Image of the Day

By
Richard Feinberg
The Cuban revolution defined itself in large measure in terms of
what it was not: not a dependency of the United States; not a
dominion governed by global corporations; not a liberal, marketdriven
economy. As the guerrilla army made its triumphal entry into
Havana and the infant revolution shifted leftward, a hallmark of its
anti-imperialist ethos became the loudly proclaimed nationalizations
of the U.S.-based firms that had controlled many key sectors of the
Cuban economy, including hotels and gambling casinos, public
utilities, oil refineries, and the rich sugar mills. In the strategic conflict
with the United States, the “historic enemy,” the revolution
consolidated its power through the excision of the U.S. economic
presence.
For revolutionary Cuba, foreign investment has been about more than
dollars and cents. It’s about cultural identity and national sovereignty. It’s
also about a model of socialist planning, a hybrid of Marxist-Leninism and
Fidelismo, which has jealously guarded its domination over all aspects of
the economy. During its five decades of rule, the regime’s political and
social goals always dominated economic policy; security of the revolution
trumped productivity.
Fidel Castro’s brand of anti-capitalism included a strong dose of antiglobalization.
For many years, El Comandante en Jefe hosted a large
international conference on globalization where he would lecture
thousands of delegates with his denunciations of the many evils of
multinational firms that spread brutal exploitation and dehumanizing
inequality around the world.
Not surprisingly, Cuba has received remarkably small inflows of
foreign investment, even taking into account the size of its economy. In
the 21st century, the globe is awash in transborder investments by
corporations, large and small. Many developing countries, other than those
damaged by severe civil conflicts, receive shares that significantly bolster
their growth prospects. The expansion of foreign direct investment (FDI)
into developing countries is one of the great stories of recent decades,