Cuba looking to find its own way

Announcing its first Communist congress since 1997, Cuba is examining ways to create jobs and ease private sector controls

By Richard Gott

From the guardian.co.uk

Raúl Castro, president of Cuba, has finally announced the date for the all-important congress of the Cuban Communist party, the first since 1997, to take place in the second half of April next year.

The congress, modeled on that of the old Soviet Union, is supposed to take place every four years but it has been endlessly postponed as a result of the “special period” proclaimed at the time of the Soviet collapse. The politics of economic survival, discussed within the party’s inner councils behind closed doors, have taken precedence over the relatively open debate that occurs at a party congress. April 2011 will be the 50th anniversary of the CIA-backed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs as well as the first proclamation by Fidel Castro of Cuba’s socialist vocation.

There may also be an important political element to be considered at the congress: the future of Fidel Castro as the first secretary of the party. When illness forced Castro to resign as president of Cuba in 2008 in favor of his brother, he retained his all-important post at the party. Will he now judge that it is the moment to go, or, now that he is partially recovered, will he choose to go on?

Raúl Castro has already announced a series of far-reaching economic reforms this year, which some have perceived as a retreat from socialism. It had been widely expected that the congress would be held this month to ratify the changes that have already been widely debated, both within the trade union organization and in the wider society.

People interviewed at random by journalists appear to express a range of opinions, from enthusiasm to skepticism and alarm. The speed of change in Cuba is always glacial, and with an extra six months’ grace there will be time to ensure that the presentation of the reforms is efficient and well prepared.

Typically, Castro’s announcement took place in the presence of Cuba’s closest ally, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who has been in Havana to celebrate 10 years of a friendship treaty signed in the year 2000, and to sign new agreements. Chávez provides cheap oil to Cuba (replacing the subsidy once granted by the Soviet Union), in exchange for several thousand Cuban doctors who work in the shantytowns and rural areas of Venezuela.

The two countries are also the promoters of Alba, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, established in 2004 to promote trade and co-operation within the continent without the participation of the US. Announcing his plans for the April congress, Castro gave Chávez a copy of the economic themes to be discussed.

Some of the changes were already outlined in September after an announcement that half a million state employees would be laid off in the next few months, indicating that Cuba is by no means exempt from the economic crisis that has affected most of the rest of the world. A list was published of 178 activities that individuals would be permitted to engage in “on their own account”, and in 83 of these new private businesses the employment of salaried workers would be allowed.

This “privatization” of a number of hitherto state-controlled jobs, including such things as looking after parks and washrooms, would be the most important economic change for most individuals since the private sector was effectively closed down in 1968. Other changes envisaged include the possibility of owning houses and apartments for rent, while the existing family-run restaurants, paladares, permitted since the 1990s, will be allowed to increase their clientele from 12 to 20.

Will these new measures be sufficient to soak up the hundreds of thousands of individuals soon to be thrown out of work? The government certainly hopes so. In preparing these reforms, it has looked very closely at the experience of China and Vietnam, countries that have moved away from socialist economics yet retained the tight political control of a single party. Venezuela is also an example of a country where socialist rhetoric and a fiercely anti-imperialist foreign policy is coupled with an economy that permits consumer choice and still rampant capitalism to flourish.

In consonance with past practice, Cuba will not slavishly copy these models, but will seek to follow its own path. The holding of a party congress is an indication of the government’s awareness that it needs to take the people with it as these important changes take hold.