Cuba’s Economic System: Reform or Change?

Cuba's Economic System: Reform or Change?

June 20, 2013

Fernando Ravsberg*



HAVANA TIMES — Marino Murillo, Vice-Chairman of Cuba's Council of

Ministers and architect of the island's recent economic reforms, has

urged the country to aim for growth by eliminating "all of the obstacles

that the current economic model places in the way of the development of

the productive forces."



The problem is that the greatest obstacle could be the model itself,

which is based on relations of production that hinder the country's

economic development, slow down changes, interfere with reforms and

bring about discontent among the population.



By implementing this socialist model, which dates back to Stalin's time,

Cuba obtained the same results seen in all other countries which copied

it: agricultural production crises, industrial stagnation, shortages and

a disaffected citizenry.



Murillo invoked socialism's theoretical forefathers, who said that the

new, socialist society would need to nationalize only the "fundamental

means of production", a prescription that wasn't exactly followed by a

model which placed even junk food stands in State hands.



To be at all effective, every economic change essayed in the country

today, no matter how small, invariably demands a whole series of

subsequent reforms. And it is precisely there where the model, and its

defenders, prevent the reform from becoming effective or yielding its

best results.



Though the Cuban government's official discourse itself is calling for a

"rejuvenation" of the country's model, the fact of the matter is that it

will be next to impossible to fit a new piece into this jigsaw puzzle

without altering the pieces around it, without producing a domino-effect

that will ultimately change the entire pattern.



The government runs into these obstacles every time it attempts to move

one of the pieces of the puzzle. When it decided to hand over

State-controlled lands to the peasants, officials invoked Cuba's

"current legislation" to forbid farmers to set up their homes in farm areas.



Such absurd restrictions discouraged many and pushed others to quit the

food production sector altogether and devote themselves to securing

construction materials illegally, so as to be able to build a home

elsewhere, far from prying looks.



Massive and hugely inefficient, the agricultural sector may well be the

very paradigm of bureaucratic mismanagement, but it is far from being

its only expression in the country. Cuba's import system is a true

bureaucratic gem, in which producers are those with the least say in

official decisions.



A Cuban factory wishing to import a piece of equipment from abroad is

required to approach the importing company assigned to it by the State.

Technically speaking, this "importer" does not actually import anything

– it merely puts out a bid among foreign companies with offices in Cuba.



Employees from these companies are the ones who travel to the

manufacturing country, purchase the equipment and bring it back to Cuba.

Under the country's current model, the manager of a Cuban factory is

expressly forbidden from contacting the foreign export company directly.



Thus, the person who makes the order is an office clerk who knows little

or nothing about what the company needs and who, in the best of

scenarios, will opt for the cheapest piece of equipment available,

something which often leads to serious production problems later.



In the worst cases, these "intermediating State importers" are bribed by

foreign companies so that they will purchase obsolete or poor-quality

equipment. In recent weeks, Cuban courts tried hundreds of State

employees implicated in these types of "deals".



These are the "relations of production" which keep equipment in Cuban

factories paralyzed for months, waiting for the needed spare parts,

while State importers take all the time in the world to decide what to

purchase.



Most Cubans I know support the changes that have been implemented thus

far and want these to make headway quickly and effectively. It is hard

to come by anyone who feels nostalgia for the old model, which proved

more efficient in establishing restrictions than in satisfying the

material needs of the population.



But these relations of production continue to find support in Cuba, from

the defenders of "Real Socialism." Ironically, or not surprisingly, most

of them are isolated from the reality of this socialist system, enjoying

government perks that compensate for the "small inconveniences" of

everyday life.



During a recent debate, a Cuban journalist suggested that these

officials catch a city bus from time to time, so as to immerse

themselves in everyday reality. When they told me of this, I recalled

the old anarchist graffiti which warned us that "those who do not live

the way they think end up thinking the way they live."

—–

(*) An authorized Havana Times translation of the original published in

Spanish by BBC Mundo.



Source: "Cuba's Economic System: Reform or Change? - Cuba's Havana

Times.org" - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=95012