Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Cuba is slowly losing a lifeline as Venezuela collapses
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-10-03/venezuela-meltdown-us-sanctions-batter-cuba--------------
Known as the Special Period, that era of hardship and severe rationing began in 1991. It finally came to a close at the end of the decade, in large part because oil-rich Venezuela and its leftist leadership came to the rescue.
That lifeline has been severely pinched over the last several years as Venezuela sinks deeper into economic and political chaos, leaving many Cubans wondering whether the dark days of the 1990s could return.
----------------
But at this point economists don’t expect Cuba to sink to the depths of the Special Period.
A main reason is the expansion of Cuba’s private sector, which now includes about 600,000 self-employed workers. Another is the massive growth of the tourism sector since the 1990s.
