What's Going On in Cuba?

This is a question I'm often asking. Ever since I've been little, I have had an interest in the island that wavers between low simmer and rapid boil. It might be because I spent a lot of time during my formative years in Miami, which in the 1980's wasn't the hip, pan-American party that it is now. I remember a dichotomy between old Jews and Cubans. I also remember that the Cubans looked like "white" people; they might have a more Mediterranean complexion, but if they didn't speak, you couldn't tell them apart from a Jew or an Italian.

I was always blown away by how much Spanish I heard. I also loved their stories. A guy who still works for the family company there, Manny, came to Miami as a kid with his brother, their parents making sure they escaped the Revolution. Stories like that are a dime a dozen in Miami. I find them fascinating. But, I digress.

I think what particularly fascinates me about Cuba is how an island 90 miles away from the most powerful country in the world has been able to maintain a centrally-planned economy and Socialist political stranglehold for over 50 years, thumbing its nose at us the whole time. Most of this is being practical: Cuba is always cozying up to our more flush adversaries, the Soviet Union, China, Venezuela, etc. Without these various benefactors, the Castro regime probably would have collapsed upon itself or adopted a more market-friendly, inclusive approach to governing.

Also, if you're Fidel Castro, you recognize the fact that you need protection from the United States. For decades prior to the Revolution, Cuba was to the United States what a son or daughter is to a narcissistic parent; the child exists to make the parent feel better about his or herself. Cuba was a playground for rich Americans, large corporations, and the mafia. Americans could behave with impunity. The country was essentially a vassal to it's larger neighbor. The United States even ran the country four separate times from 1898 to 1922.

Castro's revolution was obviously a rebellion to all of this abuse. It's absolutely pathological. Nationalizing American concerns. Implementing a centrally-planned economy. Enthusiastically throwing the country into the Soviet camp. The Revolution's raison d'etre is shunning the exploitative hand of the Yanquis.

Castro has done remarkable things for the Cuban people. He raised the national literacy rate from 56% in 1953 to 100% in 1986. Cuban health care is the envy of the world. But, he also made the country a case study in how central planning and governing by knee-jerk opposition to your enemy-neighbor can turn a thriving economy with abundant resources into an economy with zero growth in the official sector and essentially no functional state apparatus. Oh, and it's also a police state that doesn't tolerate any opposition to Socialism and one of the least free places on the planet.

A lot of Americans point to the US embargo as reason the Cuban economy is in such shambles and that it's working to remove the Castros from power. I say see above; they've done it to themselves. But, for 30 years, they had the Soviet Union to prop them up and even after the latter imploded, they have managed to keep on keepin' on, even without introducing too many market-oriented reforms like other Communist countries. I would even posit that the embargo gives the Castros cover to pursue a more authoritarian and rigidly-Socialist agenda. Try maintaining a Socialist autocracy when your subjects have iPhones with access to Twitter. It ain't happenin'.

On the technological front, I feel there has been a relaxation. More and more Cuban bloggers are becoming more and more bold. One of my favorites is Yoani Sanchez who paints us a picture of the banalities of day-to-day life in Castroist Havana. Some of it is remarkably similar to our own mundane travails. Some of it is totally alien. It's just so nice to have that window into a country from which we are so isolated. Another person I recently started to follow is Rosa Maria Paya, who is outspoken in standing up to the Cuban state for allegedly having a hand in the murder of her activist father. Again, another window so we can see what's really going on, absent the noise and filters we encounter from our governments.

But, have these green shoots yielded substantial gains in freedom on the island? Not really. In fact, nothing really is happening. Once in awhile, we'll hear grumblings that some American concern is engaged in some low level of trade with a Cuban counterpart. Or, we'll hear about a new outspoken political activist who is courageously "taking on" the oppressive Cuban state. But, nothing really comes of it. The island is still incredibly poor, Socialist, and closed off to Americans. Nothing substantial comes from either side. We are mired in a policy that hasn't worked for 50+ years and was implemented as a reaction to geopolitical reality 50+ years ago. Who knows when it will end?

So, what's going on in Cuba? Nothing. But, I'm watching in case something does.