ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the relationship between that transition and any international humanitarian relief program initiated by the United States and other donor governments. Most democratic transitions in the post-cold war world have become highly politicized as the old guard frightened by its loss of power, influence, and privilege fights to protect itself, and the new guard tries to establish its authority over entrenched interests. The chapter focuses on the emergency and rehabilitation phase of a response to an emergency in Cuba. A properly done humanitarian assessment will determine the food supply, nutritional status of children, shelter, agricultural production, water, sanitation, medical, and the microeconomic situation in Cuba, and recommend programmatic measures to address the findings. The architecture of the international humanitarian response system which has grown up in the post-cold war period to respond to other emergencies similar to Cuba is highly diffuse, decentralized, extraordinarily complex, and full of internal tension.
