Reform in Cuba

The reforms announced today by Raul Castro are hardly the last word in fixing Cuba's screwed-up economic system (and, of course, as we've learned from China economic reform needn't have any particularly close connection to political reform) but it's certainly a step in the right direction. It's high time for the United States to take a step in the right direction of our own by lifting some of the more draconian of our embargo-related restrictions on travel and so forth to Cuba.

At the end of the day, both domestic economic reform and an end to American economic warfare are going to be necessary to alleviate the sorry conditions of the Cuban people.

Comments

This is one of the reasons I'm hoping Obama wins this thing. Both Hillary and McCain want to continue the pander to the older Cubans who hate the Beard(or equally, his brother). For that reason, I'm also kind of glad that the 2 Democratic candidates didn't have to campaign in Florida- no promises made, no promises broken.

Posted by kristi | March 31, 2008 4:41 PM

This is one of the reasons I'm hoping Obama wins this thing. Both Hillary and McCain want to continue the pander to the older Cubans who hate the Beard(or equally, his brother). For that reason, I'm also kind of glad that the 2 Democratic candidates didn't have to campaign in Florida- no promises made, no promises broken.

Posted by kristi | March 31, 2008 4:43 PM

Kristi,
Even though I'm a Hillary supporter, I'm totally with you on the Cuba issue. Obama's policy is definitely the more enlightened. We're a long way away from "Cuba libre" but baby steps give me hope.

Posted by Susy | March 31, 2008 4:52 PM

Re "are hardly the last word in fixing Cuba's screwed-up economic system"
----------------

Cuba's got beautiful women, great rum and the world's best cigars. What's to fix??

Posted by Don Williams | March 31, 2008 5:10 PM

Since the Cuba embargo is older than most of us and a Castro is still in charge, definitely time to admit it hasn't worked and try something else. We should have stuck with a charm offensive in Iran, and we could give it a shot for Cuba.

Good point, Kristi. If we just cede it to McCain in the general, we can avoid making any commitments on Cuba, then try something new in 2009.

Posted by Deborah | March 31, 2008 5:15 PM

Oh, and did I mention tropical beaches, low cost of living and great crusine?

Harvard economists would just fuck all that up. Six weeks after they started "consulting", a few rich oligarchs would own everything ( via the "mircle of the free market" and Harvard 's self-serving sophistry) and 40 percent of the population would be starving.

And Harvard's endowment fund would be up another $1 Billion -- and not from the investment of those 1800s slave trade profits.

Posted by Don Williams | March 31, 2008 5:23 PM

Don Williams,

Very true. I hope that whatever reforms are forthcoming in Cuba they move in the direction of smallholder ownership, cooperative ownership, decentralization and that sort of thing, and _not_ in the direction of oligarchic capitalism.

Kristi,

I agree with you, I can't stand the way all our politicians love to pander to the Cuban exile vote. It would be nice if one of these days a presidential candidate had the balls to tell the Cuban-American National Foundation to go %#$%^ themselves, and accept losing Florida.

Posted by Hector | March 31, 2008 5:29 PM

Not that I care about such a thing, but if Bush wants to solidify a "legacy" he might consider a visit to Cuba (ala Nixon). This would be as bold as bold can get, and would be rather easy considering Raul seems to be doing all the early heavy-lifting. Bush, of course, would sooner visit hell, which is the more likely scenario in IMHO.

-T

Posted by Tim | March 31, 2008 5:32 PM

Maybe the Cubans can ask the Russians about Harvard economists bearing gifts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Shleifer#Activities_in_Russia

and
http://www.iimagazine.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=1039086

Posted by Don Williams | March 31, 2008 5:33 PM

Oops, the last link to the Institutional Investor article "How Harvard Lost Russia" is incomplete.

Full article is posted here:

http://216.109.125.130/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=%22How+Harvard+Lost+Russia%22&fr=yfp-t-501&u=www.uvm.edu/%257Ewgibson/How%2520Harvard%2520Lost%2520Russia.pdf&w=%22how+harvard+lost+russia%22&d=A3xfk_H_Qb3i&icp=1&.intl=us

Or you can Google on the title to find other sources.

