ABSTRACT

It is well know that Cuban statistics lack credibility as a result of repeated manipulation by the Cuban government. Nonetheless, Cuba's socioeconomic conditions have deteriorated to such an extent over the last fifty-six years that even the government's own inflated statistics tell a clear tale of economic destruction. Even countries like North Korea or the poorest nations of Africa, although they have equally dismal or worse socioeconomic indicators today than Cuba, have not experienced the same level of economic destruction that Cuba has experienced since none of those countries had achieved anywhere near the same developmental standing that Cuba had attained by the end of the 1950s. Cuba's Communist government took over nearly all of the country's productive capacity within a short number of years post the 1959 Revolution, most Cubans today work for a highly powerful monopolistic employer. Cuba's 36 percent increase in mortality is higher than that of all but three countries—Bulgaria, Iraq, and Russia.