The reforms that Fidel Castro introduced after the overthrow of the Batista dictatorship were real, but they were bestowed from above and straitjacketed by poverty.

The words peon and peonage are derived from the Spanish peón. It has a range of meanings but its primary usage is to describe laborers with little control over their employment conditions.

Serfdom is the socio-economic status of unfree peasants under feudalism, and specifically relates to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the...