CLC-Conference-Proceeding-2018

Cooperatives and Local Development in Cuba: Current Challenges.
Reynaldo Jimenez Guethon
There are no studies in Cuba that suggest
cooperatives in agriculture existed prior to 1959.
There may have been a few beginnings to a
cooperative association, mainly for trading
products, but it has not been adequately studied
(Matias, 2010). Despite it being known that prior
to the success of the Cuban Revolution, there
were cooperatives in the transportation sector,
albeit with very particular characteristics, they
are not considered cooperatives by Cuban
cooperativist history.
The Cuban cooperative movement was
comprised of three types of cooperatives
engaged in agricultural production up until the
end of 2012: Cooperativas de Créditos y
Servicios [The Credits and Services
Cooperatives] (CCS), which arose in the 60s, the
Cooperativas de Producción Agropecuaria
[Farming Production Cooperatives] (CPA),
created in 1976, and the Unidades Básicas de
Producción Cooperativa [Basic Production Units
Cooperative] (UBPC), established in 1993.
This cooperative movement began right
after the triumph of the revolution in 1959. Its
origins are based on the democratization of land
ownership determined by successive laws of
agrarian reform, since cooperativism can only
exist as an association of free landowners or
usufructuaries; therefore, it was impossible in
Cuba prior to 1959, given the high concentration
of land ownership and the prevalence of
latifundia, since 73% of arable land was
concentrated on 9% of the estates (Jimenez,
1996).
The Cuban Revolution acknowledged
agricultural cooperativism since the first few
years after its victory as a form of collaboration
and to provide advantages in order to modernize
farming and as a way to collectively exploit the
land (Rodriguez, 1983).
On May 17, 1959 the First Agrarian
Reform Law was signed, which delivered land
titles to people who worked it and eliminated
latifundia that had remained in the hands of the
national oligarchy and US imperialism, by
limiting ownership of tracts of land to 402
hectares. This law also facilitated the principle
that the land was for whomever worked it,
eliminating the exploitation that prevailed in the
country.
In October 1960 Cane Cooperatives were
created on old latifundium lands used to cultivate
sugarcane. Through them the State had property
rights over the land and the means of production,
and the members of the cooperatives lawfully
held economic and legal possession of the land.
Members of these Cane Cooperatives
were agricultural workers and not small business
owners. According to the Cuban economist
Blanca Rosa Pampin, there were 621 cane
cooperatives in 1960. Their average size was
1409 hectares, with a total of 876,142 hectares
dedicated to growing sugarcane (Pampin, 1996).
These first Cane Cooperatives only lasted a short
period of time (1960-1962). Regarding its
organization and operation, severe organizational
mistakes and management methods were pointed
out at that time.
Farming Societies arose in 1962, which
were established based on farmers volunteering
to combine their lands, equipment, and animals
to collectively use the land. These Farming
Societies disappeared in the decade of the 70s of
the twentieth century.