The Cuban Revolution Today: Proposals of Changes, Scenarios, and Alternatives 31
of the impact, especially on the younger generations, of the discredit-
ing of the dogma of the irreversibility of socialism and its association
with hardship and of lack of access to the market and increased
inequality during the Special Period. The erosion of consensus
induced by these conditions is undeniable (Valdés, 2004: 241). Despite
the efforts of the leadership in the social area (health care, education)
and the special programs launched by Fidel Castro through the Battle
of Ideas, poverty, inequality, and marginality have been growing since
the 1990s, along with resentment on the part of those excluded from
the benefits of hard currency and power sharing (Espina, 2007; 2008).
The main objective of my analysis is to demonstrate the need for a
solution to the following main contradictions: centralization versus
decentralization and the need for effective political participation; huge
social programs versus limited economic growth; equity versus grow-
ing inequality (20 percent of the urban Cuban population is living in
poverty); the value of work versus black-market practices; reinforce-
ment of socialist values versus the deterioration of those values; insti-
tutionalization versus weak institutions and illegal practices as a way of
solving everyday problems; and international support for Cuba against
the U.S. blockade versus criticism concerning democracy and human
rights. There is an urgent need to adopt policies that will reinforce the
possibility of a best-case scenario in the economic, political, social,
cultural, and international arenas. I will try to identify some of these
policies on the basis of my own research and what was suggested by
the Cuban people during the meetings held in 2007 at the behest of
President Raúl Castro.THE CURRENT SITUATION
The Vicissitudes of Socialist Economic DevelopmentThe economic reform begun in 1993, unlike the ones in China and
Vietnam, assumed the option of a mixed economy regulated through