The author captures many of the difficulties that the Cuban socialist revolution has faced, and particularly, is now facing while being an island of 10 million people existing 90 miles from the center of the capitalist Empire. Under such circumstances it is a miracle that Cuba still exists as an independent nation and one that has major socialist components in its economy. However, because of forced austerities and a relaxation of controls of money transfers from the US, they now are facing new insidious influences that may be tearing the fabric of socialism which Cubans have constructed over the past 57 years since their revolution.
The Cuban political system is beginning to go through its most significant transition as the seasoned old revolutionaries step aside in what Havana is calling a “generational change,” while the United States government is attempting to foster as much growth in the Cuban private sectors of the island. In Washington, DC it is hoped that those Cubans born after 1980 will identify the revolution with all the shortages and difficulties that ensued after the demise of the Soviet bloc (post 1991), without acknowledging the national, social and cultural achievements.