Don’t Get Too Excited About Cuban ‘Reforms’
Raul Castro fears the political changes that might follow a true opening of the economy.
So with meaningful reforms apparently off the table, what is left for Raul Castro to do? Tinker around the edges, that’s what. This is the reason why we have seen these types of announcements so far under Raul Castro: all sizzle and no steak.
The rising cost of commodities, however, is forcing Raul to tinker in the area of agriculture, which has historically been in a mess in Castro’s Cuba. The regime has recently announced that more state land will be made available to individual farmers. Though they can’t own, sell, or trade the land, some observers believe this is an attempt not only to kick-start its agricultural sector but to lure peasants back to the countryside which they abandoned unlawfully in search of elusive prosperity in the cities. Cuba is one of the few countries in the world with an internal illegal immigration problem because its citizens are not allowed to move freely within its borders, much less travel abroad without permission.
It’s estimated that less than 50% of Cuba’s arable land is currently being cultivated; much of it is overrun by a parasitic shrub known as marabú. Cuba currently has to import more than half of its food supply. Despite the U.S. trade embargo, which contains exceptions for food and agricultural products, the United States is Cuba’s largest food supplier.
No failure in Cuban agriculture is as dramatic as that in the cultivation of sugar. Once the world’s largest sugar exporter, Cuba began importing sugar several years ago. And it’s not as if the world doesn’t need what was once Cuba’s most lucrative export crop. Brazil’s current energy independence is bolstered by sugarcane-based ethanol in addition to its substantial oil and natural gas industries. In a world that is looking for renewable alternative energy sources like ethanol, Cuba’s sugar harvest is hovering around a hundred-year low.
The kind of economic tinkering currently underway is euphemistically referred as a “perfecting” by the regime. Fifty years after the triumph of Fidel Castro and his followers in a revolution that promised agrarian reform that would put land in the hands of Cuban peasants but instead put it in the hands of an inefficient state monopoly, there’s a whole lot more perfecting that needs to happen. I’m not holding my breath as long as Raul Castro is in charge. A prosperous future for Cuba depends on some other figure that has yet to emerge.
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Henry Louis Gomez is Cuban-American and blogs at BabaluBlog.com.
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10 Comments
1. WR Jonas:In 20-25 years this will all be ancient history. At some yet unknown point in the future Fidel and Raul will both be gone. They will no more be able to manage Cuba from their graves than Julius Caesar could rule modern Rome. I sincerely believe there are better things in the future for Cuba and the people who dream now of freedom must begin planning for it.
Aug 2, 2008 - 6:24 am 2. keithacita:all the fake marxists and communists in the us should give up all their private property to the castro brothers and move there if they think stalinims is so great
Aug 2, 2008 - 9:55 am 3. Akatsukami:“In 20-25 years this will all be ancient history. At some yet unknown point in the future Fidel and Raul will both be gone. They will no more be able to manage Cuba from their graves than Julius Caesar could rule modern Rome.”
But after Caesar’s demise came Augustus. Then Tiberius I, Caligula, Claudius I, Nero…
“This too shall pass” is the only statement that is true at all times and in all circumstances. “Things can’t get worse” is not/.
Aug 2, 2008 - 10:42 am 4. cedarford:He may be motivated primarily to preserve the Revolucion, but the reforms Raoul Castro has launched are improving the welfare of the people and opening up certain freedoms on the margin.
We could encourage a further rise in Cuban living standards and help our own economy by ending the futile trade and travel embargos.
Raoul is old. He is a transition figure, but still a leader that we should talk matters of mutual interest of the American and Cuban people with. Not let the exiles and certain rabid right-wingers call the shots on.
Aug 3, 2008 - 6:39 pm 5. kabud:it is a shame for EVERY AMERICAN the 90 miles south there are these murderers and they are still alive and getting more rich by sucking living blood out of their poor nation
the fact castros are still breathing- is the most shameful thing for everyone in USA
Aug 3, 2008 - 9:45 pm 6. mrbill:cedarford = useful idiot
Aug 4, 2008 - 10:15 am 7. deguello:Kabud: Roger that!Equallyshameful is the sympathy shown to this murderous regime by american useful idiots,in academia, the press,and Hollywood.
Aug 4, 2008 - 4:01 pm 8. deguello:MR.Bill:Useful degenerate is more accurate.Cedarford, and other Castro sympathizers are complicit in horrific crimes. when the Cuban people finally overthrow the castro regime, these totalitarian voyeurs will have to turn to northkorea to project their sick utopian revolutionary fantasies.Human garbage!Viva Cuba libre!
Aug 4, 2008 - 4:25 pm 9. deguello:MR.Bill:Useful degenerate is more accurate.Cedarford, and other Castro sympathizers are complicit in horrific crimes. when the Cuban people finally overthrow the castro regime, these voyeurs of totalitarian brutality will then have to turn to north korea,or some other hellhole, to project their sick utopian revolutionary fantasies. Imagine having to support slaughter in order to make your own life tolerable.Human garbage!Viva Cuba libre!
Aug 4, 2008 - 6:11 pm 10. kabud:deguello:
True that. Justice is inevitable.
Even if the gangsters temporarily succeed in killing millions of Americans- those who will survive will, guided by God, smash the communist criminals and hang the murderers!
Aug 4, 2008 - 7:36 pm