The changes that have been taking place in Cuba in recent years, especially after its resumption of relations with the United States, have lead us to view this insular society as vulnerable. The opening of the economy and the growing importance of the private sector are creating social changes both positive and negative. This article seeks to identify the elements that are weakening Cuban society and making it vulnerable, as well as analyze the conditions that reinforce the stability on the Island. This article is the result of more than three years of research, thanks to the project Quo Vadis Cuba? Implications for Europe and Poland (2011-2013).

El presente trabajo hace constancia del modo de percibir el “desarrollo” y “buena vida” por los miembros del cooperativismo costarricense, en base a cuatro estudios de caso en localidades La Cruz, Ciudad Neily, Buenos Aires y San Vito. Esta interesante experiencia nos impulsó a crear una propuesta de taller, que pudiera ser utilizado como herramienta en el proceso de creación de una cooperativa y/o a lo largo de su funcionamiento, con el fin de disminuir los riesgos de desentendimiento entre sus miembros, en el caso de decidir sobre los objetivos o derroteros de su actividad. El cooperativismo, elemento de la economía social, es un eje de las propuestas alternativas al desarrollo y de desarrollo alternativo. Por lo tanto, estoy convencida que en el seno de estas entidades debería haber espacio para discutir sobre temas tan importantes. Al mismo tiempo, el presente estudio forma parte de un proyecto más amplio financiado por el Centro Nacional de Ciencia de Polonia (no. 2018/29/B/ HS6/00187) titulado “Discourses and development dilemmas of Central American local communities”, en el marco delcual se realizó un trabajo de campo en el mes de enero 2021 y una serie de debates virtuales donde las diferentes perspectivas sobre el desarrollo en el contexto de la construcción de megaproyectos fueron analizados.

The health crisis and the global freezing of economies have showed the deep dependence of many communities in the world on one sector of the economy. In the case of Costa Rica, this is what happened in the province of Guanacaste, in the northwest of the country. Over the past three decades, this peripheral area and one of the poorest in Costa Rica has become a very attractive region for investors, both foreign and domestic, investing their funds mainly in the tourism sector. During this period, many mega-projects were constructed that changed not only the social, economic and cultural life of local people, but also influenced the natural environment. In this article, we describe major investments in economic infrastructure and their contribution to the development of the tourism sector. We analyse the threats posed by the huge dependence of the Guanacaste region on tourism. Taking into account local experiences and perceptions based on field research and interviews, we are also considering the legitimacy of promoting tourism as a development path for this region, strongly promoted by the Costa Rican central government.

Cuban migrants are considered as and referred to as exiles. However, in the face of the economic transformations in Cuba, as well as the rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba, it has become necessary to revise the epistemological and semiotic foundations of this phenomenon. The current migratory trends among the Cubans do not meet the definition of exiles. Thus, the title of this article reflects the research assumption and the principal aim that the current circumstances in Cuba, as well as the migratory flows of Cubans mark the decline of the myth of the Cuban exile; a myth built by the media.

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