Energy and Cuban development : past dependence and prospects for a sustainable future

Abstract

This thesis examines the energy dependence experienced by Cuba throughout its thirty-year economic and political relationship with the Soviet Union. The thesis establishes that not only was Cuba's productive output dependent upon external sources of energy, but that this dependence permitted the Soviet Union to coerce changes in Cuba's foreign policy. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s revealed the extent of Cuban dependence and has left the Caribbean nation isolated in terms of political ideology and access to international financial support. The thesis also asserts the need for a sustainable energy policy in order to develop a long term strategy to resolve Cuba's current energy crisis.

The conceptual framework and working assumptions draw upon elements of ecophilosophy, ecological economics, dependency and neo-Marxism, focusing specifically on the relationship between energy transformation and economic and political association. The concepts of dependence, coercion and sustainability are used to examine the current problem of Cuban energy insecurity.

The research attempts to outline the nature and characteristics of Cuban energy dependence in order to determine what must be avoided if Cuba wishes to pursue its sovereign right to self-determination. In this century the Caribbean nation has experienced energy dependence on both the United States and Soviet Union and should avoid repeating this pattern of dependence on external sources of energy. The thesis concludes that a sustainable energy policy for Cuba should include the complementary use of domestic energy sources, particularly those which are non-toxic, such as biogas, bagasse, direct solar and wind, although the development of domestic energy sources is constrained by Cuba's lack of access to international credit.