Under the Eye: Cuban Experiences of Hurricanes and the Hurricane Response System, 1970–2018

The late 1980s ended Cuban aspirations for industrial modernization. Cuts to Soviet aid and trade devastated the Cuban economy, dramatically reducing profits from the sugar export industry and slashing petroleum imports. And while the Cuban government hoped to endure this period of reform through economic diversification and controlled liberalization, the collapse of the Socialist Bloc turned this crisis into a struggle for state survival. Simultaneously, hurricane intensity and frequency escalated, renewing the centrality of hurricane response to state legitimacy. My research asks: how has the hurricane response system evolved since 1989? Additionally, how have hurricanes and hurricane response shaped Cuban reform efforts after 1989? Moreover, what is the relationship between the narratives about this system sponsored by the state and the experienced reality? And finally, how has the proliferation of scientific education in Cuba facilitated greater participation in policy initiatives while contesting distinctions between experts and citizens?

I argue that the Cuban state worked to prepare its citizenry for the realities of the twenty-first century through substantial reforms to and support for the hurricane response system, widespread public education, and by embracing scientific guidance of policy initiatives between 1989-2018. While the Cuban state fortified hurricane response policies to weather worsening storms, it also shifted the agricultural sector toward agroecological methods, promoted ecotourism to newly protected areas, and significantly increased environmental science education at all levels. These reforms moved Cuba toward economic independence in ways that ensured socio-environmental stability without foreign aid and petrochemicals. These reforms were embraced by Cuban citizens who hybridized state priorities with rank-and-file scientific knowledge to take them further than state planners intended. This paper examines how these restrictions and climate change concerns hybridized to produce a resilient and dynamic response to the most formidable crisis humanity has faced, all while enduring a crushing economic blockade.