 1978.Granma Weekly Review, 17 December, pp. 6–9.
CASTRO, FIDEL 1984a Discurso en la inauguración de la XXXIX Reunión de la Sesión del Consejo de Ayuda Mútua Económica, el 29 de mayo de 1984.Granma, 30 October, p. 2.
CASTRO, FIDEL 1984b Intervención sobre los puntos I, II y III de el Orden del Día de la XXXIX Reunión de la Sesión del Consejo de Ayuda Mútua Económica, el 29 de octubre de 1984.Granma, 31 October, p. 2.
— 1986aInforme central: Tercer Congreso del Partido Comunista de Cuba. La Habana: Editora Política.
CASTRO, FIDEL 1986b Conclusions en el II encuentro nacional de cooperativas de producción agropecuaria, el 19 de mayo de 1986.Granma, 20 May, pp. 2–3.
CASTRO, FIDEL 1986c Intervención durante la primera jornada del X período de sesiones de la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular.Granma, 4 July, pp. 1–4.
CASTRO, FIDEL 1986d Discurso en la clausura de la sesión diferida del Tercer Congreso del Partido Comunista de Cuba, el 2 de diciembre de 1986.Granma, 5 December, supplement pp. 1–8.
CASTRO, FIDEL 1986e Speech at the conclusion of a meeting on enterprise management in Havana, on June 26, 1986. Havana Television Service, 28 June 1986, as reproduced in FBIS,Daily Report—Latin America, 1 July, pp. Q8–Q26.
— 1987aPor el camino correcto. La Habana: Editora Política.
CASTRO, FIDEL 1987b Speech marking the 20th anniversary of the death of Che Guevara, at the Electronics Components Factory in Pinar del Rio, on October 9, 1987. Radio broadcast over Havana Domestic Service, 9 October 1987, as reproduced inFBIS-LAT, 27 November, 35–45.
— 1987c Discurso de Fidel Castro en el Acto Central por el XXXIV Aniversario del Asalto al Cuartel Moncada, el 26 de julio de 1987.Verde Olivo 28, 35:29–39.
— 1988La revolución cubana: Una proeza extraordinaria. La Habana: Editora Política.
— 1989a Discurso en el XXX Aniversario del Triunfo de la Revolución Cubana, el 4 de enero de 1989.Cuba Socialista 37:22–62.
— 1989bLealtad a los principios. La Habana: Editora Política.
CASTRO, FIDEL 1989c Speech introducing Mikhail Gorbachev to the National Assembly of People's Power, on April 4, 1989.Granma Weekly Review, 16 April, p. 2.
CASTRO, FIDEL 1989d Discurso en el acto conmemorativo por el XXXVI aniversario del asalto al Cuartel Moncada, el 26 de julio de 1989.Granma, 28 July:3–5.
CHIRKOV, VLADISLAV 1987 An uphill fight.New Times (Moscow) 33:16–18.
DÍAZ-BRIQUETS, SERGIO 1988 Regional differences in revolutionary Cuba.Cuban Studies 18:45–63.
THE ECONOMIST 1987 A word from their sponsor, 27 June, p. 44.
GEY, PETER 1987 The Cuban economy under the new system of management and planning. InCrisis and reform in socialist economies, edited by Peter Gey, Jiri Kosta, and Wolfgang Kaiser, 71–98. Boulder: Westview.
GORBACHEV, MIKHAIL 1987Perestroika: New thinking for our country New York: Harper and Row.
GORBACHEV, MIKHAIL 1989 Speech before the National Assembly of People's Power, April 4, 1989.Granma Weekly Review, 16 April, p. 3.
GRAHAM, BRADLEY 1985 Moscow demanding more from eastern bloc economies.The Washington Post, 17 June, pp. A1, A9.
GRANMA 1984 Programa a largo plazo de desarrollo de la colaboración económica y científico-técnica entre la República de Cuba y la Unión de Repúblicas Socialistas Soviéticas hasta el año 2000, 16 November, pp. 4–5.
GRANMA 1986a Constituídos nueve grupos de trabajo de la Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Dirección de la Economía, 6 August, p. 3.
GRANMA 1986b Estas son las medidas acordadas, 27 December, p. 1.
GRANMA 1988 Ley del Plan Unico de Desarrollo Económico y Social para 1989, 24 December, p. 7.
GRANMA 1989a Nuevo Ministro de la Industria de Materiales de la Construcción, 2 August, p. 1.
GRANMA 1989b Una decisión inaplazable, consecuente con nuestros principios, 4 August, p. 1.
HAMBERG, JILL 1987Housing policy in revolutionary Cuba. New York: Center for Cuban Studies.
