From June 15 through September 20, 2016, Cuban society will engage in a nation-wide debate on two policy papers: Conceptualización del Modelo Económico y Social Cubano de Desarrollo Socialista (hereinafter “Model”), a theoretical framework of Cuba’s economic and social development model, and the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social hasta 2030 (hereinafter “2030 Plan”), […]
Reliable Partners, Not Carpetbaggers
Three years ago, Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, at a meeting in New York, explained, and insisted, that what Cuba needed and was promoting in terms of foreign investments, was investors representing big capital from well-established firms. The approach was questioned and criticized by foreign experts, suggesting that the whole idea was nothing […]
Cuba’s Currency Unification: Step-by-Step and Tensions
Cuba’s reforms and changes aiming at a complete redesign of its rigid, state-controlled, socialist economic development strategy has come to its point of no return; there’s no turning back. The Achilles’ heel of this present stage is to put an end to the two-tier currency system, with all its aberrations in the fields of finance, […]
Cuba: The Impact of Venezuela
Gurus and pundits discussing developments in Venezuela and Cuba since last year have been strongly inclined to establish a new “domino theory,” suggesting that a political defeat of chavismo (followers of the deceased President Hugo Chávez) or a major crisis of some sort in Venezuela would cause an immediate collapse of the Cuban economy and […]
From Chaos to a Socialist Market Economy: A Contribution to the Understanding of Current Changes and Trends in Cuba
The final collapse of Cuba’s alliance with the former Soviet Union—a process that unfolded between 1979 and 1989—brought the Cuban economy to a complete state of disarray, leading to an unparalleled chaotic set of developments. How to deal with them became crucial and extremely conflicting. Fidel Castro’s strong refusal to give in to demands from […]