Cuba has become an enigma. Even after the death of Fidel Castro, even after Fidel admitted the Cuban economic model was not working, even after some tentative attempts to upgrade the economy by his brother Raúl, even after the loss of foreign benefactors, and despite the economic hardships of the Cuban people, economic reform has […]
Influencing Havana: Is It Possible?
After years of a punishing policy to influence change in Castro’s Cuba by economic embargo and diplomatic isolation, President Obama changed the tactics of US policy to one of openness, reduced economic sanctions—with a clear desire to remove all sanctions—and the re-establishment of diplomatic relations. Although the new policy opened doors to new state-to-state cooperation, […]
Cuba’s VII Party Congress – Listening to Raúl
Cuba’s VII Party Congress has been viewed by many inside and outside of Cuba as a disappointment. After a hopeful period following the VI Party Congress, it appeared that Cuba was taking tentative, but seemingly important, steps to “update” its economy by reducing central planning, allowing more room for the private sector and market pricing, […]
Comments on U.S. International Trade Commission’s “Overview of Cuban Imports of Goods and Services and Effects of U.S. Restrictions”
The U.S. International Trade Commission’s (USITC) report, “Overview of Cuban Imports of Goods and Services and Effects of U.S. Restrictions,”1 published in 2016 at the request of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, is an impressively comprehensive study of the impact of lifting U.S. and Cuba restrictions on U.S. exports to Cuba. It comes after […]
The Cuban Economy 15 Years Later: On Firmer Ground, But Much Still To Do
Notes1 I arrived in Cuba in 1997 as Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs at the United States Interests Section. At the time, the Cuban Government had completed the economic reforms it felt necessitated by the “special period.” Before I left 22 months later, in 1999, some of those reforms were coming undone. This past […]