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Diversionary tactics, hardship
for Cubans
Posted on Wed, Oct. 27,
2004 in The
Miami Herald.
Our opinion: Dollar policy
will deepen economic misery in Cuba
Cuba's tyrant is up to his old tricks.
On the mend from an embarrassing fall that
broke his knee and arm last week, Fidel
Castro this week tightened the screws on
the Cuban people -- again. That's the promise
of new policies that will ban purchases
with U.S. dollars and impose a 10 percent
tax on converting dollars -- not euros or
francs -- into usable Cuban currency. While
this will tighten Castro's control of the
economy and satisfy other regime needs,
the hardship will only increase for ordinary
Cubans who make $10 a month, if not less.
Priceless dollars
Dollars have been the island's prime currency
since the regime legalized them in 1993
after the economic crisis that came with
the end of Soviet subsidies. U.S. remittances
and travel are the island's major sources
of U.S. currency. While a minority of Cubans
receive dollars from their U.S. relatives,
others earn them doing odd jobs such as
providing car rides, manicures and services
for tourists, which the regime considers
illegal. Los fulas, as dollars are called,
are prized because they can purchase items
that Cuban pesos can't buy: TVs, fans, food
and better-quality items sold only in hard-currency
government stores.
The new dollar ban comes in the midst of
another profound economic crisis. The U.S.
State Department estimates that Cuba has
lost $100 million in revenues since new
restrictions on U.S. travel and remittances
to the island took effect in June. The regime
already had raised prices in its hard-currency
stores by 30 percent. Power blackouts have
become daily reminders of the dictatorship's
economic failure. Losses from recent hurricanes
didn't help, either.
The move may be a desperate attempt to
bring more dollars into the regime's coffers
and resolve a debt crunch. If so, it will
be short-lived. The regime may get a windfall
of dollars as Cubans rush to convert their
dollars before the 10 percent surcharge
is imposed on Nov. 8. But that bonanza will
quickly dry up if higher costs discourage
purchases, remittances and visits. Meantime,
there's no policy to spur new income, jobs
or productivity.
Just to divert attention
Instead of reforms for growth, Castro increases
totalitarian control and suffocates the
economy. Hurt most will be the Cuban people.
It's hard to imagine how ordinary Cubans
will manage the increasing misery. Castro
has dug them into an economic black hole,
and there is no light in sight.
But this dictator isn't concerned with
Cubans suffering. Castro's prime goal is
to stay in power. With the dollar policy,
he again tries to blame U.S. sanctions for
the economic woes that he created. He also
hopes to divert attention from his fall
last week and the questions that it raised
-- even within Cuba's ruling elites -- about
his ability to rule. Democratic reformers
within Cuba, and their supporters abroad,
must keep pushing for change at the top.
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