ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on four areas: agriculture, industry, construction, and foreign trade. The infrastructural weakness of the building materials industry called for rapid improvement. The structure of the construction industry was substantially modified with the change in the sectoral and geographical allocation of investment. In evaluating Cuban industrialization, it is necessary to take into account the following factors: The system of prices and tax collection considerably distorts the structural role of the industrial sector in aggregate figures. Cuban engineers and architects had achieved relatively high levels of expertise in the construction of houses, offices, and occasionally hotels, but their experience in industrial projects was very limited. With commercial sanctions, the obstacles created by transnational corporations, and the sudden aggression represented by the trade blockade, the Cuban export system suffered heavy damage. The terms of trade of sugar improved markedly beginning in the 1970s with the establishment of price agreements with the member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.
