Cuban Socialism

Cuban Socialism, To the point,

            A few years ago I was asked to go to Cuba as a member of a three-man information gathering team. I asked myself, “Wow, do I really want to go to Communist Cuba?” I remembered standing at the bottom of Florida in front of the sign that read, “Cuba 90 miles” and wondering what caused so many Cuban people to risk their lives in crossing such dangerous waters to get to this shore.

            Curiosity got the best of me, I went and enjoyed the time I spent in Cuba and even gathered helpful information.

            At that time Americans were not allowed to go to Cuba without special authorization from the U.S. State Department. In fact, when we received our travel documents we were booked on a flight to Acapulco, Mexico. From there we flew into Havana, where our passports were not stamped.

            We were allowed two bags for the flight, but we had been told to pack only one for ourselves. Our second bag was packed with medicines, soap, tooth paste, guitar strings, small hand tools and chewing gum. These items were difficult to come by in Cuba. People in Florida and Cuba were praying for a miracle when we hit customs in Havana. Prayers were answered, we walked through customs without opening a single bag.

            Fifty years ago, Fidel Castro surprised the world when he announced that he would convert Cuba into a socialist paradise.

          In the beginning, Castro and his cohorts had a good time using the hundreds of millions of dollars in money and properties they had seized to give the Cuban people "free" everything, education, health care, housing, food, and the like. "Equality" was the clarion call, as money and property were seized in the name of "the people." After a while everyone was equally poor.

            The Cuban people lost all personal freedom, all personal property and were forced to live in government-owned, worn out buildings that are crumbling around them. The communist government has taken so much away from the once thriving Garden of Eden, that there is no pride of ownership, little pride of country. Hardly anything has been painted since Cuba was converted into a pardise.

          The Cuban people, most of whom are barely surviving, are paying the price for what Castro did 50 years ago. The average monthly pay, which the state pays in Cuban pesos, is about $16. Police officers and doctors get around $30.

            Most Cuban families relied on the Libreta de Abastecimiento (supplies booklet) for food rations. Most of these rations are distributed at the local bodega, where long lines waiting were normal. A litre of milk a day was available to children under seven, the elderly, the ill and pregnant women.

            At its inception the rationing system included just about everything. At one time children were allowed to have three different toys a year. This all changed with the demise of the Eastern Bloc when Cuba entered the “Special Period.”

            For decades, Castro had used aid from the Soviet Union to convince the people that Cuban socialism was an economic success. The end of the Soviet Union's subsidies in 1992, however, exposed the failure of Castro's socialist experiment. Standing on its own, Cuban socialism meant that the Cuban people were faced with the prospect of starvation.

            Over the past decade, Castro has had to adapt his version of communism to suit the changing economic conditions of his people. Castro has had to allow the American dollar to circulate in Cuba, now there are two legal currencies; the Cuban peso and the American dollar, and naturally everyone wants the American dollar. With the dollar they have more purchasing power.

            Castro also introduced tourism to bring in foreign investment. Special resorts were created for tourists. A special tourist police was formed to prevent ordinary Cubans from entering the tourist hotels. Even a special tourist currency was tried, but it has since been dispatched to the department of forgotten policies.

            Fidel Castro stepped down in 2006 and handed the reigns of the government over to his younger brother, Raul, who almost immediately began a campaign of reform. Term limits were set to two five year periods, beginning with himself. In 2010 he announced rationing would be eliminated, a little at a time. In its place workers would be given salary increases. Most Cubans were born into this system and knew nothing else.

            Havana continues to crumble and while the salsa music blares for the tourists there is an underlying desperation in the city - as if people are waiting - and hoping for better times.

            This is the same America that thousands of former Cubans have fled to in an attempt to get away from Castro’s grasp. America is known as a haven of rest for untold millions of oppressed peoples of this world, and our president wants to convert it into a socialist paradise? Unthinkable!