Castro's new suit

Contemporary Review, May, 1995 by Habeeb Salloum

I was taken aback by his optimism, having expected to see Cuba ready to collapse. In 1993, I had travelled to that country and seen long periods of blackouts, and endless line-ups of people waiting for transportation or to buy the necessities of life. This time blackouts were rare, the line-ups appeared to be shorter and something new had been added. In every town and by the wayside artisans and farmers were selling their products to Cubans and tourists alike. Ever since August 1994, when free-markets were permitted, the people have been able to supplement their almost free, but in the last few years usually not-to-be-found, subsidised rations with extra food from these markets. Farmers, after providing their quotas for the state, are now allowed to sell freely their extra products, usually over 50 per cent of what they produce. With prices, often beyond the reach of most people, these free-market products have brought down the value of the peso on the black market from 120 to between 30 and 40 to the US dollar.

Outside of Havana, the transportation problem is getting better. At every road intersection, a person is employed to stop all state owned vehicles and lead them with people from the waiting crowd. Also, aiding the traffic flow are the countless bicycles and animal-pulled carts which now throng the highways and country roads. To an onlooker, it appears to be dangerous, the mix of bicycles, carts and motor vehicles on the road. However, I travelled almost 1,000 miles throughout the country and did not see a single accident.

In the economic field, the liberalization of Cuba's foreign investment climate is igniting interest from a number of countries. This, and some other changes in external policies, are beginning to help the country climb out of its financial woes. After emerging from years of isolation and rigid communism, foreign investors are increasingly welcomed. The opening of the country for investment and trade has been exploited, to a large extent, by the Latin American countries and Spain. After the demise of the Soviet Union, Cuba strengthened ties with these countries. Currently, Spain accounts for near a quarter of the 112 joint undertakings, in agriculture, mining and tourism, by the Cuban state company Cubanacan and foreign firms. These projects have drawn around $500 million badly needed foreign capital.

After 30 years of being a pariah in the Americas, Cuba has tripled its trade with Latin America - from about 7 per cent to 21 per cent in 1994. A Mexican company has signed a $1.5 billion contract to renew the country's run-down telephone system and Colombia is pushing hard to develop trade with Cuba and this is showing results. There has been a 17-fold increase of Cuban exports to Colombia. In the near future, it is expected that Colombia will supply a third of Cuba's oil needs.

Canadian investment and trade with Cuba are not earth-shaking, but extensive and steadily growing. In 1993, Canada exported some $133 million worth of farm and industrial products and imported $171 million of fish, minerals and tobacco from that country. Frenchmen and Canadians are helping in the search and upgrading of Cuba's petroleum facilities. Already this is bearing fruit. The country's oil production has risen annually from 600,000 to 1,115,000 tons. In 1994, two Canadian firms signed joint ventures with the Cuban state company Geominera S.A. Miramar Mining of Vancouver, B.C. is to exploit an open pit copper mine and Joutel Resources of Toronto is to prospect for gold, lead, silver and other minerals.

On the political front, a conference which included Portugal, Spain and 19 Latin American countries was held on January 15, 1994 in Cartagena, Colombia. The meeting called for the lifting of the US restriction on commerce and shipping to Cuba. After 32 years of diplomatic and trade embargoes on that country, the member states stressed that the time has come for doing away with these restrictions. In March Fidel Castro - bedecked in a businessman's suit - was conspicuous at a UN conference in Copenhagen and then he went on to Paris to be received by President Mitterrand. Canadian trade officials have described the US embargo as unhealthy and even some Americans are calling for its elimination. Representative Charles Rangel, Democrat of New York City, sponsored, in 1994, a bill to lift the restrictions. He said that the ban has cost Americans $6 billion a year in investment and trade. Nevertheless, the Clinton administration, like its predecessors, has refused to be swayed. Over 90 per cent of the 1.5 million Cuban exiles in Florida are determined that the embargo must stay and their numbers give them political rout. US domestic politics always come into play when the embargo is discussed. Even though it has failed to topple Castro, while at the same time, imposing great hardships on the Cuban people, the fierce anti-Castro Cuban American National Foundation makes sure the ban stays.

The restrictions have not affected tourism, the main prop which keeps the country afloat. In 1993, the number of visitors travelling to Cuba reached 600,000. From workers to the affluent, tourists are coming from western Europe, the Latin American countries and, above all, Canada - 130,000 Canadians came in 1993 alone. The government hopes that the increasing number of tourists will spark an economic upturn. However, at the end of 1994, because of the Cuban boat people and the bad press abroad, tourists were staying away in large numbers.