Until the German reunification in 1989, development cooperation between Cuba and Germany was tense. On the one hand close cooperation between Cuba and the GDR and on the other hand the resulting critical attitude of the FRG.

The Cuban Revolution in 1959 brought the new socialist Cuba and the GDR closer together. Not only did they share an ideological kinship, but they also suffered from similar economic challenges. From the initial development aid in the areas of secret service, administration, and police, which were to be designed according to real socialist models, close economic cooperation soon developed. This allowed the two states to exchange products that would otherwise have been denied them by the US embargo. At that time around 85% of all Cuban imports came from the GDR or USSR. Of particular interest to Cuba in this context was the importation of machines, technologies, and entire factories that were urgently needed for the modernization of the country. In return, the GDR received currency-saving access to tropical fruits and sugar, as well as a preferential price for a nickel.

However, it was quickly recognized that importing technologies without the necessary know-how was not enough. In the 1970s, an exchange of workers and students began so that they could be trained in the GDR. In the course of the next 20 years, more than 30,000 young Cubans were sent to East German combines for training. Since many of them were trained in the textile industry, an industry that was almost non-existent in Cuba, they were only met with poor employment prospects when they returned. Although a large part of their wages was transferred directly to the Cuban state budget, many of the contract workers decided to stay in the GDR even after their training. Together with the efforts of international socialist youth and student exchange, this led to a lively cultural exchange in the following period.1

With the fall of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany, this relationship changed fundamentally. While the last GDR government had decided on complete debt relief in the summer of 1990 given the economic crisis in Cuba, a little later unified Germany insisted uncompromisingly on repayment of the money. The result was diplomatic tension and the breakdown of all official relations.2 In the course of this, the Cuban government also demanded the return of all guest workers to their socialist homeland, which was later canceled in 2003 on the initiative of Cuba.3

the article was written by Philipp Merbeler  & Peter Richter

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