CUBA: ECONOMIC POLICY
Published in B&E 28/July/07
Raul Castro rocks & America swings
The US can’t order Cuba to switch over to pragmatism
There are times in a nation’s history when it has to make a decisive break from the past and enter a new era of hope & energy. Such a moment has perhaps, arrived in the Cuban destiny. With Fiery Fidel still struggling with his health, the interim President Raul Castro is taking up the cudgels to ‘bell the cat’ and introduce bold structural reforms in the investment-strapped Cuban economy. At a recently concluded 54th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Raul candidly declared that Cuba was seriously considering opening its economy to attract “capital, technology or markets.” Now, will these rather bold pronouncements deteriorate or improve Fidel’s health? Probably, the Cuban leader is not in a state to guide the destinies of his nation with same revolutionary fervour with which he had fought for more than five decades. However, to speculate that Raul would just abandon all that Cuba has achieved and simply embrace the US is only a wishful thought. Paradoxically, if the Bush Administration is eagerly awaiting & wishing for Fidel Castro’s exit from the face of the earth – The Cuban leader Raul is looking forward to 2008 US Presidential elections and the end of what he called “erratic and dangerous (Bush) administration.” While the US may make drastic changes post-Bush, but post-Castro, Cuba will tread the path to greater development with caution. Because Cuba is no longer alone in its fight against US imperialism – a robust Left movement in Latin America is spearheading new development policies divorced from the economic prescriptions offered by the US. And this would add to the Cuban confidence to pursue their national interests with the same zeal as Fidel had done. Ill-health may not enable Fidel Castro from physically guiding his struggle against unjust US pressures, but the struggle of downtrodden, spearheaded by him will continue to grow in spirit through the luminaries like Chavez.
There are times in a nation’s history when it has to make a decisive break from the past and enter a new era of hope & energy. Such a moment has perhaps, arrived in the Cuban destiny. With Fiery Fidel still struggling with his health, the interim President Raul Castro is taking up the cudgels to ‘bell the cat’ and introduce bold structural reforms in the investment-strapped Cuban economy. At a recently concluded 54th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Raul candidly declared that Cuba was seriously considering opening its economy to attract “capital, technology or markets.” Now, will these rather bold pronouncements deteriorate or improve Fidel’s health? Probably, the Cuban leader is not in a state to guide the destinies of his nation with same revolutionary fervour with which he had fought for more than five decades. However, to speculate that Raul would just abandon all that Cuba has achieved and simply embrace the US is only a wishful thought. Paradoxically, if the Bush Administration is eagerly awaiting & wishing for Fidel Castro’s exit from the face of the earth – The Cuban leader Raul is looking forward to 2008 US Presidential elections and the end of what he called “erratic and dangerous (Bush) administration.” While the US may make drastic changes post-Bush, but post-Castro, Cuba will tread the path to greater development with caution. Because Cuba is no longer alone in its fight against US imperialism – a robust Left movement in Latin America is spearheading new development policies divorced from the economic prescriptions offered by the US. And this would add to the Cuban confidence to pursue their national interests with the same zeal as Fidel had done. Ill-health may not enable Fidel Castro from physically guiding his struggle against unjust US pressures, but the struggle of downtrodden, spearheaded by him will continue to grow in spirit through the luminaries like Chavez.
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