Elites and power in Cuba, from the revolutionary epic to the instrumentalization of the State, 1959-1965

Abstract

It is based on the hypothesis that the Cuban national state is the result of the action of a series of elites that have always been considered revolutionary. The construction of the Cuban State includes three experiences that explain the exercise of political power by specific elites in the 20th century. It is the capacity of agency of these elites that explains the political history of the State, independently of the external interventions of which it can be object. What we define as Cuban revolution, is a process that can be distinguished in two phases, the insurrection understood as the seizure of political power, and the construction of the mechanisms that allow the reproduction of the new elite as power elite, that is, to through the State apparatus. In this particular process we can see the importance of a charismatic leader like Fidel Castro, who manages to bring together a group of people around his leadership.