What Impact Are Recent Reforms Having on Cubas Economy?
Q. Cuban President Raul Castro has shifted control over agriculture into local hands and has dramatically cut bureaucracy in an effort to stimulate food production in the Caribbean nation. Will the reform have its intended effect? Overall, what impact do you expect the series of mostly modest reforms announced by Castro in recent months to have on Cuba’s economy? What other economic reforms might be in the pipeline? A. “When is a reform not a reform? Cubans are talking on cellphones, watching the ‘Sopranos’ on TV, and planting crops on their own land. But according to President Bush, these are only ’empty gestures at reform.’ Cubans are no longer barred from tourist hotels, but this isn’t reform because most Cubans can’t afford the price of a meal or a room. Yet, imagine how much better Cubans must feel about themselves now that they are no longer second-class citizens in their own country? Some reforms are labeled ‘cosmetic’ because they are designed to increase Raul’s popularity. But
