Between 2005 and 2006, Fidel Castro carried out a heavily promoted and wildly unpopular campaign to modernize Cuba’s electric infrastructure. Called “La Revolución Energética [The Energy Revolution]”, this policy of forced-purchases replicated Spanish colonial tactics that once allowed corrupt officials to supplement meager salaries by forcing indigenous people under their domain to buy large stashes of sub-quality clothes and textiles. Even more outrageous to Cubans than the forced purchases was the fact that the cost of the new appliances was automatically deducted from their government salary. Contrary to expectation, it started with the confiscation of millions of fluorescent bulbs from people’s homes (without compensation) and soon followed with the forced “sale” of millions of new Chinese-bought refrigerators, electric fans and stoves to Cubans, the vast majority of whom had never been able to replace their 1940s or 1950s American-made General Electric or Frigidaire. Here I pose with a somewhat reluctant cousin of mine, Luisito, next to the finally paid-off China-made family refrigerator. Although their domestic appliances were ancient (like their cars) before Fidel launched the policy, Cubans preferred keeping their fridges over having to buy frost-free but comparatively poorly made substitutes for a government-imposed price. Luisito was particularly upset since he had had the weekly family job—in a three-generation household—of cleaning out Eddie, the 1951 Frigidaire that had served them faithfully for over fifty years. Now for two hours every Sunday, he had nothing to do! November 2011.