Editing History of Cuba (section)

===Special Period===
{{Main|Special Period}}
{{Further|Dollarization of Cuba|1994 Cuban rafter crisis}}
[[File:Cuban transport.jpg|thumb|Public transportation in Cuba during the "Special Period"]]
Starting from the mid-1980s,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cuba's second economy|author=Jorge F. Pérez-López}}</ref> Cuba experienced a crisis referred to as the "[[Special Period]]". When the Soviet Union was [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolved]] in late 1991, a major supporter of Cuba's economy was lost, leaving it essentially paralyzed because of the economy's narrow basis, focused on just a few products with just a few buyers. National oil supplies, which were mostly imported, were severely reduced. Over 80% of Cuba's trade was lost and living conditions declined. A [[Special Period|"Special Period in Peacetime"]] was declared, which included cutbacks on transport and electricity and even food rationing. In response, the United States tightened its trade embargo, hoping it would lead to Castro's downfall. But the government tapped into a pre-revolutionary source of income and opened the country to tourism, entering into several joint ventures with foreign companies for hotel, agricultural and industrial projects. As a result, the use of U.S. dollars was legalized in 1994, with special stores being opened which only sold in dollars. There were two separate economies, dollar-economy and the peso-economy, creating a social split in the island because those in the dollar-economy made much more money. However, in October 2004, the Cuban government announced an end to this policy: from November U.S. dollars would no longer be legal tender, but would instead be exchanged for [[Cuban convertible peso|convertible pesos]] with a 10% tax payable to the state on the exchange of U.S. dollars.

A ''[[Canadian Medical Association Journal]]'' paper states that "The famine in Cuba during the Special Period was caused by political and economic factors similar to the ones that caused a [[famine in North Korea]] in the mid-1990s. Both countries were run by authoritarian regimes that denied ordinary people the food to which they were entitled when the public food distribution collapsed; priority was given to the elite classes and the military."<ref name="cmaj"/> The government did not accept American donations of food, medicines and money until 1993,<ref name="cmaj">{{cite journal|title=Health consequences of Cuba's Special Period|publisher=Canadian Medical Association Journal|pmc=2474886|year=2008|volume=179|issue=3|pmid=18663207|pages=257|doi=10.1503/cmaj.1080068|journal=CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal}}</ref> forcing many Cubans to eat anything they could find. Even domestic cats were reportedly eaten.<ref name="parrotdiplomacy">{{Cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11792274|title=Venezuela and Cuba: Parrot diplomacy|newspaper=The Economist|date=24 July 2008|access-date=27 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801015821/http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11792274|archive-date=1 August 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

Extreme food shortages and electrical blackouts led to a brief period of unrest, including numerous anti-government protests and widespread increases in urban crime. In response, the Cuban Communist Party formed hundreds of "rapid-action brigades" to confront protesters. The Communist Party's publication ''[[Granma (newspaper)|Granma]]'' stated that "delinquents and anti-social elements who try to create disorder ... will receive a crushing reply from the people". In July 1994, 41 Cubans drowned attempting to flee the country aboard a [[tugboat]]; the Cuban government was later [[Tugboat massacre|accused of sinking the vessel deliberately]].<ref name="werlau-tugboatmassacre">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cubaarchive.org/13_DE_MARZO_TUGBOAT_MASSACRE.pdf|title=Cuba: The Tugboat Massacre of July 13, 1994|author=Maria C. Werlau|access-date=21 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007152129/http://www.cubaarchive.org/13_DE_MARZO_TUGBOAT_MASSACRE.pdf|archive-date=7 October 2007|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:2000 Cuban refugees on the USS Whibdey Island.jpg|thumb|Cuban refugees picked up at sea by the USS USS Whibdey Island]]
Thousands of Cubans protested in Havana during the [[Maleconazo uprising]] on 5 August 1994. However, the regime's security forces swiftly dispersed them.<ref name="cancubachange">{{Cite journal|url=http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Gutierrez-20-1.pdf|title=Can Cuba Change?|author1=Carl Gershman|author2=Orlando Gutierrez|journal=Journal of Democracy|date=January 2009|volume=20|issue=1|access-date=26 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918225042/http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Gutierrez-20-1.pdf|archive-date=18 September 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> After the [[Maleconazo]] riots, [[Fidel Castro]] announced that any Cubans who wished to leave the island could. Around 5,000 rafters had left earlier in the year but after the announcement around 33,000 rafters left the island. U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] would announce that any rafters intercepted at sea would be detained at [[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base]]. Around 200,000 rafters would be detained at the base.<ref name=Cuba>{{cite book|title=Cuba |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-61069-012-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pe_XAQAAQBAJ }}</ref>