Política social na transição socialista cubana: revolução e atualização

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the transformations of social policies in Cuba between 2011 and 2020, in the context of modernizing their economic and social model, in order to understand to what extent they reaffirm or distance themselves from the historical foundations and principles of the socialist transition. Therefore, based on the bibliographical research as a procedure for the operationalization of knowledge, we consider the country's particularities and historicity, considering the economic, political, and social conditions of the Revolution, and the main stages and transformations of the transition process on the Island, after the insurrectionary victory of the Rebel Army on January 1, 1959. Related to this context, we discuss the pillars of this new society, highlighting economic planning as an instrument for regulating production, and the formation of popular power as an expression of the active participation of the population. Given the importance of economic planning and the political and institutional system to ensure the strategic assumptions of social policies, we locate their specificities, highlighting the construction processes, main features, and some disagreements about the themes that permeate them. Then, we analyze the meaning of social policies in the socialist transition in Cuba, demonstrating their main characteristics, the historical process, and some results in the areas that constituted the foundations of the Cuban development model, detailing the preeminent aspects of health, education, and security policies (welfare and social assistance), employment, culture, sports, food, and housing. Finally, we analyze the process of updating the model, explaining the main concepts in dispute in the country, the measures implemented, as well as the continuities, changes, and challenges of social policies in this context.