Pesos, Privatisation and Politics in Cuba - A 1995 unpublished article

PESOS, PRIVATISATION AND POLITICS IN CUBA:

An unpublished article written by Theo Theophanous in 1995 following a visit with Telmo Languiller and Jean McLean

“Havana Libra Hotel please!”

I spoke clearly to the taxi driver and was relieved to hear his response in broken English: “Thank you Senor – is not too far”.

The trip from the Hemingway Marina in Havana, Cuba, where I had managed to grab a couple of hours of sunshine between the heavy schedule of official meetings which the Cubans had insisted on organising, was indeed short – perhaps 8 kms.  So I was rather surprised by the cost of the taxi, at $12 U.S.  ‘Taxi drivers must be well paid in Cuba’, I thought.

The taxi driver was friendly and forthcoming, as I had found all Cubans to be.  His name was Manuel and after some discussion, I found out that the taxi belonged to the State, that every trip had to be recorded and that he was paid a salary, not in U.S dollars, but in Cuban Pesos.

“250 Pesos per month, is what I get”, Manuel said.

I did a quick mental calculation and realised that at 25 pesos to the U.S. dollar, this represents a monthly wage of $10 U.S.

So, I had paid more than a month’s salary to travel about 8 km in a taxi in Cuba.  There was something unfathomable about this.  Manuel, the taxi driver, was well dressed, married, had two children attending university and lived in his own home in a nice part of Havana.  All of this on $10 U.S. per month?  ‘Impossible’, I thought.

Cautiously I tried to approach the subject of how one could survive on $10 U.S. per month:

“Manuel, I know that health and education is provide free in Cuba (the Cubans were at pains to inform us how they had the lowest infant mortality rate, highest life expectancy and highest levels of education in Latin America) but you must have other expenses”, I said.  “Telephones, for example.”

“Telephones are free for local calls”, Manuel proclaimed, with a hint of pride.  Then he paused, reflected for a moment and added, “but I have to admit it is often hard to get through”.

I can certainly attest to this, having later tried to use what was an archaic system by our standards, where just getting a line often took many attempts.

In later meetings a Deputy Minister was to tell me in glowing terms how much the telephone service would improve as a result of proposed privatisation.

Back to Manuel: “What about the cost of gas for cooking”, I enquired.  “Gas costs 14 pesos per month (about 70 cents) for unlimited usage”, Manuel responds.  I later understood why in two Cuban households I visited, the gas burner on the stove was simply left alight.

“What about electricity Manuel?” I asked.

“They have just started to charge and it is costing me about 25 pesos per month” he complained.

I smiled when I thought about how we had to pay in Victoria.

Later I heard the often repeated story in Cuba about the farmer who mustered up the courage to ring the Deputy Minister for Energy, to complain about a 6-hour blackout (one of many).  Amazingly he got through and the Deputy Minister responded by saying: “You ring me up to complain about the 6 hour blackout but you don’t ring me to thank me for the 18 hours of electricity you received”.

My taxi driver, Manuel, like most Cubans, blamed the U.S. blockade for the electricity blackouts and for just about everything else that is wrong with the economy.  In this sense the blockade has had the effect of hiding other home grown problems and inefficiencies.

“Why doesn’t the U.S. block trade from other Communist countries like China or Vietnam”, Manuel complained.

But they are resourceful people the Cubans.  When the blockade started to bite and petrol dried up, they bought hundreds of thousands of pushbikes from China, built special bike lanes and created an environmentally friendly transport system with the benefit of a fitter, healthier society.

“We came fourth overall in the Olympic Games with a population of only 11 million”, Cubans will proudly announce to all foreigners.

This pride in the face of adversity is very prominent in Cuba and, paradoxically, helps to legitimize the Castro regime.  One party official told me how difficult it was for Cuba to defend itself with the U.S. at its doorstep and the Miami Cubans keen to exploit every situation.

“They fly private planes and drop leaflets over Havana, land on our shores in fast speed boats in the middle of the night, and force us to use our scarce resources in policing our boarders.”

This indignant attitude of the Cubans can be seen in the way they responded when we raised individual rights and freedoms including workers rights, free speech, etc.  The Cubans would invariably talk about universal rights – to health, education, shelter, a basic livelihood, etc.

Often quite skilfully they would turn the argument back: “How come the Miami Cubans want the right to send their kids to Cuban universities or their sick to Cuban hospitals, if the U.S. system is so great?” said Ramon Hernandez Varquez from the Communist Party Central Committee on International Relations. 