Posted by Don Williams | March 31, 2008 5:39 PM

"Cuba's got beautiful women, great rum and the world's best cigars. What's to fix??"

---

Yeah, Don, I can see how much you care about the people of Cuba.

Posted by Susy | March 31, 2008 6:18 PM

I'm tempted to start an organization of Republicans and conservatives (not identical categories, obviously) for dropping the embargo. It's at least a couple of decades past its stale date -- assuming it was ever a good idea.

And you don't have to be a liberal, or a Democrat, to figure it out. (Of course, an embargo is just an extreme form of protectionism. So maybe being a Democrat would be a handicap for figuring it out....)

Posted by wj | March 31, 2008 6:26 PM

Steve Clemons at the Washington Note has been working on Cuba issues for a while now, and has some top Republicans on board. Jeff Flake is actually one of the best in the House on the issue, reflecting his quasi-Libertarian sentiment.

Posted by Dave Meyer | March 31, 2008 6:54 PM

Re Susy's comment "Yeah, Don, I can see how much you care about the people of Cuba "
---------------
Actually, my point was that our frenzied, urban rat race here in the USA is hardly the summit of human existence.

Oh, and I forgot to mention another benefit Cuba enjoys. The percentage of humorless bores in their female population is probably much less than what we here in the USA have to endure

Posted by Don Williams | March 31, 2008 7:03 PM

"The percentage of humorless bores in their female population is probably much less than what we here in the USA have to endure."

I have yet to read a single one of your bazillions of comments that implied that you are anything but a middle-intellect boor. In your imagination, people are charmed by it, as if you were their dear irascible uncle. In reality, you're just obnoxious and people don't like you.

Posted by Keith M Ellis | March 31, 2008 7:39 PM

Susy,

I care about the people of Cuba which is why I don't want them to return to oligarchic capitalism and subjection to US neocolonialism.

Cuba has made many advances along with some mistakes during Fidel's leadership, and I would hate to see them lose that.

Posted by Hector | March 31, 2008 7:42 PM

Hector,

I'm totally with you on that. I don't want to see Cuba become Puerto Rico Version 2.0. I don't know that I'd say that "Cuba has made many advances" but I definitely see that a revolution happened for a reason and that we shouldn't wish to go back to pre-revolutionary Cuba anymore than we should want to return to Castro's Cuba.

When we once again begin to have dialog with Cuba, I hope that the exile community in Miami will be humble and let the Cubans on the island decide what is to be their fate. The ones who left, left.

At any rate, the old guard is slowly approaching irrelevance to the extent that anyone even cares about the Cuba issue anymore.

Posted by Susy | March 31, 2008 8:18 PM

Re Keith Ellis's comment "In reality, you're just obnoxious and people don't like you"
---------------
Some people don't like me.

As you've probably noticed, I must struggle mightly every day to overcome the deep depression and heavy burden of sadness that knowledge brings to me.

[snicker]

Posted by Don Williams | March 31, 2008 8:26 PM

Yes, Cuba needs some good ol' US consulting and a return of all those exiles in Miami - take Bob Vila too. After a few years it will be just like Russia - still undemocratic, but even poorer.

Posted by Nemo | March 31, 2008 9:06 PM

I'm living here temporarily at the moment, and should note that the currently announced reforms aren't as sweeping as they sound.

Cuban's can already get computers, cell phones, etc. They just had to have someone bring them to them, or have a foreigner transfer ownership. Basically, the government has removed the middleman (or one of them).

As for the hotels, that is a big psychological change, but will have little practical impact, because most Cubans can't afford the hotels. What might have more impact is if the police step down on their efforts to stop Cubans from mingling with foreigners in tourist areas (they currently do this mostly to keep away hustlers and prostitutes).

