The Agricultural Revolution Of Cuba

In the 1950’s, tourists visited the island of Cuba for its warm beaches, culture and Spanish colonial architecture. But underneath the surface, was a revolution ready to burst through the Cuban people they just needed the right person to lead them. Cuba at this time was run by a Political Dictator named Fulgencio Batista.

There are only five countries left in this world that still call themselves communists stated by (PRI,2013). Everyone knows those five countries as, China, Dominican Republic, Korea, Vietnam, and of course Cuba. Cuba is home to 11.2 million citizens whom live a very different life than us who populate the united states (PRI,2013). During the year of 1925 the socialist party was founded forming the Communist party. Cubans government has survived over 50 years of Communism (BBC,2017).

In fact, it is also necessary for governmental bodies to become involved in promoting localized food such as policies and labelling laws that encourage healthier eating and food re-localization. In addition, regulations to foster sustainable food production are essential. Moreover, in the movie Cuban, the Accidental Revolution, David Suzuki, introduces how the government’s vision becomes one with the farmers, that there is a possibility for the industrial food system to work together. For example, Cuban agronomists describe the benefits of crop rotation for soil health, while Cuban farmers express pleasure with the relative productivity and profitability of their ecological and somehow newly industrialized farming systems. By inventing a new way to create food and working with nature, profit is gained and diversity is generated leading the country to possess the largest national program in sustainable agriculture. With the government’s assistance, farmers learn to do more with less and growing food as a community becomes more a passion that profits. In his article, Wes Jackson also supports the idea of finding a new way to create food without technology and science. Instead of focusing mainly on the local food systems, he emphasizes that by using all the knowledge acquired from the pioneers and their cleverness, we can build domestic prairies that have high-yielding fields that are planted only once every twenty years. It is not the entire answer to the total agriculture problems, but breeding new crops from native plants selected from nature’s abundance and simulating the resettlement botanical complexity of a region should make it easier to solve many agricultural problems (40). The share to work side by side with nature may be one of the solution to establish a new sea of perennial prairie

In the Treaty of Paris of 1898, Spain relinquished all sovereignty over Cuba. For a time, the policy of the United States toward Cuba was somewhat ambivalent. The Teller Amendment at the beginning of the Spanish-American War had pledged the restoration of Cuba to the Cubans. However, at the same time the United States was determined that it would not be placed after the war with Spain in a worse position in regard to its vital interests in Cuba than it had been when Cuba was a Spanish possession.

When we think of Cuba, we think revolution, yet we will zoom in on a different revolution that has been happening in Cuba and this is a food revolution. This crucial movement was in response to crisis, hitherto it resulted in the most innovative act of sustainability. After Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, the US placed an embargo on the country. They were maintained by the Soviet Union, yet they would face a downfall that would propel innovation. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, deemed the Special Period, the country suffered a tremendous loss in the supply of food, medicine, and fuel, and so had to find a way to feed the people. Action to grow in vacant lots began and resulted in what is now called organoponicos. In Micky Ellinger’s “Urban Agriculture in Cuba,” he cites that there are over 7,000 organoponicos and growing. In the city of Havana there are close to 2.1 million people, it houses more that 200 gardens and thousands of backyards and rooftops where people are practicing the sustainable food growing practice of urban agriculture. (Worldatlas.com)

The Cuban Revolution during the 1950’s was a time of turmoil and quarrel. According to the article “Cuban Revolution”, it was a time when rebels- in allegiance with guerrilla leaders, Fidel and Raul Castro -riot against their current dictator Fulgencio Batista. Though people believed in their savior, Fidel Castro; they are eventually betrayed as Castro establishes himself “… as the sole political power within Cuba”(“Cuban Revolution”). Well-known Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas ' is (as stated by R. Ocasio in his article "Becoming Reinaldo Arenas") very much affected and persecuted by Castro 's new regime. For he is a homosexual living in a country with strong homophobic regulations. As a means of expressing his emotional distress, Arenas wrote stories and novels (Ocasio). In Reinaldo Arenas graphic short narrative; “Goodbye Mother", Arenas was able to, symbolically, convey his contradictory feelings in relation to his beloved country, and it’s unethical government.

