ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that Cuba's overall economic indicators placed it at the top of Latin America ahead of many countries in Western Europe. Instead, the social and political movement that brought about the Revolution of 1959 was driven by a strong desire among Cuban society to remove dictator Fulgensio Batista from power, who had installed himself as Cuba's President via a military coup in 1952 under the guise of trying to prevent a fraudulent election. One of the first and most important changes introduced by the Revolution was agrarian reform and especially the creation of Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria (INRA), which eventually evolved to become a state within the state. The stated objectives of the agrarian reform were to promote effective exploitation of Cuba's land and water resources to raise the standard of living of the rural population. One of the most salient features of the Cuban Communist regime with respect to agricultural production is the so-called "voluntary" work.
