Andrés Pertierra
@andrespertierra.bsky.social
Historian of Cuba and Communist systems. LatAm & Caribbean History PhD candidate at UW-Madison. U of Havana BA, UW-Madison MA. Bylines in The Nation Mag & Dissent Mag, among others.
Re: this bit of the Axios story saying that Maduro is scared to leave because he thinks his Cuban 'handlers' will execute him.
This... feels unconvincing on its face, and the fact that it is coming from 'US officials' rather than any Venezuelan source makes me even more cautious
This... feels unconvincing on its face, and the fact that it is coming from 'US officials' rather than any Venezuelan source makes me even more cautious
November 25, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Re: this bit of the Axios story saying that Maduro is scared to leave because he thinks his Cuban 'handlers' will execute him.
This... feels unconvincing on its face, and the fact that it is coming from 'US officials' rather than any Venezuelan source makes me even more cautious
This... feels unconvincing on its face, and the fact that it is coming from 'US officials' rather than any Venezuelan source makes me even more cautious
Though we lack an official reason for the measure, this explanation based on inference in the piece seems the most likely: the accounts are frozen because the money deposited in them was already spent, making this a sort of de facto forced loan
November 21, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Though we lack an official reason for the measure, this explanation based on inference in the piece seems the most likely: the accounts are frozen because the money deposited in them was already spent, making this a sort of de facto forced loan
Earlier this year a bunch of foreign companies had their bank accounts frozen indefinitely; they cannot take their money out of Cuba.
This measure has now been extended not only to foreign companies generally but even embassy bank accounts. Unclear when/if money will be back
t.co/RU4xqvdYji
This measure has now been extended not only to foreign companies generally but even embassy bank accounts. Unclear when/if money will be back
t.co/RU4xqvdYji
November 21, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Earlier this year a bunch of foreign companies had their bank accounts frozen indefinitely; they cannot take their money out of Cuba.
This measure has now been extended not only to foreign companies generally but even embassy bank accounts. Unclear when/if money will be back
t.co/RU4xqvdYji
This measure has now been extended not only to foreign companies generally but even embassy bank accounts. Unclear when/if money will be back
t.co/RU4xqvdYji
Cuba made headlines for 1/10 (10%) leaving the island, then again for 1/5 (20%), but now as many as 1/4 (25%) have left and many who remain are just trying to figure out how to get out.
Insane. Unprecedented. Depressing as hell.
www.economist.com/the-americas...
Insane. Unprecedented. Depressing as hell.
www.economist.com/the-americas...
November 19, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Cuba made headlines for 1/10 (10%) leaving the island, then again for 1/5 (20%), but now as many as 1/4 (25%) have left and many who remain are just trying to figure out how to get out.
Insane. Unprecedented. Depressing as hell.
www.economist.com/the-americas...
Insane. Unprecedented. Depressing as hell.
www.economist.com/the-americas...
Went looking for the little blue mascot from back then to confirm its name, but the website where I came across a wiki page for it is some kind of weird gladiator-transformers-crossover universe fan fiction page?
November 18, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Went looking for the little blue mascot from back then to confirm its name, but the website where I came across a wiki page for it is some kind of weird gladiator-transformers-crossover universe fan fiction page?
The latest episode of my podcast on the history of Cuba is now live.
This one focuses on the way that our sources and scholarly debates change from the pre-colonial to the early colonial periods, in an attempt to make it accessible.
And look! It's short!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
This one focuses on the way that our sources and scholarly debates change from the pre-colonial to the early colonial periods, in an attempt to make it accessible.
And look! It's short!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
November 17, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The latest episode of my podcast on the history of Cuba is now live.
This one focuses on the way that our sources and scholarly debates change from the pre-colonial to the early colonial periods, in an attempt to make it accessible.
And look! It's short!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
This one focuses on the way that our sources and scholarly debates change from the pre-colonial to the early colonial periods, in an attempt to make it accessible.
And look! It's short!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
I'm most of the way through this book on the parallels between cult strategies, political extremism, and 'totalitarian systems'. I think parts of it are helpful but also kind of wary of a lot of the key args
November 17, 2025 at 9:43 AM
I'm most of the way through this book on the parallels between cult strategies, political extremism, and 'totalitarian systems'. I think parts of it are helpful but also kind of wary of a lot of the key args
The Soviet fleet was only 12th biggest in the world by 1961 per Oscar Sanchez-Sibony's Red Globalization
This recontextualizes, for me, how much of the fleet would be tied up in shipments to Cuba for sugar that the USSR and its allies didn't even need in the 60s
This recontextualizes, for me, how much of the fleet would be tied up in shipments to Cuba for sugar that the USSR and its allies didn't even need in the 60s
November 12, 2025 at 11:03 AM
The Soviet fleet was only 12th biggest in the world by 1961 per Oscar Sanchez-Sibony's Red Globalization
This recontextualizes, for me, how much of the fleet would be tied up in shipments to Cuba for sugar that the USSR and its allies didn't even need in the 60s
This recontextualizes, for me, how much of the fleet would be tied up in shipments to Cuba for sugar that the USSR and its allies didn't even need in the 60s
"It is estimated that from the end of [WWII] until its fall, the Soviet Union offered a total of $68 billion in economic aid, of which about $41 billion had been delivered before the fall; this is about the same as the United States provided Israel alone during the same period."
