Special Period

From the start of the crisis to 1995, Cuba saw its gross domestic product shrink 35%, and it took another five years for it to reach pre-crisis levels, comparable to the length seen during the Great Recession in the United States, and five years shorter than the time it took in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.[12] Agricultural production fell 47%, construction fell by 74%, and manufacturing capacity fell 90%.[12] Much of this decline stemmed from a stoppage in oil exports from the former Eastern Bloc.[12]

In response, the Cuban government implemented a series of austerity policies.[3] The Cuban government eliminated 15 ministries, and cut defense spending by 86%.[3] During this time, the government maintained and increased spending on various forms of welfare, such as healthcare and social services.[3] From 1990 to 1994, the share of gross domestic product spent on healthcare increased 13%, and the share spent on welfare increased 29%.[3] Such policy priorities have led to historian Helen Yaffe dubbing them "humanistic austerity".[3]

During the Special Period, Cuba experienced a period of widespread food insecurity.[4] In academic circles, there is debate over whether such insecurity constitutes a famine.[3][13] The primary cause of this was the collapse of the Soviet Union, who exported large quantities of cheap food to Cuba.[4] In the absence of such food imports, food prices in Cuba increased, while government-run institutions began offering less food, and food of lower quality.[4]

A Canadian Medical Association Journal paper claimed, "The famine in Cuba during the Special Period was caused by political and economic factors similar to the ones that caused a famine in North Korea in the mid-1990s because both countries were run by authoritarian regimes that denied ordinary people the food to which they were entitled to when the public food distribution collapsed and priority was given to the elite classes and the military."[14] Other reports painted an equally dismal picture, describing Cubans having to resort to eating anything they could find, from Havana Zoo animals to domestic cats.[15]

A plethora of research shows that the Special Period resulted in a decrease in caloric intake among Cuban citizens. One study estimates that caloric intake fell by 27% from 1990 to 1996.[4] A report by the United States Department of Agriculture estimates that daily nutritional intake fell from 3,052 calories (12,770 kJ) per day in 1989 to 2,099 calories (8,780 kJ) per day in 1993. Other reports indicate even lower figures, 1,863 calories (7,790 kJ) per day. Some estimates indicate that the very old and children consumed only 1,450 calories (6,100 kJ) per day.[16] FAO statistics show that the average daily dietary energy consumption of Cuban citizens during the periods of 1990–92 and 1995–97 were 2720 and 2440 kcal/person/day respectively. By 2003 average caloric intake had risen to 3280 kcal/person/day.[9] According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the recommended minimum ranges from 2,100 to 2,300 kcal/person/day [16]

During the Special Period, indicators of Cuban health showed a mixed impact. Unlike Russia, which saw a significant drop in life expectancy during the 1990s, Cuba actually saw an increase, from 75.0 years in 1990 to 75.6 years in 1999.[17] During the Special Period, child mortality rates also dropped.[17] One researcher from Johns Hopkins described the Special Period as "the first, and probably the only, natural experiment, born of unfortunate circumstances, where large effects on diabetes, cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality have been related to sustained population-wide weight loss as a result of increased physical activity and reduced caloric intake".[18]

A paper in the American Journal of Epidemiology, says that "during 1997–2002, there were declines in deaths attributed to diabetes (51%), coronary heart disease (35%), stroke (20%), and all causes (18%). An outbreak of neuropathy and a modest increase in the all-cause death rate among the elderly were also observed."[19] This was caused by how the population tried to reduce the energy store without reducing the nutritional value of the food.[19]

A letter published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) criticized the American Journal of Epidemiology for not taking all factors into account and says that "the famine in Cuba during the Special Period was caused by political and economic factors similar to the ones that caused a famine in North Korea in the mid-1990s. Both countries were run by authoritarian regimes that denied ordinary people the food to which they were entitled when the public food distribution collapsed; priority was given to the elite classes and the military. In North Korea, 3%–5% of the population died; in Cuba the death rate among the elderly increased by 20% from 1982 to 1993".[20]

Thousands of Cubans protested in Havana on 5 August 1994, some chanting "Libertad!" ("Freedom!"). The protest, in which some protesters threw rocks at police, was dispersed by the police after a few hours.[21] A paper published in the Journal of Democracy argued that this was the closest that the Cuban opposition could come to asserting itself decisively.[21]

Cuba's history of colonization included deforestation and overuse of its agricultural land. Before the crisis, Cuba used more pesticides than the United States. Lack of fertilizer and agricultural machinery caused a shift towards organic farming and urban farming. Cuba still has food rationing for basic staples. Approximately 69% of these rationed basic staples (wheat, vegetable oils, rice, etc.) are imported.[22] Overall, however, approximately 16% of food is imported from abroad.[22]

Initially, this was a very difficult situation for Cubans to accept; many came home from studying abroad to find that there were no jobs in their fields. It was pure survival that motivated them to continue and contribute to survive through this crisis. The documentary, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, states that today, farmers make more money than most other occupations.[23]

Due to a poor economy, there were many crumbling buildings that could not be repaired. These were torn down and the empty lots lay idle for years until the food shortages forced Cuban citizens to make use of every piece of land. Initially, this was an ad-hoc process where ordinary Cubans took the initiative to grow their own food in any available piece of land. The government encouraged this practice and later assisted in promoting it. Urban gardens sprang up throughout the capital of Havana and other urban centers on roof-tops, patios, and unused parking lots in raised beds as well as "squatting" on empty lots. These efforts were furthered by Australian specialists who were invited to the island in 1993 to teach permaculture, a sustainable agricultural system, and to "train the trainers", establishing a long-running NGO partnerships program of community engagement and capacity building funded by the Australian government.[24][25][26][27]

