The people of Buena Ventura: relocation of slum dwellers in postrevolutionary Cuba.

Abstract

As a part of the Cuban Revolution, the slum of Las Yaguas was razed and its inhabitants relocated in seven government-built housing projects on the outskirts of Havana. Buena Ventura is a pseudonym for one of these new communities and is the focus of Douglas Butterworth's descriptive study. He examines the nature and extent of changes experienced by the people of Buena Ventura during their first ten years under socialism. He describes the prerevolutionary Las Yaguas and records the reactions of the people to their resettlement. He discusses the economy and material culture of the new housing project and analyzes the social aspects of Buena Ventura - marriage and the family, crime, and community relations. Finally, he examines the participation of these residents in the revolutionary organizations and activities. Butterworth's fieldwork, synthesis of data, and conclusions present a view of one segment of the Cuban population and are a contrast to the other studies that have resulted from Oscar Lewis's 1969-70 Cuban study.- D.A.Preston