November 10, 2025 at 1:59 PM
"It is estimated that from the end of [WWII] until its fall, the Soviet Union offered a total of $68 billion in economic aid, of which about $41 billion had been delivered before the fall; this is about the same as the United States provided Israel alone during the same period."
Finally got around to reading this and am about halfway through.
Honestly, pretty important book imho. Certainly important for moving past the false idea of capitalist vs socialist world economies in the Cold War and super helpful for understanding how Soviet trade strategy worked
Honestly, pretty important book imho. Certainly important for moving past the false idea of capitalist vs socialist world economies in the Cold War and super helpful for understanding how Soviet trade strategy worked
November 5, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Finally got around to reading this and am about halfway through.
Honestly, pretty important book imho. Certainly important for moving past the false idea of capitalist vs socialist world economies in the Cold War and super helpful for understanding how Soviet trade strategy worked
Honestly, pretty important book imho. Certainly important for moving past the false idea of capitalist vs socialist world economies in the Cold War and super helpful for understanding how Soviet trade strategy worked
Finally getting around to reading something more in-depth about Libya.
About a quarter of the way through and, honestly, it is making me more skeptical of Libya comparisons for Venezuela rather than more. There's some points of similarity but feels apples to oranges
About a quarter of the way through and, honestly, it is making me more skeptical of Libya comparisons for Venezuela rather than more. There's some points of similarity but feels apples to oranges
November 1, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Finally getting around to reading something more in-depth about Libya.
About a quarter of the way through and, honestly, it is making me more skeptical of Libya comparisons for Venezuela rather than more. There's some points of similarity but feels apples to oranges
About a quarter of the way through and, honestly, it is making me more skeptical of Libya comparisons for Venezuela rather than more. There's some points of similarity but feels apples to oranges
A rare case of a journalist actually documenting how congresses/parliamentary meetings in Cuba are choreographed theater.
This from Oppenheimer's "Castro's Final Hour", on the 1991 Cuban Communist Party Congress, that was set to debate reforms to economy and political system
This from Oppenheimer's "Castro's Final Hour", on the 1991 Cuban Communist Party Congress, that was set to debate reforms to economy and political system
October 29, 2025 at 4:00 PM
A rare case of a journalist actually documenting how congresses/parliamentary meetings in Cuba are choreographed theater.
This from Oppenheimer's "Castro's Final Hour", on the 1991 Cuban Communist Party Congress, that was set to debate reforms to economy and political system
This from Oppenheimer's "Castro's Final Hour", on the 1991 Cuban Communist Party Congress, that was set to debate reforms to economy and political system
"It doesn't make sense to create islands of efficiency such as tourism or biotechnology in an economy that is globally inefficient. We have to be able to invest the proceeds of our showcase industries [...]. Otherwise, we're throwing money into a bottomless barrel." - Cuban official circa 1991
October 27, 2025 at 11:07 AM
"It doesn't make sense to create islands of efficiency such as tourism or biotechnology in an economy that is globally inefficient. We have to be able to invest the proceeds of our showcase industries [...]. Otherwise, we're throwing money into a bottomless barrel." - Cuban official circa 1991
Honestly, even if the Sandinistas had won the 1990 elections, it sounds like they were looking down the barrel of economic collapse anyway bc of hyperinflation combined with the imminent loss of most of its supply of oil from the USSR and Cuba
October 20, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Honestly, even if the Sandinistas had won the 1990 elections, it sounds like they were looking down the barrel of economic collapse anyway bc of hyperinflation combined with the imminent loss of most of its supply of oil from the USSR and Cuba
Reading something else entirely I tripped across Gabriel García Márquez saying, on the record, back in in the early 1990s that he had personally been behind the freeing of over 2k "political prisoners".
Gabo isn't exactly a CIA agent or enemy of the Left, so maybe hearing it from him helps ppl
Gabo isn't exactly a CIA agent or enemy of the Left, so maybe hearing it from him helps ppl
October 16, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reading something else entirely I tripped across Gabriel García Márquez saying, on the record, back in in the early 1990s that he had personally been behind the freeing of over 2k "political prisoners".
Gabo isn't exactly a CIA agent or enemy of the Left, so maybe hearing it from him helps ppl
Gabo isn't exactly a CIA agent or enemy of the Left, so maybe hearing it from him helps ppl
Some quick thoughts on NYT piece that Trump authorized the CIA to act inside Venezuela
1) seems insane he's announcing this before results rather than after
2) unclear what operations will look like, but seems likely to help solidify gov coalition vs foreign attack
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
1) seems insane he's announcing this before results rather than after
2) unclear what operations will look like, but seems likely to help solidify gov coalition vs foreign attack
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
October 16, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Some quick thoughts on NYT piece that Trump authorized the CIA to act inside Venezuela
1) seems insane he's announcing this before results rather than after
2) unclear what operations will look like, but seems likely to help solidify gov coalition vs foreign attack
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
1) seems insane he's announcing this before results rather than after
2) unclear what operations will look like, but seems likely to help solidify gov coalition vs foreign attack
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
For years Cuba's peso was equivalent to 25:1 dollar at official rates and around 30-40 on the black market exchange.
