14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, March 19, 2024 — For many years Cubans have realized that the dictatorship the Castro brothers imposed on the Island was quite different from those we had experienced in the past, and not only because of the endless repression and extreme cruelty. Its control over the population was unprecedented, extending even to property management, over which the state gradually acquired a monopoly.
The early years were extremely chaotic. Everyone was impacted by missteps and confusion. I still remember the apprehension I felt over Fidel Castro’s identifying each year by name. The purpose was to indicate the most important task of those ensuing 365 days, so 1962 was supposed to be “The Year of Planning” and 1963 “The Year of Organization.” Instead, the opposite occured. After that, the economic disarray just increased along with the number of executions, political prisoners and exiles.
At first it was a genuine, populist-inspired military dictatorship, though one distinguished by abject inefficiency and waste, massive propaganda and the deification of Fidel Castro
If one thing was certain from January 1959 onwards, it was that no one could be oblivious to political issues, which encompassed everything. We found ourselves caught up, voluntarily or involuntarily, in the Castro system, which we would come to see as a form of totalitarianism. It was very similar in its criminality to the Nazi and Soviet systems but much more economically encompassing, so much so that the writer José Antonio Albertini said at one point that they were about to nationalize toothbrushes, which shortly thereafter disappeared from store shelves along with toothpaste and everything else.
At first it was a genuine, populist-inspired military dictatorship, though one distinguished by inefficiency and waste, massive propaganda, the deification of Fidel Castro and consecration of his closest disciples. It was also one that demonized political parties and subjugated civil society, including all labor, social and professional organizations.
The largest property owners lost all their assets in the first three years of revolutionary government while, in a parallel move, foreign-owned businesses were expropriated without compensation. Many small businesses were also confiscated and consolidated into larger companies, a move that, in no small measure, helped plunge the country into an economic abyss.
The Castros controlled the economy without neglecting politics. They never allowed independent political parties or anything like a free press. By 1965, Cuba was under the control of a single-party regime. To make it official, they created the Communist Party of Cuba and set up the newspaper Granma as its official organ.
Once socialism was established and the generous Soviet subsidies were secured — sending thousands of Cubans to Angola as cannon fodder for Castro and the Kremlin further guaranteed it — the country was ready for the most ruthless kind of totalitarianism.
The Castros controlled the economy without neglecting politics. They never allowed independent political parties or anything like a free press
On March 13, 1968, the regime nationalized approximately 58,000 small businesses, arguing that this move would be the best way to industrialize the country. Cobblers, hairdressers, barbers, seamstresses and all those providing goods or services — those that the regime now promotes as MSMEs and self-employed workers — became state employees. The bureaucracy was enthroned and leadership of the new conglomerates was assumed by party men. Real, non-fictional men in black. All were incompetence personified.
I remember that even the bars and nightclubs were closed because, according to the official party line, they were hotbeds of prostitution, homosexuality and crime, labeled as social scourges by the leaders of the Communist Party Central Committee. In spite of its association with the Ten Million Ton Sugar Harvest and the musical group Los Van Van, the next decade saw the national economy sink into a deep depression as dependence on the Soviet Union and militarization of Cuban society increased.
The enthusiasm of Castro’s followers led the country into the wastelands of corruption and inefficiency. The national economy is now completely in ruins, so much so that, according to some, the regime is now thinking about getting rid of some totalitarian measures and becoming once again the bloody dictatorship it was before March 13, 1968, when prison bars and bloodstained bread were the norm for those actively opposed to its tyranny.
Once socialism was established and the generous Soviet subsidies were secured, the country was ready for the most ruthless kind of totalitarianism, which could already be seen in the way politics were managed.
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
