Some road signs

By Elsa Claro

They say that no changes have occurred in Cuba, but “the little room is not the same,” whether some people like it or not. This is evidenced by the decision to allow banks to grant credit to cuentapropistas [self-employed entrepreneurs] (from October 2010 to date, about 200,000 people obtained their respective licenses).

The principle, in part, already worked for the farmers. Now it has been broadened for them and extended to the rest of private activities. That implies an endorsement, a reinforced purpose for such activities.

This is not the only decision made and involves a subject as important or more important, namely that the newly strengthened sector can sell its products and services to state-run organizations.

In practice – and practice is sometimes a step ahead of theory – some official businesses experimented  by supplying materials to cuentapropistas who produced certain items that were then purchased by their sponsors. Apparently with success, because the procedure is being applied nationally and guarantees wholesale customers for the manufacturers.

“With this I can now open my own little business,” says Fabian Lebredo, who’s trying to set up a small vegetable cannery in the farm that, along with his grown-up children, he acquired through the recent regulations that leased land for usufruct.

I do not know if that will be possible, because there is still poor implementation of the resolutions issued by the Council of Ministers, through ignorance, some say, through reluctance to change, argue others.

Recent statements from Justice Minister Maria Esther Reus indicate that her ministry is preparing the guidelines for “an updating of legislation and legislative improvements nationwide, in line with the new national reality and the proposed objectives.” That means drafting laws and deciding who should implement them and/or monitor their enforcement.

Despite the good prospects, there are also complaints, such as those relating to the high price of supplies bought in hard-currency shops and to what some consider worse: irregularity in the availability of different supplies, which “sometimes leads to hoarding if one wants to remain open and not fall into illegal wheeling and dealing,” said Manuel, shrugging as he spoke.

Ideally, wholesaler warehouses should be created. The government is not unaware of this; it just doesn’t have the wherewithal to build them, at the moment. Failing that, some goods like rice and sugar, which have a high cost on the world market, have been released for open sale at prices that are uncommon but not excessive. The 178 activities authorized for private enterprise seem insufficient and some people are calling for an increase in those related to the degrees conferred. After all, Cuba still has the highest rate of university graduates and technicians in the continent.

This may occur after the Sixth Congress, which begins in just weeks, on April 17, but there are signs that that piece of the picture will also undergo transformations.

I rely on two factors, for now. One: the innovation of educational system that aims to give priority to the most sought-after careers in the productive sphere, either at college level or in technical professions, in addition to the continued availability of trade schools. This will have strong consequences in the medium and long terms. It illustrates the long-range planning being applied.

Two: I refer to the words of Eusebio Leal, a well-informed man with special administrative experience as the man entrusted to rejuvenate the historic center of Havana. Responding to questions from colleagues, he said that other forms of personal exercise are required, “such as  urban cooperatives” with varied profiles.

The works he directs were “a preview” of the “economic updating” based on “a principle of renewal and sustainability” with a “high level of executive autonomy,” where self-employment is not novel. Leal was responsible for including the application of tax rates in that area of the capital with which it became possible to undertake complex social and urban tasks.

When it comes to ideas that match the actions, I refer to the comments made by Raúl Castro when he asked us to pay attention to the details, however small, given that “the solutions to the problems stem from the depth to which they are examined.”

The fact that he proposed that we “modify and correct our actions to enrich our experiences and bring them ever closer” to the needs of the country indicates a sense of realism and dialectics that is very scarce in today’s turbulent world. After what has been said, if I end by saying “stay tuned,” will you understand?