Havana Cuba. – The dictatorship is without a head, and not only because “president” Miguel Díaz-Canel does not carve or cut, but because the decisions that continue to be made, against all logic and despite the warnings of renowned economists, seem to be aimed at placing the country in such an extremely precarious situation that there is no alternative but to sell or annex it.
On the table are the two possible metropolises: the United States and Russia. Of the first, the dollars; of the second, the nonsense. There is talk of a Russian-style economic reform that it cannot be run by the Kremlin because there is no money to carry out something that simply does not exist. Cuba doesn’t even have to begin with. She’s buried in debt and the conflict settled in London it’s just a half time to rethink strategies, a pause that has left more questions than answers.
Just at the time when the island’s banking and financial institutions are less reliable than ever, since it is not even known who the Central Bank of Cuba belongs to or represents, the Government announces the repeal of the rule which, since June 2021, prohibited depositing dollars in cash in accounts in freely convertible currency (MLC).
Out of the blue, without the Cubans even knowing the real reason why that decision was made, nor compensating those who committed their savings in CUC and still hope, with the certificate in the drawer, to be able to recover them in hard currency, the Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil, assures that allowing the deposit of dollars is the correct path, when two months ago he said that progress had to be made in the de-dollarization of the economy.
Cuba is adrift. Since the pandemic, it is strongly intuited, feeling the helplessness in the guts, in the bones ground from so much struggle, in the insomnia of worries and pain without medication to alleviate them. The regime has no other plan except to subsist at the expense of the Cubans. It moves blindly because it knows that the process of annihilation that results from its constant political and economic mistakes is taking place down here.
The 63 measures approved in April 2021 to boost agriculture failed. The approach authorized by Biden has not generated the rain of dollars that the leadership expected. The thousands of approved MSMEs have not made any difference in terms of the purchasing power of the Cuban peso; Rather, they have reached the market with slightly lower rates than those of the informal market, but equally unaffordable for Cubans who do not have extra sources of income and foreign currency.
The uniformity of prices in establishments that sell practically the same products, almost all imported, is inexplicable. There is no competition or variety, nor is there a perceived commercial strategy. The attitude seems to be “if I sell, fine; but also”.
Very few MSMEs sell fresh food. The majority do not produce goods or services, since what has really been stimulated and legalized in Cuba is resale, more than entrepreneurship.
No investment in infrastructure. Hospitals, schools, housing funds, thermoelectric plants, aqueducts, roads, sewers and community services are going through a continuous setback that accentuates the discomfort and suffering of the population.
Despite this, a government that has never explained what it does with the money asks for dollars. It attracts the unsuspecting by announcing the upcoming opening of businesses created with mixed capital, which will surely not operate in national currency. With hype and cymbals has been disclosed information about “El Gran Ferretero” and a new market for Russian products, as if ships full of merchandise were arriving at the Port of Mariel.
It is enough to look at how desolate the existing hardware stores and markets are to understand the deception and be very careful not to swell the MLC card with the dollars that Díaz-Canel and his indolent troupe covet so much, who look fatter, lethargic and repulsive every day.
When the doors of “El Gran Ferretero” open, its shelves will display everything that has been stored for a long time, to give the impression of abundance on the opening day and two or three weeks later. Tins of Russian meat ―pure saturated fat― will return to the diet of a population that has been poisoning itself for years with “dogs” and a mixed hash of uncertain composition.
The dollars collected will go to the coffers of the bank that does not belong to anyone, or that, for the purposes of million-dollar debts or other fiscal charges, does have an owner: the Cuban people, who become a State when it suits the regime . The dictatorship wants to pay CRF with Liborio’s dollars plus the 50,000 that handed out tekashi 6ix9nine. If there is anything left over, it will probably help pay for Boris Titov’s reformist skirmish.
It is a shame that geopolitical interests are hidden behind the backlash between Russia and the United States to allegedly help Cuba out of the quagmire. It would be magnificent to see the White House get out of the bidding and leave the Island to Russia, so that Putin and his oligarchs, already drowned by sanctions, also have to deal with a useless government, bad pay and thief, capable of ruining a country from the economic base to the human resources.
Unfortunately, this will not happen, but the Cubans can make it difficult for the regime by leaving their currencies well away from any financial institution subservient to the Communist Party of Cuba. After all, we went two years without being able to deposit dollars in cash and we have survived. Even better: we learned that a dollar in hand is worth more than a hundred in the bank, from where we will never be able to get it.
OPINION ARTICLE
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