ABSTRACT
Cuba’s economy was so hard hit that in 1991 the government declared the “special period,” which is a euphemism for saying that the economy is really on a wartime footing although there is technically no war. The real Achilles heel of the Cuban economy is fuel, given Cuba’s lack of significant internal fuel sources. People in the West, whatever their political persuasion, seem to overestimate the role of Fidel Castro in decisionmaking in Cuba. The revolution has gone through different stages of development, and each stage has been ascribed to a particular group within the leadership or within the party. In Cuba’s case the only population that had a public voice was that coming from Miami. Socialism will inevitably fall everywhere, and the Cuban revolutionary mission is therefore an anachronism—an anachronism that corresponds to a romantic, modern era that is being overtaken by a postmodern era.
