From the Writer's Almanac, 2/24/2011
When Fidel Castro stepped down in 2008, people around the world began to speculate about changes. Raul Castro [Fidel's brother who is in charge now] is very different from his brother. For one thing, Raul does not give big rousing speeches that go on for hours. He's actually known for his 'inanimate delivery' of speeches. Within months of assuming the office of president,Raul allowed Cubans to own microwaves, rice cookers, DVD players, and cell phones -- all of which had been prohibited when Fidel was president. Unlike Fidel, Raul does not blame the U.S. embargo as the root of all Cuba's economic woes. Instead, Raul admits that it is Cuba's inefficient, unproductive state-run economy that is the problem, and that the government can no longer afford the huge subsidies -- in housing, food, transportation, health care, retirement, etc. -- which the government provides to Cubans in exchange for paying them extremely low wages. (A medical doctor, for instance, makes about $25 a month.) Raul has been making drastic changes to the Cuban economy. Last September, he announced that the Cuban government is laying off 1 million Cuban government workers -- that's about one-fifth of Cuba's workforce. Half, he said, would be done within six months. He is encouraging people to find jobs in the private sector, and legalizing a bunch of self-employment service jobs -- such as plumbing and construction, working as a clown, and working as a button sewer. In the past, people did these things to make money on the side, since they could not live solely off the earnings from their low-paying government jobs. But it was illegal -- a black market service. Now, the government is giving licenses for certain types of employment, which also allows the government to regulate and collect taxes. For the first time since the revolution, Cubans can legally employ other Cubans to work for them in a small business. Cuba's Revolutionary Constitution defined employing other Cubans for labor as 'exploitation'; they were supposed to work only for the state, which would provide them with all the perks of a socialism. Other changes since Raul has assumed the presidency: For the first time, Cubans can get loans from banks and borrow money, and they can now buy, sell, and rent homes. Raul has encouraged a public debate in Cuba about the new economic measures, and has said that working in the private sector shall no longer have a stigma attached to it (before, it had a stigma because of government propaganda, and because it was mostly illegal). But while he has encouraged debate about self-employment and his other economic plans, he has said that Cuba is 'irrevocably' a socialist state, and that Cuba's becoming capitalist again is not an option. Raul Castro recently did one other thing that seems to foreshadow more changes: He called a Communist Congress, to be held in April. There is supposed to be a congress every five years, but the last one was in 1997 -- 14 years ago. When the meetings do take place, they're usually followed by big policy change announcements. In the same speech he announced the congress, he said: 'We are playing with the life of the revolution; We can either rectify the situation, or we will run out of time walking on the edge of the abyss, and we will sink.'
Last month, on a Friday in mid-January, the White House quietly released a statement that said, 'The president has directed that changes be made to regulations and policies governing: purposeful travel; non-family remittances; and U.S. airports supporting licensed charter flights to and from Cuba.' But -- according to the British newspaper The Guardian -- only Congress can actually repeal the embargo.
When Fidel Castro stepped down in 2008, people around the world began to speculate about changes. Raul Castro [Fidel's brother who is in charge now] is very different from his brother. For one thing, Raul does not give big rousing speeches that go on for hours. He's actually known for his 'inanimate delivery' of speeches. Within months of assuming the office of president,Raul allowed Cubans to own microwaves, rice cookers, DVD players, and cell phones -- all of which had been prohibited when Fidel was president. Unlike Fidel, Raul does not blame the U.S. embargo as the root of all Cuba's economic woes. Instead, Raul admits that it is Cuba's inefficient, unproductive state-run economy that is the problem, and that the government can no longer afford the huge subsidies -- in housing, food, transportation, health care, retirement, etc. -- which the government provides to Cubans in exchange for paying them extremely low wages. (A medical doctor, for instance, makes about $25 a month.) Raul has been making drastic changes to the Cuban economy. Last September, he announced that the Cuban government is laying off 1 million Cuban government workers -- that's about one-fifth of Cuba's workforce. Half, he said, would be done within six months. He is encouraging people to find jobs in the private sector, and legalizing a bunch of self-employment service jobs -- such as plumbing and construction, working as a clown, and working as a button sewer. In the past, people did these things to make money on the side, since they could not live solely off the earnings from their low-paying government jobs. But it was illegal -- a black market service. Now, the government is giving licenses for certain types of employment, which also allows the government to regulate and collect taxes. For the first time since the revolution, Cubans can legally employ other Cubans to work for them in a small business. Cuba's Revolutionary Constitution defined employing other Cubans for labor as 'exploitation'; they were supposed to work only for the state, which would provide them with all the perks of a socialism. Other changes since Raul has assumed the presidency: For the first time, Cubans can get loans from banks and borrow money, and they can now buy, sell, and rent homes. Raul has encouraged a public debate in Cuba about the new economic measures, and has said that working in the private sector shall no longer have a stigma attached to it (before, it had a stigma because of government propaganda, and because it was mostly illegal). But while he has encouraged debate about self-employment and his other economic plans, he has said that Cuba is 'irrevocably' a socialist state, and that Cuba's becoming capitalist again is not an option. Raul Castro recently did one other thing that seems to foreshadow more changes: He called a Communist Congress, to be held in April. There is supposed to be a congress every five years, but the last one was in 1997 -- 14 years ago. When the meetings do take place, they're usually followed by big policy change announcements. In the same speech he announced the congress, he said: 'We are playing with the life of the revolution; We can either rectify the situation, or we will run out of time walking on the edge of the abyss, and we will sink.'
Last month, on a Friday in mid-January, the White House quietly released a statement that said, 'The president has directed that changes be made to regulations and policies governing: purposeful travel; non-family remittances; and U.S. airports supporting licensed charter flights to and from Cuba.' But -- according to the British newspaper The Guardian -- only Congress can actually repeal the embargo.
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