What should happen next, in Cuba? ... by gimleteye

We stayed during our recent visit to the Havana Bienal in the historic center of Havana in a newly renovated hotel catering to foreign tourists. One reader referred to the experience as a "Disneyland". It is not an entirely inaccurate description. On the other hand, the restoration of world-class urban design and architectural typographies in Havana also calls attention to the impoverishment of Disney attractions: stucco on particle board. Then again, the architectural triumphs of Cuba were largely built on the backs of slave labor. There are no simple conclusions to reach about Cuba today.

What seems certain after a brief visit is that Cuba cannot go backward, repeating mistakes of the past, without inflicting massive harm on its people. The project to renovate and reconstruct a magnificent section of Havana is a success by most measures but especially so, if it serves as scalable and evolving template to meet the enormous needs of the Cuban people for jobs and economic growth. (for more photos, click 'read more')


The cruise ship industry would like to stop in Havana but the embargo prevents both the investment in billions of dollars of port infrastructure and ability of ships and passengers to utilize Cuban ports. The renovated core of Havana has proven its worth to the Cuban government and to Havana residents.

But these real, visible accomplishments -- that also show how private enterprise can operate within state controlled infrastructure projects -- are a tiny, almost infinitesimally small demonstration. To have a material impact on the lives of Cubans, the accomplishments of the Havana city center need to replicated at scale. There is no question that the creativity, spirit and drive of the Cuban people are up to the tasks.

Within the reconstructed center of Havana, catering mostly to tourists, about 9,000 workers are employed. According to guides, the area is a self-supporting, special taxing district. Within the sector, some fraction of employees work for private restaurants, a few small shops and markets affordable only to Cubans or visitors with access to the dual currency or black-market system.

There is -- as to be expected in any economy emerging from state control -- a visible difference between service and goods provided by government and non-government employees. It comes as no surprise that on the basis of quality, state-run enterprises cannot compete with privately owned businesses and employees rewarded for their hard work. It is also indisputable that Cubans without access to remittances from abroad cannot afford the restaurants or the suppliers of produce and protein. With dollars or euros, one may be able to eat as well in Havana as Miami, but what good is that to those whose daily life remains a struggle?

The Cuban government cannot be indifferent to these challenges.

The limited lifting of travel restrictions by the Obama administration, coupled with the limited steps in creating individual, private ownership of real estate, cars, and small businesses, has opened an experiment allowing the entrepreneurial spirit of Cuban Americans and their relatives in Cuba to bloom. Every day, flights from Miami to Havana are so weighted down with passengers and supply goods that the airlines have to carefully weigh carry-on luggage to be certain the planes can safely fly.

Some of those plastic wrapped baggages are filled with bundles of US dollars, and some of those US dollars are aimed for embargo-busting business opportunities by Cuban American businessmen and families of American politicians who publicly support the embargo.

The pretense of the embargo serves no legitimate purpose.

The rational way forward is for open bilateral talks between Cuba and the United States. For its part, Cuba should make the leap of faith that it can control the outcomes to its own economic development in ways that benefit Cuba without creating chaos, uncertainty, and more pain and suffering.

Cuba needs so much help. But the government also needs to know it is not importing Trojan Horses. This requires a measure of confidence; first, the young generation of Cuban leaders must be organized along clear lines of law -- defining rights of ownership, fairness and equity -- and second, assurances from the United States that its assistance will respect a sovereign nation struggling to emerge from the chains of history.

Readers will draw from these simple observations what they will: whatever one's conclusions, it is certain that Cuba and its challenges are more complicated than the narrow domestic spotlight in local media and especially Spanish language AM radio that serves, primarily, to return incumbents to political office in Miami.  At a time of profound economic hardship in the United States, where the opportunities of Cuban Americans are suffering significantly, it makes sense to embrace change. The embargo serves no useful purpose.