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Havana | Food Dependent | Collapse | Rations
Dependent on Imports
from the Soviet Union
When
Fidel Castro took power it was not clear that the new government
would become a communist one. Historians still argue over whether
Castro was pushed in that direction because of hostility from the
United States, which imposed economic sanctions on Cuba in retaliation
for the Cuban government’s nationalization of American companies.
The Soviet Union filled the economic gap, signing a series of trade agreements with Cuba.
The Soviet Union agreed to purchase sugar, Cuba’s main crop, in exchange for petroleum, wheat iron, fertilizers and machinery.
Cuba also formed a military alliance with the Soviet Union, which secretly made plans to install nuclear missiles on the island. This brought the world close to nuclear war, as the United States demanded their removal.
With collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba lost its key ally
and as much as $8 billion in subsidies. The American economic embargo
continued, even though the United Nations called for its end on
several occasions (in 1998, the vote was 157 to 2). Cuba’s economy
headed towards deep crisis.
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