The dissolution of the Soviet Union triggered a crisis within Cuba commonly referred to as the Special Period. Economic constraints forced the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) to carefully adjust their market approach without compromising their political agenda. Fidel Castro passed away in 2016, yet his regime is still in power and the U.S. embargo against Cuba remains in place. This paper will analyze the strategies that the PCC adopted to enable its political survival. Cuba has largely been a one-party state since the 1960s with the PCC effectuating a combination of four different survival mechanisms to prolong their rule. I will discuss how the party has implemented these techniques into their policy while identifying how their medical diplomacy has been an outlier separating Cuba from other autocracies. The decision making by Cuban leadership in the post-Soviet era has contributed to the government's persistence despite internal and external threats. Castro's PCC has weathered decades of opposition movements, but recurring economic crisis has cast doubt on the party's ability to withstand further sociopolitical pressures.
Alexandro E. Jimenez (Tue,) studied this question.