oeconomic policy. (Smith p. 278) The Cuba took control of its' economy which made the U.S. unhappy. The major clash between the two countries was crude oil. Fidel found out that he could buy oil cheaper from the Soviets, than buying form Venezuela. Fidel then confiscated the U.S. oil companies and any other property of the U.S. Siding with the Soviets would help Cuba's economy as well as having a big ally such as the U.S.S.R. The trade agreement was Russia had to buy four million tons of sugar a year, while Cuba would get one hundred million credits to buy equipment. The second highest harvest in Cuba in 1961 produced 6.8 million ton of sugar. Just a year later, the harvest dropped to 4.8 million tons and in 1963 it dropped to 3.8 million tons, the smallest since 1945.After the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1992, Cuba would suffer a heavier blow than the Great Depression. Castro said that the collapse of the U.S.S.R. was horrible and Cuba was use time as a means to find itself within the world's system. Their debt had run up a currency of six billion dollars by 1990. The decisions Castro made about suspending principal and interest payments killed his plans to get further financing from capitalist sources. Times are bad in Cuba, which is why so many political prisoners from Cuba come to the United States. Is Castro going to turn out like another Batista? Or is Castro going to get Cuba flying in the direction that it needs to fly in? Americans already have an opinion of Castro, and really doesn't know anything about him. The fact is that he is a communist and Americans are supposed to hate communist. Cuba has been taken from colonization to socialist to dictatorship. Who are we as Americans to say that because Castro does not do things, the American way that he must be a bad-man? Maybe Castro shouldn't be blamed for the conditions that exist in Cuba. Castro has taken on a problem that has never been right. Cuba has been...
