In Cuba, Economic Contradictions Amid Change

Voices: In Cuba, Economic Contradictions Amid Change
BY JOSÉ GABILONDO

MIAMI, FL -- In Havana last week, I thought about how much its economy
had changed since my first visit in college. At that time, Cuba got
Soviet subsidies. After they ended, the island entered its periodo
especial en tiempos de paz - its special period in times of peace - a
campaign of self-imposed austerity, akin to what the International
Monetary Fund imposes on some debtor countries.

An island colleague jokes that Cuba is not a socialist country but a
surrealist one. She's right. It's not just the juxtaposition of a
donkey-driven cart next to the Benetton store in Plaza Vieja. Here
contradiction is the rule of economic life.
JOSE GABILONDO

Take money and prices. The island has two currencies: the national peso
and the convertible peso ('CUC'), which is a 'hard' currency pegged
roughly to the dollar and worth 24 national pesos. Government wages are
in pesos, but people get CUCs from foreign employers, private
enterprise, and remittances from abroad. This results in two economies -
a peso economy and a CUC one. The state sets some prices for both, while
others float based on market factors.

Some pricing is relational: for the same good or service, nationals pay
in pesos, but foreigners will pay a higher CUC price. It's no permanent
solution to inequality, but I like it because Cuba is in a unique
situation and tourists here are almost always wealthier than nationals.
So even though average monthly wages are estimated at 500 pesos (roughly
$20 U.S.), this figure probably does not reflect the real income of
those who work in the private sector or who get money from abroad.

JOSE GABILONDO
Cuba has two currencies: the national peso and the convertible peso
('CUC') pegged roughly to the dollar and worth 24 national pesos.
Government wages are in pesos, but people get CUCs from foreign
employers, private enterprise, and remittances from abroad. 1 Euro is
around 26 CUCs or dollars, which equals 620 Cuban pesos.
That said, pent-up demand is a fact of life. A stand-up comedian that I
saw joked, 'If we're an island, surrounded by ocean, where's my fish?'
Until recently, state rations included fish, but now more chicken has
taken its place.

Visiting Cuba can serve as mental floss against hyper-consumerism
because - like the prospect of being hanged - scarcity focuses the mind.
Without a foreign credit card or a trip to the Western Union in
Guantanamo, U.S. citizens and residents can spend only what they bring.
A currency tax makes dollars dear, so I took Euros.

For a tourist, staying within the Treasury's spending guidelines is not
hard. Many good things cost only 10 pesos, or about 50 cents in U.S.
dollars: a hot dog, bizcocho (crispy pound cake), or a ride in a
pre-Revolutionary collective taxis known as almendrones from the Spanish
word for the almonds that they resemble. Going to the movie theatre
costs 2 pesos and the Cuban law books I use in class sell for 15-25 pesos.

What of Raul Castro's reforms? Pay attention because – though
incremental - they matter. Cubans can now apply for a passport, though
for some it's a difficult and uncertain process. They can swap, buy, and
sell real property more easily. A local version of Craig's List charges
1 CUC a day for advertising real estate. Arguably, a real estate bubble
is underway in Havana insofar as property values are out of synch with
what people earn. My landlady had been offered 300,000 CUCs for her 3
bedroom flat near the Hotel Nacional. She's holding out for more.

JOSE GABILONDO

Layoffs of government workers are routine. Independently, more people
work for themselves. . As I bit into one of those 10 peso hotdogs,
Eduardo – sitting next to me – explained that he nets 600 pesos a day
selling pastries on the street and saves $20 a day, more than many of my
friends in the U.S.

Drivers of the diesel-guzzling collective taxis (30 liters a day) can
take home 500 pesos a day after paying a hefty 800 pesos for their daily
leases. These may not rise to the level of small businesses, but they
are micro-capitalism.

Economics aside, for sexual minorities things are noticeably better.
Last Saturday night I rode in a '55 Buick to a gay disco located –
surrealism again – in the Plaza de la Revolución, site of Fidel Castro's
famous speeches.In a country that sent gay men to work camps for
're-education' as late as 1968 and that later quarantined those with
HIV, this openness is important.

Once seen as a form of 'bourgeois deviation,' sexual diversity is slowly
being mainstreamed, more so in Havana than in rural areas. Much of the
credit for this goes to Mariela Castro – the President's daughter – for
her advocacy on behalf of transsexuals and other sexual minorities.
Cuba's legislative branch has considered legalizing gay marriage, but
that remains a distant victory.

Expect more changes. Almost certainly the government will suppress the
CUC and align the economy behind the peso. There's talk of further cuts
to la libreta, the ration book that provides Cubans with subsidized
access to eggs, rice, sugar, beans, chicken, and other staples.

Raul Castro has announced that he will leave the presidency in 2018. I
say he means it.

A friend once described the tenure track for academics as 'bit by bit,
then all of a sudden,' in that little steps add up - until seemingly all
at once - the big goal materializes. That's how I see these reforms in Cuba.

I wish I could say the same about U.S. policy towards Cuba. Sadly, I
think that the current U.S. embargo and its policies are as outdated as
that '55 Buick.

Of course, I have a dog in this race. Visiting this surreal country – my
country too - helps me to appreciate what Cuba meant to my family (we
left in '67) and to understand my own complex feelings about negotiating
between the two worlds of Cuba and the U.S. Small wonder that each time
I leave José Martí International Airport for Miami, a part of me stays
behind, waiting till I return.

First published August 21st 2014, 1:31 pm

Source: Voices: In Cuba, Economic Contradictions Amid Change - NBC
News.com -
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/voices-cuba-economic-contradictions-amid-change-n181616