"The Requiem Of Cuban Socialism"

Fifty years after triumphant armed rebels descended from the eastern mountains, communist Cuba celebrated the revolution's anniversary Thursday with toned-down festivities after a trio of devastating hurricanes and under the enduring public absence of an ailing Fidel Castro.

The austere celebrations, including dances and concerts across the island, belied the start of a year infused with possibilities for increased cash and visitors, and other changes that might ease Cubans' daily hardships. Many here hope for improved relations with the United States when President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20 following declarations he would talk directly with Raul Castro and lift severe restrictions on family travel and remittances to the island.

"I hope he gets rid of the blockade," 42-year-old Ana Luisa Mas said as she bought a pork leg for her family's New Year's Eve celebration, referring to decades-old U.S. trade sanctions.

"We are very hopeful that with Obama our relatives will be able to visit us more, and send us more money," she said, maneuvering through hundreds of shoppers packed inside the enclosed Cuatro Caminos farmers market, rushing to buy black beans and rice, salad greens and other New Year's Eve dinner standbys.

"We also hope that Fidel will stay with us a little bit longer," Mas added.

Fidel Castro's health is a state secret and he remains out of sight after undergoing major intestinal surgery almost 2 1/2 years ago. But the 82-year-old continues to write occasional essays that suggest he still has some say in government affairs.

Shortly before midnight Wednesday, a brief statement by Castro was read on state television, congratulating "our heroic people" on the eve of the anniversary.

The 77-year-old Raul Castro appears to be in firm control of the government, but has yet to introduce any major reforms and few expect transcendent change while his brother is alive.

Officials initially planned a more grandiose anniversary celebration but scaled back after three hurricanes this year caused $10 billion in damages and wiped out nearly a third of Cuba's crops. Raul Castro last week called for more cost-cutting measures as the island posted an annual economic growth of 4.3 percent for the year, barely half the original government forecast.

Over a half-century, the triumphant rebels erased illiteracy, crafted a universal health care system, and built thousands of new schools. But after Fidel Castro embraced communism in 1961, labor unions lost the right to strike, the Catholic Church was harassed, and opponents of the new government were jailed.

The Havana-based non-governmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and Reconciliation last counted 219 political prisoners on the island, down from as many as 15,000 in 1964.

Cuba's revolution was nevertheless long admired throughout the Third World as Castro stood up defiantly to the "Yankee imperialists," and infant mortality rates began rivaling those of developing countries.

Cuban writer Roberto Fernandez Retamar said the revolutionary movement remains relevant as several regional governments embrace milder versions of the socialist principles long promoted by the island's government. Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador are especially strong leftist allies.

"I think that the hopeful moment we have been seeing in Latin America in recent years has something to do with the Cuban revolution's existence," said Retamar.

Across the decades, Cuba's communist system has hung on, even after the Iron Curtain collapsed and communist China and Vietnam embraced free markets while still maintaining their political systems.

Outgoing Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, a Cuban-American who used his Bush administration post to promote hard line policies against the Castro government, this week argued against any easing of sanctions.

"To suggest unconditional dialogue with the Castro brothers would only signal that the conditions in Cuba are acceptable," Gutierrez wrote in The Washington Times. "If the United States does not continue to stand for the ideals of freedom and human rights and against the many guises of tyranny and oppression, who will?"

But many others think it is time for a major change in U.S. policies toward the island, and that rapprochement could help force an opening on the island.

"Confrontation plays up Havana's strong suit," Marifeli Perez-Stable of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank, wrote in December. "Engagement may show how weak (Cuba's) hand really is. Which one is the real hard line?"

The Cuban Government adheres to socialist principles in organizing its largely state-controlled planned economy. Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of the labor force is employed by the state. Recent years have seen a trend towards more private sector employment. By the year 2006, public sector employment was 78% and private sector 22%, compared to 91.8% to 8.2% in 1981. Capital investment is restricted and requires approval by the government. The Cuban government sets most prices and rations goods. Moreover, any firm wishing to hire a Cuban must pay the Cuban government, which in turn will pay the company's employee in Cuban pesos.

While the government of Cuba is theoretically opposed to class privilege, preferential treatment exists for those who are members of the Communist Party or who hold positions of power within the government. Access to transportation, work, housing, university education and better health care are a function of status within the government or the Communist Party.

Like some other Communist and post-Communist states following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba took limited free market-oriented measures to alleviate severe shortages of food, consumer goods, and services to make up for the ending of Soviet subsidies. These steps included allowing some self-employment in certain retail and light manufacturing sectors, the legalization of the use of the U.S. dollar in business, and the encouragement of tourism. In 1996 tourism surpassed the sugar industry as the largest source of hard currency for Cuba. Cuba has tripled its market share of Caribbean tourism in the last decade; as a result of significant investment in tourism infrastructure, this growth rate is predicted to continue. 1.9 million tourists visited Cuba in 2003, predominantly from Canada and the European Union, generating revenue of $2.1 billion. The rapid growth of tourism during the Special Period had widespread social and economic repercussions in Cuba. This has led to speculation of the emergence of a two-tier economy  and the fostering of a state of tourist apartheid on the island.

The Cuban government has significantly developed its medical tourism capabilities as a key means to generate income. For many years, Cuba has operated a special division of hospitals that treat foreigners and diplomats exclusively. Every year, thousands of European, Latin American, Canadian and American consumers visit for medical care at up to 80 percent less than U.S. costs. There are some who criticize Cuba's medical tourism industry because ordinary Cubans do not have access to the kind of quality healthcare that medical tourists receive.

Since 1959 Cuba has experienced slow growth in its Gross Domestic Product relative to other countries that were in a similar situation in the 1950s, stagnant trade. and amassed a significant debt amounting to some 16.62 billion in convertible currency and 15 to 20 billion dollars with Russia. Cuban citizens themselves have experienced a decrease in their caloric intake and a shortage of housing.

     As America is being led more and more down the path of socialism's nationalization of banks and industries, universal health care, the redistribution of wealth, the erosion of personal property rights, liberties and responsibilities, the example of Cuba's fifty years of socialism is a warning sign. In the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro, the businesses and wealth of the minority of Cuban land owning bourgeoisie was taken away for the benefit of the peasant proletariat. The problem is, after fifty years, the peasant proletariat is still poor, proud but poor, badly in need of the money and supplies that are sent from their relatives and friends here in America. Despite their universal health care, rich tourists get the best care. While China, Russia and Vietnam have now embraced the free market principles of capitalism and vastly improved the quality of life for many of their citizens, Cuba, along with North Korea, are stagnant economies and cultures. As I see it, the free market principles of capitalism, though certainly not a perfect system, promotes the greatest good for the greatest number of the people. Socialism ultimately creates what Cuba is today. We have our problems here in America but does anyone want to move to Cuba?

tags: cuba  fidel castro  capitalism  socialism  business  takebackamerica  the economy  the free market  universal health care  redistribution of wealth  

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