Downtown Havana kiosks provided advice and resources for individual residents. Widespread farmers' markets gave easy access to locally grown produce; less travel time required less energy use.[28]

A street in Trinidad, Cuba, in 2006

The ideological changes of the Special Period had effects on Cuban society and culture, beyond those on the country. A comprehensive review of these effects concerning ideology, art and popular culture can be found in Ariana Hernandez-Reguant's Cuba in the Special Period. As a result of increased travel and tourism, popular culture developed in new ways. Lisa Knauer, in that volume, describes the circulation of rumba between New York and Havana, and their mutual influences. Antonio Eligio Tonel has described the contemporary art networks that shaped the Cuban art market, and Esther Whitfield the channels through which Cuban literature accessed the wider Spanish-speaking world during that period. Elsewhere, Deborah Pacini, Marc Perry, Geoffrey Baker and Sujatha Fernandes extensively wrote about Cuban rap music as a result of these transnational exchanges.[29] In recent years, that is, not in the 1990s which is the period identified with the Special Period, reggaeton has replaced timba as the genre of choice among youth, taking on the explicitly sexual dance moves that originated with timba.[30][31]

Whereas timba music was a Cuban genre that evolved out of traditional song and jazz, emphasizing blackness and sexuality through sensual dancing, with lyrics that reflected the socio-cultural situation of the period with humor [Hernandez-Reguant 2006]. Cuban hip hop evolved as a socially conscious movement influenced heavily by its kin genre American hip-hop. Thus it was not so much a product of the Special Period—as timba was—as one of globalization [Fernandes 2004]. The Revolution and the blockage of all imports from the US had made the dissemination of American music difficult during the sixties and seventies, as it was often "tainted as music of the enemy and began to disappear from the public view." But all of that changed in the 1990s, when American rappers flocked regularly to Cuba, tourists brought CDs, and North American stations, perfectly audible in Cuba, brought its sounds. Nonetheless, hip hop circulated through informal networks, thus creating a small underground scene of rap enthusiasts located mostly in Havana's Eastern neighborhoods that called the attention of foreign scholars and journalists. Eventually, rappers were offered a space within state cultural networks. The lack of resources to purchase the electronic equipment to produce beats and tracks gives Cuban rap a raw feel that paralleled that of "old school" music in the US.[32]

Immediate actions taken by the government included televising an announcement of the expected energy crisis a week before the USSR notified the Cuban government that they would not be delivering the expected quota of crude oil. Citizens were asked to reduce their consumption in all areas and to use public transport and carpooling. As time went on, the administration developed more structured strategies to manage the long-term energy/economic crisis as it stretched into the 21st century.[23]

Food rationing was intensified. Monthly allocations for families were based under the basic minimum requirements as recommended by the United Nations. Nutrition dropped from 3,052 calories a day in 1989 to 2,099 calories a day in 1993 with some reports even lower, 1,863 calories a day. The recommended minimum is 2100-2300 calories daily.[33]

The cost of producing cement and the scarcity of tools and of building materials increased the pressure on already overcrowded housing. Even before the energy crisis, extended families lived in small apartments (many of which were in very poor condition) to be closer to an urban area. To help alleviate this situation, the government engaged in land-distribution where they supplemented larger government-owned farms with privately owned ones. Small homes were built in rural areas and land was provided to encourage families to move, to assist in food production for themselves, and to sell in local farmers' markets. As the film The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil discusses, co-ops developed which were owned and managed by groups, as well as creating opportunities for allowing them to form "service co-ops" where credit was exchanged and group purchasing-power was used to buy seeds and other scarce items.[23]

• 
  The "camel" (so called because of its two "humps") bus-trailers were introduced during the period. This one is from 2006 in Havana.
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  A camel and a taxi rickshaw in Havana, 2005
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  A Lada stretched as a limousine taxi in Trinidad, Cuba, 2006
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  A horse-drawn taxi in Varadero, 1994
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  A family of three sharing a bicycle in 1994

Cubans were accustomed to cars as a convenient mode of transport. It was a difficult shift during the Special Period to adjust to a new way of managing the transport of thousands of people to school, to work and to other daily activities. With the realization that food was the key to survival, transport became a secondary worry and walking, hitch-hiking, and carpooling became the norm. Privately owned vehicles are not common; ownership is not seen as a right but as a privilege awarded for performance. Public transport is creative and takes on the following forms:

• Cars – old US cars common in Cuba are used as taxis to transport from six to eight passengers, stopping at locations as needed.
• Trucks – canopies and steps were added to accommodate more passengers and protect them from the natural elements; or open "dump-truck buses" are used.
• Bikes – 1.2 million bicycles were purchased from China and distributed as well as another half a million produced in Cuba.
• "Camels" – Conversion of semi-truck flatbeds into bus-like vehicles that hold up to 300 passengers.
• Government vehicles pick up passengers as needed.
• Horses and mules are used as well as bike- and horse-drawn carriages with taxi licenses are numerous both in rural and urban areas.
• Convenience for the individual is secondary to efficient use of energy.