From the early 16th century to the mid 1900s, the nations of Europe scrambled to colonize the untouched places of the world. Enamored by the promises of the Americas and the New World, the European powers established settlements in unknown lands, transplanting their cultures and beliefs with the hopes of securing precious resources and further expanding their empires. With colonization often comes the displacement of a native people as well the utilization of slave populations to provide manual labor and domestic servitude. The interaction between these groups, some native, most implanted, effected new, uniquely blended cultures— a process of transculturation. Cuba (colonized by the Spanish in the early 16th century) became the birthplace

War is inevitable when a deficiency of power exists within a nation, this weakness was evident for the US during the time of the Cuban Revolution. The Cuban Revolution displayed to the world a flaw in of ability to react to potential disaster such as Cuba turning to the Soviets and Communism for trade after The US denied those rights in an attempt to undermine the Castro regime. A later attempt to invade Cuba with a force of American trained Cubans failed to prove successful.

Havana is one of the most architecturally diverse cities. In the beginning of the 20th century, Havana was an international influential powerhouse, enriched with art nouveau, art deco and eclectic design. This boom period was the turn in Cuba’s economical continuous changes throughout the times of change.

The Cuban revolution was the spark that ignited the flame of communism in Cuba. The developing nation gained independence only as recently as 1898, and was already filled with an atmosphere of distrust and resentment towards the United States. In July of 1953, a revolution began in Cuba between the United States backed President Batista and Fidel Castro. Fidel and his brother Raul Castro lead a series of guerilla warfare battles against the forces of President Batista. “I am Fidel Castro and we have come to liberate Cuba,” stated Fidel Castro. In January of 1959, Fidel Castro became the President of Cuba. With the regime of Fidel Castro, Cuba would fall to communism.

“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Mao Zedong, the dictator of China during the Chinese revolution, stated. Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro were both very monumental believers in war tactics, especially guerilla warfare which is a tactic in which smaller, irregular armies or civilians use military tactics to go against a larger army.. The Cuban and Chinese revolutions consisted of blood, famine, abuse of power, and, on contrast, unity. Fidel Castro led the Cuban revolution as a substantial declaration of independence from dictatorship.

The Cuban Revolution had started in 1953 which had a negative effect on Cuba ever since Castro came into power. Fidel Castro’s intentions were to make Cuba better by overthrowing Fulgencio Batista, a military leader, but didn’t prove so. The Cuban revolution affected Cuba, negatively both politically and economically. Cuba was affected economically, due to the emigration that was occurring with the higher class people, and Cuba also traded goods with the Soviet Union, which the Soviet Union had backed off. The Soviet Union had left Cuba, because of a Cuban missile crisis.

Cuba is a nation that has been conquered by many people over the years and because of decolonization it is hard for the Cuban people to get rid of the rulers who wanted to influence their history. Fidel Castro gave the Cuban people independence. He was a forceful and cunning dictator who controlled the country and negatively effected the economy. The United States did not support the arrogant dictator’s establishment of communism which led to an economic downfall. Due to Castro 's insistence on practicing communism, the Cuban economy suffered as the government nationalized businesses while the United States implemented a trade embargo.

The Brundtland report defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” From early times, philosophers, such as Thomas Malthus, believed humanity could not be sustained. Malthus believed mankind would reach their carrying capacity, specifically with regards to food. Yet, this notion changed in subsequent years, thanks in part to the green revolution. This revolution helped increase crop yields due to new fertilizers, pesticides, etc. While there became more food available, sustainability, with regards to producing food in an environmentally friendly way, ran into some difficulties. While the Brundtland commission defined sustainability, there are three components that must be integrated for the well-being of all—social, environmental, and economic. Each component of sustainability must be looked at critically when considering the sustainable use of any resource. While many simply worried about having enough food available in the world, one must think of food sustainability with regards to environmental, economic, and social implications. As follows, the importance of food sustainability will be discussed, along with the attempts to measure food sustainability.

Many people know Cuba for its cigars and rum, both products made from the two major agricultural products grown on the island, but Cuba has made headlines for something different in the past decade: urban agriculture. Before the Soviet Bloc collapse in 1989, the bloc “accounted for eighty-five percent of Cuba’s trade, and with its collapse, Cuban imports dropped by seventy-five percent…” (Altieri 131). One of the major imports from the Soviet Bloc was Russian oil, which fell by almost fifty percent after the collapse causing Cubans to reassess farming techniques. “Officially called the Special Period in Time of Peace, the ongoing economic crisis has had a devastating impact on