ABSTRACT
A good part of Cuba's twentieth century political history has been characterized by violent instability, per-sonalism and caudillismo. A caudillo is someone who practices political capitalism. Political capitalism describes the economic systems of countries under strong-man dictatorial rule. This configuration of politics and economics usually involves the appearance of a "free" market economy, but in reality economic exchange or accumulation of capital nearly always involves a significant political dimension. The chapter examines the relationship between political practices and recent economic reforms in Cuba from an anthropological point of view. It also examines how economic reforms have been experienced and interpreted in one Cuban community. The chapter explores that the micro-level research should be appreciated as a way to approach economic behavior in local, culturally-appropriate terms and generate empirical hypotheses for other, more quantitative researchers. It presents the radical assertion that nearly all American researchers have misunderstood the relationship between politics and economics in Cuba.
