Now here’s an antidote to my prediction that reforms will result from the current economic debate. Written by Alex at the Stuck on the Palmetto blog, it describes a similar airing of grievances in 1991. And it’s persuasive.
But as they say on the stock exchange, past history does not guarantee future performance. Right now, there’s a clear desire for change, the system itself says it needs change, the system is organizing discussions of change, and there is no shortage of ideas and options.
And there’s a difference in the leadership. I don’t think we’re going to have to wait too long to see if its foot is on the gas or the brakes.
Alex is probably right on the history of that earlier debate. I was around 15 at that time and incredibly naive regarding politics. I just trusted everything the government said. But the description Alex made feels very familiar. I can imagine the frustration that many surely felt when the political correctness of the time draw a too tight demarcation. It is an almost futile exercise trying to figure out how could have things been if a more daring policy would have been implemented at that time. The margin for reforms is always little. Cuba doesn't invent the aggression. The hostility has been there and it justify tightness. Now, if we are here today talking about a socialist Cuba is because from the perspective of pure resistance, the implemented policy was a success. But it has had a tremendous cost. We should try to make our reforms far better than the old socialistic block. Our current situation both better and worse than theirs at that time. Better because the Cuban Revolution was an spontaneous act, it was not imported and it is rooted deep in the mind of the Cuban people. Worse because we are not Europe and, again, we are under tremendous hostility. This is true, albeit not the only truth.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Phil concerning the uniqueness of the current circumstances. Fidel is almost gone and the Cuban people is tired, just as those who designed the embargo wanted them to be.