So, these are the easiest changes first, largely ratifying legally what already existed in practice. Cubans are currently holding their breath, to see if bigger things are to come.

Posted by graeme | March 31, 2008 10:38 PM

I just read the article....should have done that first. It's good, and quite accurate. The only thing I would add is what I noted above, that Cuban's generally have found ways around the "foreigners only" restrictions (except in the case of hotels).

Posted by graeme | March 31, 2008 10:42 PM

Why should only part of the embargo be dropped? The whole thing should be eliminated. The whole idea was not only stupid, it was criminal.

What does that mean that the embargo "has not worked"? What was it supposed to "work" toward? Basically giving back their "property" to mafia gangsters and exploitive American companies.

It is hard to see how the Cuban government is worse than the Chinese government which the Bush regime loves to indebt itself to.

Cuba is a choice destination for "medical tourism" by Europeans, Canadians, and even some Americans who travel by way of Mexico or elsewhere, because of its high quality.

Cuba also uses its expertise to help other poor countries.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=1733

"They live longer than almost anyone in Latin America. Far fewer babies die. Almost everyone has been vaccinated, and such scourges of the poor as parasites, TB, malaria, even HIV/AIDS are rare or non-existent. Anyone can see a doctor, at low cost, right in the neighborhood.

The Cuban health care system is producing a population that is as healthy as those of the world's wealthiest countries at a fraction of the cost. And now Cuba has begun exporting its system to under-served communities around the world—including the United States." ...

"Recently, Cuba extended the offer of free medical training to students from the United States. It started when Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi got curious after he and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus repeatedly encountered Cuban or Cuban-trained doctors in poor communities around the world.

They visited Cuba in May 2000, and during a conversation with Fidel Castro, Thompson brought up the lack of medical access for his poor, rural constituents. “He [Castro] was very familiar with the unemployment rates, health conditions, and infant mortality rates in my district, and that surprised me,” Thompson said. Castro offered scholarships for low-income Americans under the same terms as the other international students—they have to agree to go back and serve their communities.

Today, about 90 young people from poor parts of the United States have joined the ranks of international students studying medicine in Cuba."

- Boy, that Cuba sure is a threat to the American way of life.

Posted by bernarda | April 1, 2008 3:36 AM

Too bad actual Cuban citizens don't have access to that same Cuban health care to which foreigners do.

Also, the point of the embargo was to seal off Cuba so that the economy would collapse quickly and the people would rebel against the authoritarian regime. Obviously, for many reasons, that did not happen and it is time to look other solutions.

Not all who suffered under the Revolution were "mafia gangsters and exploitive American companies." Plenty of ordinary Cubans suffer (and continue to suffer) on the island and in the diaspora.

Posted by Susy | April 1, 2008 1:51 PM

Clueless Susy, if you took the time to look, you would see that Cuba compares favorably to developed countries in health care. So stop your rightwingnut propaganda. Oh, I know that is impossible, wingnuts like to make up their own facts.

Cubans suffer on the island because of the criminal embargo. Do you prefer the lot of most of the population in U.S. friends Haiti and Dominican Republic?

Posted by bernarda | April 2, 2008 3:17 AM

Let's face it the embargo was put into place so Kennedy could brag about having the largest collection of Cuban cigars outside of Cuba.
As for the health care situation in Cuba it’s great in theory, but why do people die every day because there's no anti biotic, something as simple as a flu shot or penicillin would save hundreds of lives a year. On the other hand their research on cancer and HIV are off the charts. How about the fact that Cuba sends its top rated doctors to other Latin countries to teach new procedures to their doctors. My cousin is one of the top pediatric surgeons in Santa Clara, Cuba and was sent to an 18 month tour of Venezuela.
Well since no president is man enough to admit the embargo is BS and should have never happened, I raise my glass of Bacardi and coke (Cuba libre), tote my Cohiba (Dominican) and say good luck god forgives everything in time. ACHE

Posted by ozzie | April 11, 2008 2:38 PM