1 - Security, Illegality, and Liberalization in Cuba

Summary

Cuba presents a peculiar (but not uncommon for autocratic regimes) sort of internal order: it is a safe country, but rife with illegality. The regime has kept Cuba a relatively non-violent place for citizens, despite the widespread presence of illicit activities in daily life, and has maintained (for an authoritarian regime) an absence of a massive and intimidating police apparatus in the streets.

Cubans can walk their streets, relax at home, and run errands knowing that there is little probability that they will be robbed, and an even smaller probability of being killed. Yet, to satisfy their most basic needs, such as feeding a family, Cubans must conduct a multiplicity of illicit actions in any given day.

It should be noted that this is not order based upon democratic principles. The notion of a “safe country” certainly does not fully apply to political dissidents. Order is partially maintained by intimidation, the perceived need to keep up socially established appearances, and a state legitimacy that has been constructed by an exceedingly effective propaganda apparatus. There is plenty of evidence showing that the repression of political dissidents is strongly enforced. Yet most illicit acts in the ordinary realm are tolerated to some degree.

Table 1 illustrates the sort of issues that an average Cuban navigates on a regular basis. Life in Cuba is a continuous struggle between following the law and breaking it to survive (in many cases, literally). These latter sorts of activities are generally labelled as “resolver” (to solve), which may be defined as the act of doing whatever it takes to satisfy one's needs. Of course, the tricky issue is where to draw the line between illicit actions that are justified on the grounds of necessity, and those that are not. Clearly, not all illicit actions in Cuba have the goal of survival – I discuss this issue further in Chapter 4.

The nature of illegality in Cuba has not yet generated significant levels of criminal violence, as has been the case in other nations in Latin America. Nev-ertheless, as economic – and eventually political – liberalization advances, Cu-ba's conditions of order and security may seriously be damaged.