POLITICS-CUBA:
Past, Present and Future
Changes
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA (IPS) -
Cuba is paradoxically
the same, yet not the
same, under President
Raúl Castro, who said he
would change "everything
that should be changed"
to perfect the socialist
path taken by the
revolution nearly half a
century ago.
While most of the
expected or predicted
transformations have yet
to materialise, the
stage is being set by
ending some of the
prohibitions that
particularly irritated a
society educated for
decades to be
egalitarian.
Digna María likes to say
that she now feels like
other Latin Americans,
because she can have a
mobile phone, spend a
night at a five-star
hotel, or buy a
computer.
"I may never be able to
afford to do any of
those things, but I have
been given back my right
to do them," she said
with conviction.
She disagrees with those
who argue that lifting
the restrictions
preventing Cubans from
staying at hotels
reserved for
international tourists
was merely a "cosmetic"
change.
"I could never
understand the reason
for that ban," Digna
María told IPS, on
condition that her
surname be withheld.
Her remarks reflect the
reception of some of
these unaccustomed
novelties in Cuban
society, where hope is
mingled with uncertainty
and contradictions,
together with
frustration in some
sectors aspiring to more
radical changes, either
for or against
socialism.
Government decisions
taken in March and April
granted Cubans access to
mobile phones,
computers, motorcycles,
DVD players and other
household appliances,
sold in the network of
shops accepting only
hard currency.
"They were particularly
irksome prohibitions.
The fact that Raúl
(Castro) eliminated them
was understood by many
people here as a
liberalisation or a
vindication," a veteran
of the rebel army
commanded by Fidel
Castro which took power
on Jan. 1, 1959 told IPS
from Santiago de Cuba,
847 kilometres east of
Havana.
FUTURE CHANGES
Many people are hoping
that other restrictions
will soon be cancelled,
such as limitations on
foreign travel, the
right to own homes and
cars, and broader
freedom for
self-employment, which
has been permitted for
an increasingly narrow
range of occupations and
subject to rules that
sometimes make it
impracticable, according
to economic sources.
Cubans wishing to travel
for personal reasons
need a letter of
invitation from a friend
or relative abroad, and
an exit permit from the
authorities, among other
requirements that hinder
and, in some cases,
prevent them from making
the trip.
In April there were
persistent rumours that
a reform measure
eliminating both these
restrictions was about
to enter into force,
although it was said to
exclude doctors,
military personnel, and
recent university
graduates who had not
completed their
obligatory two years of
social service.
According to sources
knowledgeable on
migration issues, these
exceptions have
complicated the adoption
of the new measures. But
the very fact that
flexibilisation of rules
that have been in force
for decades is being
discussed is seen as
another important
change. "People feel
that they are finally
being listened to," a
researcher said.
These and other changes,
regarded as necessary by
the majority of Cuba’s
11.2 million people, are
part of 1.3 million
proposals that emerged
from debates convened by
the government itself to
discuss a critical
speech by Raúl Castro on
Jul. 26, 2007, when he
was still acting
president.
Among the concerns
expressed was the fall
in the quality of public
education, once an
untouchable subject,
which was debated at the
Seventh Congress of the
Cuban Writers and
Artists Union (UNEAC),
held in early April.
Then Education Minister
Luis Ignacio Gómez was
dismissed before the end
of the month.
Another sign of the
times was the Jun. 4
approval by Public
Health Minister José
Balaguer of standards
for comprehensive
medical care for
transsexuals, including
free sex change
operations.
RAÚL CASTRO’S PRIORITIES
A discreet man known for
his outstanding
organisational skills,
Raúl Castro announced in
July 2007 the main
planks of his government
programme. At that time
he was provisionally
replacing his
81-year-old brother
Fidel, who is still
convalescing from the
illness that prompted
him not to seek another
presidential term in
February.
This week, which
featured an official
visit to Havana by
Uruguayan President
Tabaré Vázquez starting
on Wednesday, the
historic leader of the
Cuban Revolution showed
that while he has to
rest, he has not fully
retired from the
national political
scene.
Vázquez held official
talks with Raúl Castro
and visited the Latin
American School of
Medicine (ELAM) in
Havana, where he thanked
Cuban doctors who
carried out free eye
operations on 2,000
Uruguayans. He also
spent two hours and 20
minutes in conversation
with Fidel.
"Fidel is alive and
kicking, thinking,
writing and creating
important strategic
guidelines for Cuba and
Latin America. And Raúl
has taken up the reins,"
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez said during
a lightning visit to his
ailing friend on
Tuesday.
Official video images
and photographs of the
meeting showed the
Castro brothers and
Chávez talking about the
impact of soaring world
food prices, which they
called "a strategic
issue and a national
security problem."
The issue is of the
highest priority for
Raúl Castro, a military
strategist who had
already taken measures
to guarantee food for
the Cuban people in the
economic crisis of the
1990s, arguing that at
that time "beans were
more important than
guns."
In his speech last July,
Castro admitted that
salaries were too low
and that farming did not
produce enough to supply
the food needs of a
country where the cost
of food imports this
year will rise to
between 1.9 and two
billion dollars.
In keeping with his
promise "to introduce
whatever structural and
conceptual changes are
necessary" to increase
productivity in the
Cuban countryside, the
agricultural and
livestock sector is
being restructured,
beginning with an
increase in the prices
paid by the state to
farmers for milk and
meat.
The restructuring is
ongoing, and its full
extent is still
uncertain. As far as is
known, it will include
giving more
decision-making power to
the municipalities,
establishing new forms
of marketing, and even
distributing idle land
to small farmers.
STRAIGHT TO THE
POCKETBOOK
In regard to wages, a
February Labour Ministry
resolution widened the
system of
performance-based
payment (with
productivity bonuses) to
the entire state
enterprise system, in
order to stimulate
production.
It was explained that
the purpose of the
resolution is to
"increase productivity,
reduce expenses and
costs, and decrease
energy consumption," as
well as improve the
quality of goods and
services, replace
imports, and increase
exports and state
revenues.
As for workers not
covered by the
performance-based wage
system, in May a wage
increase of up to 55
percent came into effect
for the judicial sector,
as well as a general
raise in pensions and
assistance to low-income
families, of up to 20
percent.
The Sixth Congress of
the governing Communist
Party, to be held in
late 2009, is regarded
as a key milestone in
the process of change,
especially for
determining a
forward-looking economic
strategy that will
supercede solutions
improvised on the spur
of the moment.
The Congress may open up
new channels for
diversity, in a society
that is learning to be
more tolerant of
difference, and to
discuss frankly and
without fear of
disagreements. "Never
before have people
talked so openly about
their reality in the
streets of Cuba," said
one local writer.
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