Die (Re-)Integration Kubas in Lateinamerika? Probleme der politischen und ökonomischen Anpassung nach dem Umbruch der Jahre 1989/90
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Abstract
For numerous reasons Cuba has long been one of
the key states within Latin America and the Caribbean. This
began with its discovery by Columbus and continued through the
Spanish colonization, the era of slave trade, very unequal
social structures and highly unstable political conditions in
the aftermath of its independence. The Cuban revolution after
1959 marked a turning point of the country?s development:
The new socialist regime introduced radical changes of the
internal economic and political structures and quickly became
an important geo-strategic factor in the bipolar world of the
Cold War. In the decades following the Cuban missile-crisis of
1962 which had led to a stalemate-situation from a strategic
point of view, Cuba adopted the foreign politics of a big
country. Economically strengthened by the preferential trade
with the USSR and politically/ideologically influenced by the
strong hand of its charismatic leader, Fidel Castro, the
country continued to attract international attention.
Especially in the 1970s and 80s, the Castro-government made an
enormous effort to export the revolution to Southern Africa and
Latin America and maintained relatively large military
contingents overseas. Cuba actively participated in leftist
guerrilla movements in Latin America and the political
leadership knew how to exploit the hostile foreign policy of
the United States for its propaganda at home. The
country?s exclusion of the Organization of American
States (OAS) at the beginning of the 1960s was followed by the
break of economic and political relations with virtually all
countries of the region with the exception of Mexico. By 1964,
only five years after the revolution, Cuba had already been
fully isolated within the hemisphere. The rise of military
dictatorships in the majority of Latin American countries
during the 1980s additionally worsened Cuba?s position in
the region while its integration in the Council for Mutual
Economic Assistance (COMECON) at least led to some economic
freedom. The demise of the socialist bloc in Eastern Europe and
the disintegration of the COMECON not only ended the era of the
Cold War but for Cuba also arose the question of new political
and economic allies. At this point some of the Latin American
countries had already reinstated diplomatic relations with Cuba
but on the multilateral level the country only participated in
the Latin American Economic System (SELA) and still realized
over 80% of its trade with the socialist bloc. Even though
there is a long tradition of integration projects in Latin
America, most regional economies were still characterized by
relatively closed national markets until the second half of the
1980s which was partly due to the absence of strong traditional
trade links. Only by the end of the 1980s and the beginning of
the 1990s after the deviation of the import substitution model
and the redemocratization of most Latin American countries, did
the governments start to reflect upon their mutual economic
interests: In 1991 the 1st Cumbre Iberoamericana was held in
Mexico and in the same year the Mercado Común del Sur
(MERCOSUR) was founded with the Treaty of Asunción. The
Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración (ALADI) which had
succeeded the ALALC in 1980 was revitalized and formed the
umbrella organization of all bi- and multilateral arrangements
in the region. This period of ?new regionalism? in
Latin America fell together with Cuba?s need to rearrange
its trade flows and the search for new political allies in an
increasingly globalized world. The main question of this work
is if there was a reintegration of Cuba in Latin America after
the collapse of the socialist bloc in 1989/90 and on which
basis this process took place. Therefore, the second chapter
highlights the economic and political development of Cuba
between the revolution of 1959 and the breakdown of the USSR.
In the course of this analysis it became evident that both the
political and economic structures of Cuba strictly followed
socialist-communist rules in that period which entailed a
special relationship with the East European countries, a deeply
disturbed relation with the USA and quite heterogeneous
relations with Third world countries. The different development
stages of Cuba during that time were more characterized by
gradual ideological shifts than by fundamental changes of the
country?s foreign policy. The third chapter deals with
Cuba?s development after 1989/90 and describes the major
structural changes which the country undertook in order to
adapt to the newly emerged situation. It highlights the main
legal and structural accomplishments in the economic and
political sector which must be seen as the basis for the
country?s integration in the region. It is being
described how the Castro-government reacted in the face of the
economic crisis at the beginning of the 1990s and what foreign
trade and financial sector reforms it undertook to deal with
it. The chapter concludes with a short overview over the most
important integration theories. In the fourth chapter the focus
lies on the resumption of economic and political relations with
Latin American countries and the development of bilateral as
well as multilateral dialogues. The basis for this chapter
forms a series of interviews which were conducted in the years
2000 and 2002 in Montevideo, Uruguay, and Havana, Cuba. Taking
occasion to Cuba?s admission to the ALADI in 1999 the
investigation concentrates on the country?s relations
with the other 11 member states of this organization. While the
intraregional trade in Latin America grew rapidly since the
beginning of the 1990s, Cuba was able to expand its economic
relations with the region enormously. Besides the fact that
since 1989 Cuba managed through an offensive foreign policy to
almost double the number of countries in the region with which
it maintains diplomatic relations, it more and more became
engaged in multilateral organs: in 1991 Cuba participated in
the 1st Cumbre Iberoamericana, in 1993 it established the
Comisión Conjunta with CARICOM, in 1994 Cuba was a founding
member of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), in 1999 it
joined the ALADI as a full member state and shortly afterwards
took part in the 1st biregional summit between the European
Union (EU) and Latin America/Caribbean, in 2001 it joined the
Cariforum. This process has certainly catalysed Cuba?s
internal reforms and contributed to the ongoing reintegration
in the region. In the last chapter the author evaluates the
internal and external developments that have taken place since
the breakdown of the socialist bloc of Eastern Europe and have
influenced the relations between Cuba and the ALADI member
states. In the economic policy sector the country has
introduced a number of laws which paved the way to strengthen
its trading links with Latin American and Caribbean nations. In
the political and diplomatic field still remain a lot of
resentments between Cuba and the ALADI states that almost
exclusively stem from the harsh reactions of the
Castro-government when being criticized for its human rights
record (e.g. the recent rows with Argentina, Uruguay and
Mexico). Since 1989/90 the Castro-government has succeeded in
establishing solid economic as well as in some cases political
links within the region. The process of economic adaptation has
come under way even though it still lacks stronger commitment
and has put Cuba in a position from where it can better
participate in the globalized trade. This success however is
being continuously jeopardised by Castro?s unyielding and
unfortunate caudillo-diplomacy. With Venezuela, Brazil and
Mexico, Cuba has some very potent allies in the region with
which it should not find itself isolated again once the Free
Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is put into
practice.
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Supervisor:
Dates
Created: 2004Issued: 2004-03-04Updated: 2011-08-10
Faculty
Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften und Philosophie
Publisher
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Language
ger
Data types
DoctoralThesis
Keywords
foreign policyCubaALADI , IntegrationLatin America , IntegrationLateinamerikaAußenhandel
DFG-subjects
AußenpolitikKuba
DDC-Numbers
980
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Heldmann, Jörg (128827246): Die (Re-)Integration Kubas in Lateinamerika? Probleme der politischen und ökonomischen Anpassung nach dem Umbruch der Jahre 1989/90. : Philipps-Universität Marburg 2004-03-04. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17192/z2004.0079.
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This item has been published with the following license: In Copyright