HEWETT, ED A. 1989 Economic reform in the USSR, Eastern Europe, and China: The politics of economics.American Economic Review 79, 2:16–20.
LEE, SUSANA 1988 Construction challenges for Havana in 1988.Granma Weekly Review, 7 February, p. 8.
LUZÓN, ZOSE 1988 Housing in socialist Cuba: An analysis using Cuban censuses of population and housing.Cuban Studies 18:65–83.
MACE, RODNEY 1979 Housing. InCuba: The second decade, edited by John Griffiths and Peter Griffiths, 121–130. London: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative.
MESA-LAGO, CARMELO 1981The economy of socialist Cuba: A two decade appraisal. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
— 1988 The Cuban economy in the 1980s: The return of ideology. InSocialist Cuba: Past interpretations and future challenges, edited by Sergio G. Roca, 59–100. Boulder: Westview.
MILLARES, GARDENIA, ORAMAS, JOAQUÍN, DE LA OSA, JOSÉ, and PALEZUELOS, RAUL 1988 Este movimiento es una de las mas hermosas realizaciones del proceso de rectificación.Granma, 30 June, p. 2.
MOISEYEV, A. 1987 World of the eighties: Much remains to be done.Pravda, 5 August, p. 4.
ORAMAS, JOAQUÍN 1987 The minibrigades are creating a new spirit in construction which is spreading across the country.Granma Weekly Review, 13 September, p. 3.
PÉREZ, HUMBERTO 1984 Informe sobre el proyecto de ley del plan único de desarrollo económico y social para 1985.Granma (29 December):2.
PÉREZ-LÓPEZ, JORGE F. 1986 Cuban economy in the 1980s.Problems of Communism 35, 5:16–34.
— 1987a Cuban oil reexports: Significance and prospects.The Energy Journal, 8, 1:1–16.
— 1987bMeasuring Cuban economic performance. Austin: University of Texas Press.
— 1988 Cuban-Soviet sugar trade: Price and subsidy issues.Bulletin of Latin American Research 7, 1:123–147.
PÉREZ-STABLE, MARIFELI 1987 Castro takes the economy in hand.The Nation 245, 9:297–299.
PRIZEL, ILYA 1989 Castro's quarrel with Moscow.SAIS Review 9, 2:165–183.
REMNICK, DAVID 1989 Economy faces crash, Soviet congress told.The Washington Post, 9 June, pp. A29, A34.
RITTER, A. R. M. 1988 Cuba's convertible currency debt problem.CEPAL Review 36:117–140.
ROCA, SERGIO G. 1977 Cuban economic policy in the 1980s: The trodden paths.Studies in Comparative International Development 12, 1:86–114.
— 1983 Cuba confronts the 1980s.Current History 82, 841:74–78.
— 1988 Cuba's international relations in the late 1980s. InSocialist Cuba: Past interpretations and future challenges, edited by Sergio G. Roca, 101–121 Boulder: Westview.
RODRÍGUEZ, JOSE LUIS 1986 Las relaciones económicas Cuba-URSS, 1960–1985.Temas de Economía Mundial 17: 7–33.
SEGRE, ROBERTO 1984 Architecture and the revolution. InThe scope of social architecture, edited by C. Richard Hatch, 349–360. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.
STUBBS, JEAN 1989Cuba: The test of time. London: Latin American Bureau.
TABLADA PEREZ, CARLOS 1987El pensamiento económico de Ernesto Che Guevara, La Habana: Casa de las Américas.
UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY (USIA) 1987Cuba: Quarterly situation report. Radio Marti Program. Washington.
VUSKOVIC, PEDRO and ELGUETA, BELARMINO 1987Che Guevara: Los desafíos de la transicíon y el desarrollo. La Habana: Casa de las Américas.
THE WASHINGTON POST 1989 Cuba bans 2 liberal publications, 5 August, p. A11.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES 1989 Economist says Soviets need $30 billion—fast, 4 July, p. A8.
ZIMBALIST, ANDREW 1989 Incentives and planning in Cuba.Latin American Research Review 24, 1:65–93.
ZORN, STEPHEN 1983 Cuba's cautious moves to attract investment.Multinational Monitor, 4, 3 (March):19–20.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Jorge F. Pérez-López is an international economist with the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor. This article presents only his personal views. He has written on different aspects of the Cuban economy, including economic growth, the sugar industry, international trade and energy balances. His book,Measuring Cuban Economic Performance, was published by the University of Texas Press in 1987.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pérez-López, J.F. Rectification at three: Impact on the Cuban economy. Studies in Comparative International Development 25, 3–36 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687178
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687178