Recent inflation shot official exchange to 125:1 dollar and unofficial rates to 300-400. Then it stabilized just short of 400 for a while.
It's now up to an eye watering 460:1 USD
Recent inflation shot official exchange to 125:1 dollar and unofficial rates to 300-400. Then it stabilized just short of 400 for a while.
It's now up to an eye watering 460:1 USD
October 14, 2025 at 2:15 PM
For years Cuba's peso was equivalent to 25:1 dollar at official rates and around 30-40 on the black market exchange.
Recent inflation shot official exchange to 125:1 dollar and unofficial rates to 300-400. Then it stabilized just short of 400 for a while.
It's now up to an eye watering 460:1 USD
Recent inflation shot official exchange to 125:1 dollar and unofficial rates to 300-400. Then it stabilized just short of 400 for a while.
It's now up to an eye watering 460:1 USD
I hope that the luxurious feeling of getting to drink an espresso at heart of the historic platz/square of a centuries if not millennia old European city doesn’t just fade and become normal. At the very least not anytime soon
October 11, 2025 at 9:20 AM
I hope that the luxurious feeling of getting to drink an espresso at heart of the historic platz/square of a centuries if not millennia old European city doesn’t just fade and become normal. At the very least not anytime soon
Climbed a small mountain and took photos of a small Rhine spa town from the ruins of a medieval castle owned by some robber baron who lived off extracting tolls from river traffic
October 9, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Climbed a small mountain and took photos of a small Rhine spa town from the ruins of a medieval castle owned by some robber baron who lived off extracting tolls from river traffic
A little over halfway through the recent insider history of Israel-Palestine negotiations, Tomorrow is Yesterday
I don’t know if the book will provide actual solutions in the latter half, but it’s been really helpful so far in understanding both perspectives & why previous negotiations failed
I don’t know if the book will provide actual solutions in the latter half, but it’s been really helpful so far in understanding both perspectives & why previous negotiations failed
October 6, 2025 at 6:49 PM
A little over halfway through the recent insider history of Israel-Palestine negotiations, Tomorrow is Yesterday
I don’t know if the book will provide actual solutions in the latter half, but it’s been really helpful so far in understanding both perspectives & why previous negotiations failed
I don’t know if the book will provide actual solutions in the latter half, but it’s been really helpful so far in understanding both perspectives & why previous negotiations failed
Back when the story first came out a few weeks ago, I urged caution around the 20k figure because it seemed really, really high.
October 6, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Back when the story first came out a few weeks ago, I urged caution around the 20k figure because it seemed really, really high.
Not the central point of this Reuter's piece, but it seems significant to me that the Cuban mercenary presence in Russia's invasion of Ukraine is currently being pitched by the US gov as 'up to 5,000', a fourth of the original 'up to 20,000' figure in Ukraine's estimate
t.co/nC88z11q5d
t.co/nC88z11q5d
October 6, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Not the central point of this Reuter's piece, but it seems significant to me that the Cuban mercenary presence in Russia's invasion of Ukraine is currently being pitched by the US gov as 'up to 5,000', a fourth of the original 'up to 20,000' figure in Ukraine's estimate
t.co/nC88z11q5d
t.co/nC88z11q5d
One of the things that I keep coming back to as I make my way through this excellent oral history of everyday life the USSR is not just how Cuba may produce a similar one but how some of the very arguments are already present in Cuba
They even had their own ‘éramos ricos y no lo sabíamos’ myth
They even had their own ‘éramos ricos y no lo sabíamos’ myth
September 30, 2025 at 6:16 PM
One of the things that I keep coming back to as I make my way through this excellent oral history of everyday life the USSR is not just how Cuba may produce a similar one but how some of the very arguments are already present in Cuba
They even had their own ‘éramos ricos y no lo sabíamos’ myth
They even had their own ‘éramos ricos y no lo sabíamos’ myth
Cuba got almost half of all Spanish aid anywhere between 1980-1992, even as the total amount of aid Spain donated abroad multiplied geometrically
From Joaquin Roy’s book La Siempre Fiel (history of Cuba-spain relations)
From Joaquin Roy’s book La Siempre Fiel (history of Cuba-spain relations)
September 29, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Cuba got almost half of all Spanish aid anywhere between 1980-1992, even as the total amount of aid Spain donated abroad multiplied geometrically
From Joaquin Roy’s book La Siempre Fiel (history of Cuba-spain relations)
From Joaquin Roy’s book La Siempre Fiel (history of Cuba-spain relations)