ABSTRACT
The forms of democratic life are preserved; there are some periodic elections and there is a constitution. But in Cuba as in other states, these hypocritical and deceiving notions constitute tributes paid by vice to virtue. Communism was introduced into Cuba by a leader whose appeal was such that at the beginning the people would have accepted almost anything that he said. Fidel Castro imposed communism on Cuba by skillful public relations: making special use of television, by excellent timing, and by well-orchestrated intimidation. That last may not seem to be new to those who know what happened in Eastern Europe between 1945 and 1948, but intimidation was made possible because of Castro’s magical personality. The relative economic failure of Cuba since 1960 is another point of difference from the rest of the Communist world. Of course, as all analysis shows, Cuba was far from being the poorest of Latin American nations in 1958–1959.
