Economics lesson

For my ‘country’ assignment I was awarded Cuba. I spent two weeks there, over New Years 2003-2004, with my husband, two teenage kids and my in-laws (age 77 and 82). We travelled all over the country with a lovely 40-something Cuban guide, Conrado, who was pretty open to talking about the state of affairs in the country. He had travelled overseas many times – with the army in Angola and as migrant labourer (in the form of a bartender) on a number of cruise ships. He told us that the Cuba government had some sort of ‘arrangement’ to supply workers overseas in certain capacities. He said his favourite country was Israel and he dreamed of going to Saskatchewan. Conrado was not a disgruntled Cuban. He was doing alright for himself in the more open economy which allowed semi-discrete entrepreneurship. His descriptions of life in the years after the withdrawal of Soviet support told of despair, violence, creativity and anguish.

The economics of Cuba are a curious thing. During our stay we were not allowed to purchase or use what the Cubans call the 'national' peso. We had to use the ‘convertible’ peso but in reality all transactions were taking place in American dollars. Their use had been encouraged and sanctioned in the early 1990's when the country was in desperate need of hard currency. Everything we purchased was sold in units of a dollar- all the accommodation, food, souvenirs, beer, tips, ice cream, stamps, petrol, cigars, and entertainment. Within a year of being there, the government withdrew the dollar from circulation, apparently citing the move as retaliation for continued US sanctions. I wonder what happened to all those bills?

My class assignment gave me the opportunity to spend some time exploring the current situation in Cuba. My original intent had been to write a story about Castro but my curiosity was soon waylaid by the displays of flourishing capitalism present at Havana’s 24th International Trade Fair. Is there some kind of contradiction here? Maybe not. Official Canadian promotion of the fair noted that among the expected visitors would be “high ranking officials from the Cuban government and senior representatives from Cuba’s central buying agency who are making decisions about the purchasing of agriculture and food products as well as other goods and services”. I find the prospects for capitalist enterprise in a centrally-planned economy rather confusing.

More than 400 million women worldwide are illiterate, but not one of them is Cuban (so says the Lonely Planet website).