by Klaus Rohrich
May 25, 2004
Recently I had occasion to visit Cuba. For years I actively boycotted the island nation because I did not agree with its economics, nor did I admire its human rights record. However, I also realized last year that Fidel Castro’s days are numbered because people do not live forever. With Castro’s passing, Cuba will undergo a great deal of change, not the least of which will be the physical appearance of old Havana. Visiting Havana today is very much like stepping back in time. The old buildings augmented by antique cars, leave one with the impression that somehow time has stood still since 1959 and in a sense it has.
While the old city is remarkable in the beauty of its architecture and the richness of its history, the most interesting parts of Cuba are its dual economy and the fact of its being a police state.
Driving along many of Cuba’s highways, one encounters countless billboards. Rather than the messages to which we are accustomed, urging us to purchase this item or that, Cuba’s billboards only contain messages such as "Socialismo O Muerte" (Socialism or Death) or "Venceremos O Muerte" (Victory or Death) and other messages urging the populace to greater feats in the pursuit of the Revolution.
I’m thinking that perhaps there may be a punctuation error in the slogan "Socialism or Death". Shouldn’t it be "Socialism or Death?" Given that Cuba’s economy is a basket case with little or no trade goods, short of cigars and rum, the people have been given the choice between a socialist economy and death. Naturally, all but the most foolhardy, will choose socialism over death. Those who risk the arduous 90-mile passage to Florida have chosen capitalism over socialism and have risked death to do so.
In conversations with officials working for the state-owned tourism organization, there seems to be a recurring theme that if only it weren’t for the United States keeping Cuba down, their socialist experiment would be a smashing success. Currently, official Cuba’s greatest paranoia is that the evil George Bush will one day wake up and decide to invade Cuba. Just last week, Cuba closed its so-called dollar stores because of the refinement of sanctions imposed by the Bush administration. That’s akin to shooting a hole in your shoe because it’s too tight while you’re still wearing it, because it cuts off the inflow of foreign currency.
Because Cuba has no industry to speak of, it depends largely on tourism for its foreign currency. Consequently, there are two economies: the economy for those with U.S. dollars and the economy for those who do not have U.S. dollars. Numerous so-called "dollar stores" have opened in the larger centres such as Havana or Santiago de Cuba which cater to tourists and Cubans who have access to U.S. dollars and supposedly sell a wide variety of consumer products. While in Havana, I visited the Galerias de Paseo, one of the largest and most modern dollar stores in Cuba. It is an impressive (By modern Cuban standards) metal and mirrored glass structure on multiple levels that houses everything from grocery stores to cosmetics shops, perfumeries, a dealer for foreign vehicles and a restaurant. Most of the stores were closed. The grocery store, which is Cuba’s version of our supermarket, was no larger than our average convenience store and had less product on the shelves. Those products that were available were hideously expensive. (i.e. $13.00 U.S. for a can of shaving cream) Everyone who entered the store was searched going in and coming out, which helped solidify my conclusion that Cuba is a police state.
Other evidence included hordes of policemen stopping vehicles on the highway for no apparent reason. Layers upon layers of police in the larger cities, all armed, some even with dogs, patrolled the streets seemingly vigilant for troublemakers.
Yet, there don’t appear to be many troublemakers. Cubans as a whole appear to have come to terms with the dictatorship of the proletariat and make do as best they can. all the regular Cubans that we met and had an opportunity to talk with seemed happy and well adjusted. I saw this as a testament to the human spirit of a people who have only the barest necessities, many of whom wishing for nothing more than a bottle of good shampoo.
Yes, Cuba’s socialism, like Canada’s, has provided its people with "free" health care and universal education. But Cuba’s government, much like our own, seems to have limitless resources at hand to glorify itself and its achievements, while, the city of Havana is rotting away around them and its people make do with only the most basic of basics. In addition, Cuba’s socialist revolution seems to have missed a large number of people who are homeless and who roam the streets of Havana begging for money from tourists.
My Canadian cohorts in Cuba seemed impervious to the obvious and like trained seals yapped and clapped as our tour guide told them how glorious the revolution is and how evil the americans are. My guess is that they are used to the economics plied by the Cubans, as we have some similar peculiarities in our own economy, such as government workers striking for higher wages, when they are already the highest paid sector in our economy and confiscatory taxes and leaders that lie as a matter of course.
If Cuba stopped blaming the U.S. for its problems and allowed its people to put their indomitable spirit to work in pursuit of personal wealth, it would not take long to bring their standard of living on par with ours. But that would necessitate the admission that socialism is a bad idea, and like us Canadians, the powers that be in Cuba aren’t quite ready to do that.