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CUBA - 40 YEARS OF REVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION
In 1959, when the new revolutionary government replaced the Batista regime,
30% of the Cuban population were unable to read and write and a further
60% never reached sixth grade. Only a few dozen technical colleges and high
schools existed, (not all of them within the reach of the people); the same
with teacher training colleges, plus three universities and one private
university. Professors and teachers amounted to 22,000. Possibly 5% of
adults, that is, 250,000 persons, could have had more than a sixth-grade
education.
Yet, these are the people - illiterate and semi-literate - and with really
only a minimal political awareness, who were capable of making the
Revolution, of defending the nation, of subsequently achieving an
exceptional political consciousness and initiating a revolutionary process
that is unparalleled anywhere in the world.
Today, there are far better trained teachers and working professors who
total over 250,000; doctors - 64,000; university graduates - 600,000.
Illiteracy has been eradicated, it is extremely rare to find a person who
hasn't reached sixth grade. Education is obligatory up to ninth grade;
without exception, everyone who reaches that level can continue high-school
level studies free of charge. Cuba has the highest per capita indices of
teachers, doctors and physical education/sports instructors in the world
and the lowest infant and maternal mortality rates in the Third World.
With the participation of three generations, the Cuban people have resisted
40 years of aggression, blockade, and economic, political and ideological
warfare waged by the strongest and richest imperialist power that has ever
existed in the history of the world.
Cuba continues its struggle to maintain its independence and its socialism.
The ever- tightening US blockade and the lingering effects of the collapse
of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe have tested the resolve and
the ingenuity of the Cuban people.
The Cubans have held firm and the solidarity movement throughout the world
continues to go from strength to strength. Neoliberalism, globalisation,
the IMF, the World Bank, the US itself and other standard bearers of the
'global economy' have still to contend with the economic and social
structure that Cuba represents.
Blockade cost $800m in 1998
The US blockade cost Cuba $800 million in 1998, or 20% of the island's
export capacity.
Cuba was forced to pay $130m in extra transport costs and an additional
$130m in extra import costs. Because Cuba cannot carry out foreign trade
in dollars, currency exchange cost Cuba an extra $260m.