A billboard showing a photograph of Fidel Castro stands in front of the oil refinery Camilo Cienfuegos in Cienfuegos Dec. 20, 2007. (Claudia Daut/Reuters)
Cubans face dire formula
With Cuba's economy sinking, the government calls for energy conservation.
HAVANA — As a general rule with Cuban revolutionary slogans, the second choice is never a good option.
Such is the case with Fidel Castro's famous rallying cries of "Patria o Muerte" ("Homeland or Death") and "Socialismo o Muerte" ("Socialism or Death"). And now, with the island facing its grimmest economic outlook in years, Cubans have been presented with a new mortal ultimatum: "Ahorro o Muerte" ("Conservation or Death").
That phrase, appearing in a recent editorial in the Communist Party newspaper Granma, was meant as a call to arms for the Cuban government's new energy-conservation campaign. But taken more broadly, it also appears to reflect the country's economic strategy under President Raul Castro, who assumed Cuba's leadership more than a year ago. Rather than follow the path of market-based liberalization reforms that China and Vietnam's communist governments have taken, Cuba intends to weather the crisis by slimming its bureaucracy and exhorting citizens to conserve resources and produce more.
Cuba "can't get more out of its pockets than what it puts in," economic planner Julio Vazquez Roque said in a lengthy article on the country's economic woes that appeared June 21 in the communist youth daily Juventud Rebelde.
The effects of the global economic crisis are hitting Cuba at a time when the island is still struggling to recover from three powerful hurricanes that caused an estimated $10 billion in damage last year. And the situation is worsened by five-decades-old U.S. trade sanctions that squeeze Cuba's access to credit and export markets, a policy Cuba likens to a "blockade" in part because the measures attempt to punish foreign companies and governments who do business with Havana.
But government officials increasingly acknowledge that many of Cuba's shortcomings are self-inflicted.
The country's state-run economy is plagued by inefficiency, low worker productivity, and a frighteningly skewed trade imbalance. During the first three months of 2009, imports outpaced exports at a nearly four-to-one clip, according to Granma. Revenues in key Cuban industries like tourism and nickel are slumping with the global recession, and tightening foreign credit markets have produced a cash crunch at government banks. Projections for Cuba's economic growth this year have been revised sharply downward in recent months.
The Institute of Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, published a report showing the results experienced by all those countries that traded with Castro and his brother on credit.
Venezuela, Cuba's #1 trading partner, is owed $11.4 BILLION DOLLARS!
Spain, is owed $3.2 billion; followed by China $3.17; Japan $2.77; Argentina $1.96 and France $1.85.
The total foreign debt of the Castro brothers is $31.681 BILLION DOLLARS!
And that doesn't take into consideration the non-convertible debt which amounts to another $21 billion.
The US sold $750 million to Cuba last year and is owed $0.0 because we require cash in advance, the only way that you can trade with crooks who never pay their bills.
So you know what we can expect if those who want to sell Castro on credit, succeed.
The Castros will get billions of dollars, and the US taxpayers will get stuck with the bill.
This is rich coming from a country owing 12 trillion in foreign debt, cannot
provide proper health services for its people and left about a million Iraqis in their graves.
The easiest solution to Cuba's woes is to cozy up to Obama and reopen trade. The US is closer to Cuba than any other major country and would be their number one importer.
Cuba's debt to the ex-Soviet Union, inherited by Russia, has been previously estimated in Moscow at around $20 BILLION.
But Havana disputes this figure and argues in return that the damage caused to its economy by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 adds up to an equivalent value… ???
http://www.russiajournal.com/node/6581
.
Recent on Cuba:
Yoani Sanchez vs. the state
Nick Miroff - Cuba - November 11, 2009 18:42 ET
How will Cuba deal with a 34-year-old blogger with spotty internet and a massive global following?
Common ground, out at sea
Nick Miroff - Cuba - November 2, 2009 19:25 ET
Cuba and the US share a marine ecosystem. Can they work together to protect their reefs and sea creatures?
Debating the daddy state
Nick Miroff - Cuba - October 27, 2009 05:54 ET
As the economy slides, Cubans have been asked to rethink socialism.
The dark, haunting world of Belkis Ayon
Nick Miroff - Cuba - October 25, 2009 11:16 ET
Cuba's tragic and mysterious printmaker
Nick Miroff - Cuba - October 23, 2009 06:03 ET
Belkis Ayon explored the secretive world of the all-male Abakua tradition. Her suicide is still a mystery.
.jpg)
Cuba: No deal with US telecoms
Nick Miroff - Cuba - October 19, 2009 08:01 ET
Cuba rebuffs key Obama initiative that would have opened the island to better cell phone and internet service.
Planet Health Care
Thomas Mucha - Commerce - October 10, 2009 11:19 ET
As debate rages in Washington, the answers are out there. You just need to know where to look.
Embargo over Beethoven?
Nick Miroff - Cuba - October 5, 2009 06:19 ET
US blocks New York Philharmonic trip to Cuba, and cultural diplomacy stalls.
No free lunch in Cuba's “new socialism”
Nick Miroff - Cuba - September 30, 2009 06:09 ET
A trial program that will give each worker a cash stipend instead of a hot lunch portends deeper reforms.
Cuba's Coney Island
Nick Miroff - Cuba - August 27, 2009 10:12 ET
Havana's Cuatro Caminos market a slice of Cuba
Nick Miroff - Cuba - August 18, 2009 10:07 ET
At Cuban resorts, the end of tourism apartheid
Nick Miroff - Cuba - August 11, 2009 07:29 ET
Cubans can now check in as guests at beach resorts, creating a boom for local tourism.
Castro urges Cubans "back to the land"
Nick Miroff - Cuba - July 27, 2009 10:24 ET
On Cuba's national holiday, Raul Castro says higher production will help the economy.
Cuba's Craigslist
Nick Miroff - Cuba - July 26, 2009 18:13 ET
From sex toys to old Chevys, Revolico.com takes communist Cuba's black market to the web.
Troubled waters
Nick Miroff - Cuba - July 23, 2009 16:18 ET
US and Cuba look for a bridge, but there's a lot of water between them.
A coup without friends
Nick Miroff - The Americas - July 9, 2009 17:00 ET
Analysis: Unanimous condemnation of Honduran takeover highlights new US stance in the Americas
Cubans face dire formula
Nick Miroff - Cuba - July 9, 2009 16:58 ET
With Cuba's economy sinking, the government calls for energy conservation.
Where Detroit still reigns
Nick Miroff - Cuba - July 9, 2009 16:57 ET
News of bankruptcy at General Motors and Chrysler stuns Cuban drivers.
A remnant of the Cold War
Nick Miroff - Cuba - July 9, 2009 16:57 ET
Espionage cases could complicate Obama's Cuba strategy.
Watch GlobalPost videos:
Reporter's Notebook
A day after Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez published an online interview with President Barack Obama, her husband and fellow blogger Reinaldo Escobar...Read more >
Landing an interview with President Barack Obama would be a big deal for any journalist. For Cuba's Yoani Sanchez — who doesn't have travel...Read more >
Cuba's most famous blogger and anti-government activist, Yoani Sanchez, said she and several friends were detained and roughed up last night en route...Read more >
Featured: Special Projects
After the Fall:
20 years since the Berlin Wall came down
Life, Death and the Taliban:
Videos and stories
Study Abroad:
Students report from the road
Living in the Shadows:
An intimate look at China's migrant workers
A World of Trouble:
The global economy in 20 hotspots
Global Blogs:
Comments:
4 Comments.
Login or Register to post comments