CUBA:
Gradual Changes But No
Surprises, A Year On
By
Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, (IPS) - A
year after the
announcement that
changed life in Cuba in
the blink of an eye,
this Caribbean island
nation continues to
defy, as it has so often
in the past,
expectations about the
present and future of
its socialist system.
Inexplicably, in the
eyes of many people
around the world, and
even at times for those
who live here, Cuban
socialism has survived a
four-decade U.S. embargo
and the collapse of the
Soviet Union and East
European socialist bloc.
The same sense of wonder
greeted the calm that
followed the Jul. 31,
2006 announcement that
President Fidel Castro
had undergone emergency
intestinal surgery and
was temporarily handing
over the reins to his
brother, Defence
Minister Raúl Castro.
What initially seemed
impossible has become
simply normal. While
foreign analysts have
endlessly speculated on
whether or not Fidel
Castro will return to
power, Cubans appeared
to swiftly adapt to the
new role taken on by the
convalescing leader, who
has become a sort of
columnist for the
country’s main
newspaper, Granma.
"I believe that only
outside of Cuba do
people talk about
whether or not Fidel
will return," Raúl Díaz,
a retired member of the
military, told IPS.
"Here, although it is
not said out loud, we
know it is unlikely that
he will ever be like he
was before. The
important thing is that
we have him here, giving
us his opinions on the
most important
questions, while others
do the hard work."
More than 30 articles by
Fidel Castro have been
published since the
creation of his column,
Reflexiones del
Comandante en Jefe, in
Granma last April. His
writing has kept him
active and in the public
eye since the start of
the intestinal illness
that brought him to the
brink of death a year
ago Tuesday.
Rosendo Ruiz, who sells
artwork at a Havana
street fair, said
"everything is the same"
in Cuba.
But Helena Álvarez, who
owns a small private
restaurant, said the
inspectors have
"bothered" her less
frequently over the past
few months, although she
complained about the
sharp drop in tourism
and her subsequent fall
in income.
The more lenient working
conditions that Álvarez
says small privately-run
businesses have been
experiencing could be
one sign that, although
gradually and without
fanfare, some things are
changing for the better
in this socialist
country of 11.2 million
people.
A significant decline in
the number of mass
rallies, brief, clear
speeches, respect for
the scheduling of
Cubans’ favourite TV
programmes, and greater
room for criticism in
the Communist
Party-controlled
national press are some
of the signs of a
working style that
Cubans have begun to
identify with Raúl
Castro.
"They speculate about an
alleged paralysis in the
country and even about a
‘transition’ in
progress. But no matter
how hard they close
their eyes, reality
shall take care of
destroying those stale,
old dreams," the acting
president said in his
Jul. 26 Revolution Day
address.
After naming a long list
of achievements, Castro
mentioned the need for
"a clear conscience
about our problems, our
inefficiencies, our
errors and our
bureaucratic and/or
slack attitudes."
He also referred to the
need "to change concepts
and methods which were
appropriate at one point
but have been surpassed
by life itself."
"We must never fall prey
to the idea that what we
do is perfect but rather
examine it again," he
added.
He also promised to
avoid the tendency,
common in the past, to
automatically expand to
the entire nation an
initiative that was
successful in a specific
geographic location or
segment of society.
Among the measures that
have been adopted so
far, with little press
coverage, are the
payment of debts owed to
agricultural producers
by the state; an
increase in the prices
that the state pays
members of farming
cooperatives or private
farmers; and a new
system to get milk
supplies to the
population more
efficiently.
As "key" elements, Raúl
Castro mentioned the
need to boost
agricultural and
industrial production,
eliminate imports
"whenever it is rational
to do so," and
capitalise on good and
bad experiences from the
recent past to foment
foreign investment in
order to provide
capital, technology and
markets.
"Any increase in wages
or decrease in prices,
to be real, can only
stem from greater and
more efficient
production and provision
of services, which will
increase the country's
income. No one, no
individual or country,
can afford to spend more
than what they have,"
said the interim leader.
Other challenges to be
faced are in the areas
of housing, transport
and tourism, an industry
that was hit hard by the
restrictions and
financial measures
applied by the
government in 2004 in
response to a U.S. plan
to press for political
changes in this country.
The removal of the U.S.
dollar from circulation
at the time drove up the
cost of tourism in Cuba
and hurt the large
proportion of Cubans who
receive remittances from
family members living in
the United States as
well as those who make a
living providing
services, including
lodging or meals, to
foreign visitors.
According to an
economist who spoke to
IPS, one of the toughest
immediate challenges
faced by the government
on the economic front is
how to deal with the
effects that the removal
of the dollar from
circulation has had on
the Cuban population.
He also said it is
necessary to reconsider
the government’s policy
on private enterprise
and the very limited
role it currently plays
in providing some
services that the state
has been unable to
guarantee efficiently
over the past decade.
Other issues that should
be discussed are the
opening of tourism
facilities to Cubans and
more flexible
regulations on
emigration, travel
abroad, and trips to
Cuba by Cubans living
overseas, said
journalist Soledad Cruz
in an article in the
Cuban daily Juventud.
An intense debate on
Cuba’s cultural policy
broke out early this
year among intellectuals
and academics, initially
in the form of an
ongoing email
conversation. Unlike the
wall of silence that
surrounded sensitive
cultural issues in the
past, Cuba has begun to
open up to public
discussions on questions
like violence against
women, the rights of
sexual minorities, and
the problems facing
vulnerable groups.
"A problem that has not
been identified is like
a problem that does not
exist, while on the
contrary a problem that
is correctly identified
already has a key to
help work towards a
solution," historian
Jesús Guanche told IPS,
referring to a draft law
that would grant equal
rights to homosexual and
heterosexual couples.
Meanwhile, civil society
sectors have called for
greater openness to
dialogue, in order to
allow increased citizen
participation in
domestic politics and in
the search for solutions
for a wide range of
social problems.
"The future does not lie
in closing ourselves in,
but in opening ourselves
up, without losing the
essential aspects of our
goals," Baptist preacher
Raimundo García,
director of the
Christian Centre for
Reflection and Dialogue,
which promotes analysis
of issues like human
rights, reconciliation
and conflict resolution,
commented to IPS. |
