The state has sanctioned private food markets twice during the history of the Cuban revolution, in 1980 and 1994. This essay focuses on the institutionalization of market forces in the 1990s as a trend made both possible and irreversible by broader reforms currently being undertaken in the country. While the state has by no means relinquished full control over food production and distribution, recent reforms have made rural producers more responsible for these functions by granting them an unprecedented degree of ownership, autonomy, and flexibility in the marketplace. The essay suggests that, as part of an evolving society, these markets will not be easily repealed as they were at the end of the 1980s. (Cuba Stud/DÜI)
Examines human consequences of structural adjustment, theoretical and practical directions of future Left movements, and complicity of academics with the political status quo; 6 articles.