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Odds and ends
- From the Havana neighborhood San Miguel del Padron, David Adams of the St. Petersburg Times writes about “palestinos” in Havana – people who have flocked to Havana and build shanties because they have a chance to make a living there. And Juan Tamayo of the Miami Herald provides a good roundup of the current Cuban economic crunch.
- The Miami Herald
has obtained a list of price cuts on 24 products sold in Cuba’s hard currency stores. The figures in the article are confusing, but it looks like the discounts range from five to 27 percent. Many of the prices in those stores are so high that I bet that price cuts will bring in more revenue. (Photo from Palco supermarket.)
- In Granma, television host Randy Alonso complains that President Obama’s “change…has little to do with the relationship between the United States and Cuba.”
- El Pais reports that Spain’s Ley de Memoria Historica, which gives grandchildren of Spaniards the ability to obtain Spanish citizenship, could result in 150,000 Cubans acquiring Spanish citizenship. More than 24,000 applications have been accepted since the process began last December 29. Benefits include the ability to travel outside Cuba on the Spanish passport.
- From the Philippines, here’s a report on a scheme to bring Filipinos to the Bahamas via Cuba, with the promise that they are being recruited for “lucrative employment opportunities.” Authorities in all three countries are trying to shut down the ring, led by “Ned” Pascual and “Peachy” Ramos.
- Pedro Alvarez, the man in charge of Cuba’s food imports, says that regulatory factors – added transaction costs and red tape – have caused a decline in U.S. exports to Cuba since 2005. Rice and wheat are hard hit, he says; only two percent of rice imports are coming from the United States. Cuban Colada summarizes his remarks here (English) , and Alvarez’ interview in the Cuban magazine Opciones is here (Spanish).
6 comments:
Things are getting bad in Cuba, wouldn't say as bad as the start of the Special Period, but hard to say if people will accept another round of hard austerity.
So it'll be interesting to see how USA reacts, either ease things (unlikely) or try and tighten the screws again as they did in mid90s. Yet another test to see if American policies designed to hurt or help the Cuban people. Open up everything, flood the government when they are unprepared, and lets see what happens.
It would seem that what is more important is how the Cuban government is going to respond to this crisis, since it is responsible for the well being (or not) of the people it governs and controls.
NLNR
Retailers drop prices because they need to clear inventory, raise cash, or both. That the drop in prices is for CUC products only indicate that this was not a political decision but rather a commercial decision.
Vecino de NF
I give credit to David Adams' piece on los "palestinos." It made clear the difference between these small, well-serviced informal settlements in Cuba and the huge non-serviced ones that pervade the rest of Latin America and the Carribean.
Vecino, I would not be surprised if inventory or cash was part of the rationale with the price decreases. But there most certainly is a political component, given that we are talking about 24 important (essential) goods (laundry detergent, soap, deoderant, ground beed, canned foods, etc. - ie. not superfluous things like marshmellows or whatever). It shows that the Government is not as desperate for cash as one might believe. It also shows meeting basic needs remains the top priority of policymakers. Part of it also may be the beginnings of a stated attempt to harmonize the prices of CUC goods versus peso goods.
Leftside,
Harmonizing CUC and Peso prices is virtually impossible at 20 to 1 conversion rate or whatever it is these days, and doing on a product specific basis is not the way to implement a macroeconomic measure such as harmonizing two currencies. The government is trying to raise cash to buy other products such as toilet paper that appear to be in deficit. This is done every week by every rational retailer in the work: sell inventory that is either overstocked or perishable, and stock goods that are in demand. It is reasonable to expect that the Cuban government is acting similarly. If that is the case, this could indicate a more rational approach to national commerce. Something that is usually lacking in centrally planned economies.
Vecino de NF
Leftside, you still have not answered my questions. I answered yours.
NLNR
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