Cuba

With the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the eradication of poverty became a central goal of the new government. This commitment was reinforced by the adoption in 1961 of the goal of building socialism, and the political-economic-social transformations implied by this decision. From the beginning, Cuba conducted its campaign to eliminate poverty along the lines of the broad social approach that was later extensively discussed by the United Nations at its World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995. Instead of simply focusing on raising the income of those in poverty to a certain level, Cuba committed itself to assuring that its poorest citizens could access the many things necessary for a dignified life and to develop the individual potential that poverty ...