Revolutions in Cuba and Venezuela

Comparing two

consequential movements that shed light on the nature of revolution



Revolutions in Cuba and Venezuela compares the sociopolitical processes behind two major revolutions--Cuba

in 1959, when Fidel Castro came to power, and Venezuela in 1999, when Hugo

Ch?vez won the presidential election. With special attention to the

Cuba-Venezuela alliance, particularly in regards to foreign policy and the

trade of doctors for oil, Silvia Pedraza and

Carlos Romero show that the geopolitical theater where these events played out

determined the dynamics and reach of the revolutions.



Updating and enriching the current

understanding of the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutions, this study is unique in

its focus on the massive exodus they generated. Pedraza and Romero argue that

this factor is crucial for comprehending a revolution's capacity to succeed or

fail. By externalizing dissent, refugees helped to consolidate the revolutions,

but as the diasporas became significant political actors and the lifelines of

each economy, they eventually served to undermine the social movements.





Using comparative historical analysis and data

collected through fieldwork in Cuba and Venezuela as well as from immigrant

communities in the U.S., Pedraza and Romero discuss issues of

politics, economics, migrations, authoritarianism, human rights, and democracy

in two nations that hoped to make a better world through their revolutionary

journeys.





Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the

Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment

for the Humanities as well as the University of Michigan's Office of Research

Publication Subvention Award.