At this point I felt I had to bring out the big guns.  “Look”, I said, “Not all capitalist systems are like the United States system”.  “In Australia we have a universal health care system, a universal education system, and a comprehensive social security system available to all citizens irrespective of their cultural background or status, but we still very much respect individual rights and freedoms”.

I knew that I was over-simplifying and perhaps, but I wanted to drive the point home that individual and universal rights should not be seen as conflictual.

The response from Comrade Varquez was calm and appeared to be well considered.  “Yes, Mr Theophanous , we know that in your country and in countries like Sweden citizens have access to high quality universal health, education, housing and social security, but can you name a Third World capitalist country, as opposed to a First World Capitalist country where this is the case?” He then added: “If Cuba was to go capitalist, it would not be Australian capitalism which we would get but more likely the Haitian form, where neither individual nor universal rights are respected”.

Despite the hardships Cubans are friendly and seem particularly interested in Australian investment.

The Deputy Minister for Foreign Investment Raul Taladrid, who spoke perfect English was absolutely blunt on the benefits for Capitalist companies wanting to invest in Cuba:  “We offer foreign companies a compliant, highly skilled workforce with no industrial relations problems.  If they want 5000 workers this week but only 3000 next week, we are able to accommodate them”.

“How”, I asked?

The answer from the Deputy Minister was that all these workers are employed by a Government employment agency which in turn allocates them to the foreign firms.  The government agency pays the workers a good wage in pesos and the government is paid by the foreign investor in hard currency at regional rates.

I made a quick mental calculation.  Even if the regional rate for a skilled worker was only $200 U.S. per month, and the Government paid the worker 500 pesos per month (about $20 U.S.), the Government was making a huge profit on the worker’s labour.

The Deputy Foreign Minister is quick to add that these arrangements are not exploitation because the workers also receive free health, education, housing subsidised gas, electricity, water and phone calls, but in addition, they have access to special properly stocked stores for food, clothing etc.

The Cubans believe that if they let the foreign companies pay the workers directly, the workers would receive a very low wage by regional standards and the State would still have to pick up the tab for their social wage (health, education etc.)  This is why the Cubans are so indignant about the EEC’s insistence on abolishing the government employment agencies and allowing workers to negotiate directly.

This is how the Cubans see democracy.  They are at pains to tell us how all the deputies (parliamentarians) are elected from a field of at least two candidates.  They do not have to be members of the Communist Party but it turns out that nearly 90% are.

Ordinary Cubans will tell you in more honest terms that Members of Parliament are all the same.  “They have the same policies and are more interested in keeping power than in the people”, one member of The Arts community told me. 

The Cuban foreign Investment law is designed to allow foreign investment and to placate the fears of foreigners.  I noticed that one clause guarantees the right of foreigners to own real estate in Cuba and I could not resist the temptation when speaking to the Housing Minister.

“Madame Deputy Minister, Mercedes Rua Diaz, (she was one of only 2 women in the Cabinet), how can you justify giving foreigners the right to own real estate in Cuba when you do not extend this right to Cubans?”

“Well, um, well we believe that to extend this to Cubans will bring about a concentration of property in a few hands, like we had before the revolution when a handful of families controlled 90% of property”.

My face showed that I was unconvinced by this argument.

“Anyway, in Cuba we have a very high rate of home ownership – about 90% - but we have a rule that no family can own more than 2 homes.”

I wondered about this extraordinarily high level of home ownership, particularly since I had not seen a single ‘For Sale’ sign anywhere in Cuba, so I asked, “does home ownership extend to the right to sell property and buy elsewhere?  After much questioning, I found out that homes are ‘allocated’ on the basis of need, place of employment and type of work and rent is paid but they still call it ownership.

There is some evidence of a relaxation in personal freedom in Cuba.  In some of the privately run bars and restaurants that have sprung up in Havana we heard, and were often involved in, many heated political debates.  Cubans often joked and criticised their government.  In one exchange I heard one young person loudly say: “What is the use of education if you can’t get a proper job?” Believe it or not there is a substantial unemployment problem in Socialist Cuba.

At the end of the day, the Cubans simply impressed on us that the disagreements with the U.S. were not a matter of ideology for them but a matter of independence and sovereignty.  Sergio Corrieri, the Cuban who has appeared in international films, summed it up like this:  “We are pragmatic people, we are prepared to try market mechanisms, we want foreign investment, we want more tourism, but most of all, we want the right to be independent, including the right to make our own mistakes and to learn from them”.