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Cuba ponders how to fix socialist economy
By Marc Frank Mon Oct 23, 5:03 PM ET
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has begun debating how to correct rampant theft and inefficiency in state-run services, from pouring beer to shining shoes, that could signal a step toward economic reform under acting President Raul Castro.
In a scathing three-part series on graft in shops and bars entitled The Big Old Swindle, the Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde said on Sunday a team of university experts will investigate ways to improve services.
The articles uncovered bar employees stealing from the state by serving less beer than stipulated and taxis drivers overcharging passengers, but stopped short of recommending the privatization of such services.
"The current irregularities in the country's services, in the midst of the search for a better economic model, has meant Cuba still does not have a retail and services sector that satisfies people's expectations," the newspaper said.
The debate comes amid growing questions about the future of one of the world's last communist societies since its leader
Fidel Castro underwent emergency surgery in late July and disappeared from public view.
"The important thing, to me, is that they are asking the questions. "Why doesn't it work?" a European diplomat posted to Havana said.
"My doubt is whether they are brave enough to start asking themselves questions without trying to confine the answers to Marxist philosophy," he said.
Cubans have long complained in private about poor state services, from deficient public transport to bare shop shelves. Many see privatization as the best way forward.
Since Raul Castro temporarily took over the government from his ailing brother on July 31, foreign and local experts have speculated that the younger Castro, aged 75, is more pragmatic and could move Cuba toward a more open Chinese economic model.
Cuban officials rule out following the example of China, which opened its economy to capitalist enterprise while retaining political power under the Communist Party.
SETS SERVING AMOUNTS
Cuba's economy, modeled on Soviet communism that ultimately failed, is overwhelmingly state-controlled. The state provides supplies and sets serving amounts and prices for everything from a cup of coffee and ham sandwich to watch repairs and shoe shining.
"The theory that came from the Soviet Union was skewered," economist Luis Marcelo Yera of the National Economic Research Institute told Juventud Rebelde. He advocated giving workers more power to decide the running of state enterprises.
Yera was one of a number of academics quoted in the paper who stated systemic problems, including over centralization, hampered economic development and could not be dealt with simply by more regulation and discipline.
Juventud Rebelde, like other media often used by the government to place topics up for debate, stopped short of calling for restoration of private property, though some Cuban intellectuals say it would be the best way, even if in the form of collective private property, to improve the retail sector.
Fidel Castro, who is said to be recovering from intestinal surgery, warned a year ago that corruption could undermine the society born of his 1959 revolution.
Earlier this year, Castro sent thousands of young social workers and communist militants, as well as retirees, into work places to root out corruption and waste.
They discovered, among other examples, that half the gasoline and diesel fuel pumped in the country was stolen. Cuba then proceeded to replace all service station employees.
Earlier this year the media carried a series of reports on irregularities in the state-run produce-distribution system, but stopped short of offering solutions.
Juventud Rebelde inferred that much more was needed, considering that criticism by academic experts were published on Sunday that were almost certainly approved at the highest levels of government.
"We live in a society with many distortions; that's why many things have to be guaranteed through cohesion and control, but not everything can be accomplished that way," Ernesto Molina, from Cuba's top school for international relations, told the paper.
"We need a scientific plan to organize society politically and economically so it works better," he said.
By Marc Frank Mon Oct 23, 5:03 PM ET
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has begun debating how to correct rampant theft and inefficiency in state-run services, from pouring beer to shining shoes, that could signal a step toward economic reform under acting President Raul Castro.
In a scathing three-part series on graft in shops and bars entitled The Big Old Swindle, the Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde said on Sunday a team of university experts will investigate ways to improve services.
The articles uncovered bar employees stealing from the state by serving less beer than stipulated and taxis drivers overcharging passengers, but stopped short of recommending the privatization of such services.
"The current irregularities in the country's services, in the midst of the search for a better economic model, has meant Cuba still does not have a retail and services sector that satisfies people's expectations," the newspaper said.
The debate comes amid growing questions about the future of one of the world's last communist societies since its leader
Fidel Castro underwent emergency surgery in late July and disappeared from public view.
"The important thing, to me, is that they are asking the questions. "Why doesn't it work?" a European diplomat posted to Havana said.
"My doubt is whether they are brave enough to start asking themselves questions without trying to confine the answers to Marxist philosophy," he said.
Cubans have long complained in private about poor state services, from deficient public transport to bare shop shelves. Many see privatization as the best way forward.
Since Raul Castro temporarily took over the government from his ailing brother on July 31, foreign and local experts have speculated that the younger Castro, aged 75, is more pragmatic and could move Cuba toward a more open Chinese economic model.
Cuban officials rule out following the example of China, which opened its economy to capitalist enterprise while retaining political power under the Communist Party.
SETS SERVING AMOUNTS
Cuba's economy, modeled on Soviet communism that ultimately failed, is overwhelmingly state-controlled. The state provides supplies and sets serving amounts and prices for everything from a cup of coffee and ham sandwich to watch repairs and shoe shining.
"The theory that came from the Soviet Union was skewered," economist Luis Marcelo Yera of the National Economic Research Institute told Juventud Rebelde. He advocated giving workers more power to decide the running of state enterprises.
Yera was one of a number of academics quoted in the paper who stated systemic problems, including over centralization, hampered economic development and could not be dealt with simply by more regulation and discipline.
Juventud Rebelde, like other media often used by the government to place topics up for debate, stopped short of calling for restoration of private property, though some Cuban intellectuals say it would be the best way, even if in the form of collective private property, to improve the retail sector.
Fidel Castro, who is said to be recovering from intestinal surgery, warned a year ago that corruption could undermine the society born of his 1959 revolution.
Earlier this year, Castro sent thousands of young social workers and communist militants, as well as retirees, into work places to root out corruption and waste.
They discovered, among other examples, that half the gasoline and diesel fuel pumped in the country was stolen. Cuba then proceeded to replace all service station employees.
Earlier this year the media carried a series of reports on irregularities in the state-run produce-distribution system, but stopped short of offering solutions.
Juventud Rebelde inferred that much more was needed, considering that criticism by academic experts were published on Sunday that were almost certainly approved at the highest levels of government.
"We live in a society with many distortions; that's why many things have to be guaranteed through cohesion and control, but not everything can be accomplished that way," Ernesto Molina, from Cuba's top school for international relations, told the paper.
"We need a scientific plan to organize society politically and economically so it works better," he said.
tool.
How to fix a socialist economy?
Stop being socialist!
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