On the side of Havana, the disappearance of Mikhail Gorbachev did not arouse any official reaction.

Granma, the official organ of the Cuban Communist Party, contented itself with a brief obituary.

And for good reason.

After being close allies during the Cold War, the demise of the USSR left Cuba alone in the face of the blockade imposed by the United States since 1962, and caused a collapse of its economy, which was heavily dependent on aid from Moscow. .

Fidel Castro openly criticizes perestroika

When they entered Havana victoriously on January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and his "barbudos" were far from being disciples of international communism.

But with the attempted landing of Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs in 1961 and above all, with the missile crisis of October 1962, the island swung into the socialist camp.

For three decades, Cuba developed its economy according to the canons of planned economy.

As part of Comecon, the communist bloc's common market set up during the Cold War, Moscow supplies Havana with fuel in exchange for sugar.

"Moscow's economic aid took the form of the purchase of huge quantities of sugar at a price much higher than world prices, the supply of military equipment, the financing of infrastructure and also university exchanges. many Cubans studied in the USSR," said Mervyn Bain, a professor at the University of Aberdeen and a specialist in relations between Latin America and post-Soviet Russia.

In the mid-1980s, Cuba and the USSR faced similar economic difficulties.

To overcome the inefficiency and low productivity of the Soviet model, Mikhail Gorbachev launched, from 1985, perestroika, a series of economic and social reforms.

On the contrary, the Lider Maximo advocates an orthodox Marxism, and in 1986 began a "process of rectification of the errors of the past" - a return to the purity of revolutionary values ​​excluding any political opening or liberalization of the economy.

Mikhail Gorbachev and the Castro brothers during his official visit to Cuba, April 3, 1989. AP - J. Scott Applewhite

In April 1989, when Mikhail Gorbachev went to Cuba, the climate was no longer good between the two countries.

"At that time, Cuba had far too much to lose by criticizing the USSR, and yet the official Cuban press began to publish articles decrying the economic situation in the USSR", notes Mervyn Bain.

During this visit, the differences are too strong between the two allies and Fidel Castro ends up openly expressing, in several speeches, his opposition to the perestroika led by his Soviet counterpart.

The disappearance of the USSR, an economic cataclysm for Cuba

From 1990, faced with the difficulties of its economy linked to the disintegration of the Communist bloc, the Cuban regime decreed a "special period in peacetime" which would last until 2005. Gasoline and electricity were rationed.

In 1991, 30 years of Soviet economic aid came to an end and plunged Cuba into the worst economic crisis in its history.

The GDP decreases by 35% and the population struggles to eat properly.

"In the fields, the horses replace the tractors, for lack of fuel" recalls Mervyn Bain, the Soviet ships having suddenly stopped supplying the island with oil, cereals, powdered milk, medicines or spare parts.

Plunged into misery, many Cubans were sometimes forced to prepare unique recipes to give themselves the illusion of a meal.

Today, many still remember "grapefruit peel steaks", "flour fritters" or "banana peel hamburgers".

Power cuts could last up to 16 hours a day.

"Furthermore, in 1992, the United States reinforced the embargo on Cuba. With the end of trade with the USSR, it was a double penalty that pushed a starving population to protest on the Malecon (the seafront in Havana, Ed) in 1994", adds Mervyn Bain.

This crisis forces the Cuban regime to undertake reforms that will transform the island.

During the 1990s, the possession of dollars and foreign currencies was decriminalized, more than a hundred independent and artisanal professions were legalized, public agricultural enterprises became cooperatives and, above all, Cuba opened up to international tourism to make entering foreign currency into state coffers.

The Cuban economy only began to recover from 1997, with the coming to power in Venezuela of Hugo Chavez, which enabled Cuba to truly emerge from the crisis from 1999. In 2006, Fidel Castro " ceded" the reins of the country to his brother Raul by having succeeded in maintaining the hegemony of the Communist Party on the island.

"The levels of GDP reached in 1989 could not be reached again until 2004, this (the "special period" which followed the collapse of the USSR, editor's note) cost the country 15 years in its process development with a lot of damage and sacrifice", recently estimated Jose Luis Rodriguez, former Cuban Minister of Economy.

With Putin, a new Russia-Cuba relationship

In his memoirs, Fidel Castro curries Mikhail Gorbachev.

He considers that the last Soviet leader only did bad things, even if he wanted to save the communist system by reforming it.

"For Cuban leaders, it was clear that Gorbachev had lost control of the reforms he had launched. To survive (the fall of the USSR, editor's note), Cuba had to open up to international markets, tourism and had to undertake reforms that the regime did not want to do,” recalls Mervyn Bain.

Between 1991 and 2014, the issue of repayment of the colossal Cuban debt to the former USSR made relations between the island and Russia difficult.

In 2014, Vladimir Putin canceled 95% of the $35 billion Cuba owed Russia.

Since then, Havana has systematically supported Moscow on the international scene.

"Commercial relations between the two countries are much less than in Soviet times, but their political relationship is very solid," says the Scottish researcher.

In November 2016, Gorbachev hailed the disappearance of Fidel Castro in glowing terms.

"Fidel resisted and fortified his country during the harshest American blockade, when there was monumental pressure on him and he was able to (...) lead his country on the path of independent development".

On the other hand, Miguel Diaz Canel, successor to the Castro brothers at the head of Cuba, has always refuted the label of "Cuban Gorbachev" that certain Western media wanted to attribute to him in 2018, when he acceded to full power.

Because he is a pure product of the Cuban Communist Party, but above all because Gorbachev's name necessarily recalls years of scarcity and survival.

With AFP

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