No, nothing is changing in Cuba

In today’s Granma, the “Official Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba,” a 1,300-word article appears with this headline:

For each problem, a solution

As we proceed, it is necessary to untie the bureaucratic knots that slow down the expeditious issuing of licenses to small entrepreneurs

The article described the visits of officials to nine municipal offices that take applications, provide information, and issue licenses for small entrepreneurs. These troubleshooters discovered “knots” in the process – such as an office that required applicants to supply four documents that are not required by law, or a case where health officials’ certifications for food vendors were coming too slowly – and fixed the problems.

The officials want applicants to get no “runaround” or “unnecessary irritation” and do not want them to face the same bureaucratic headaches “that have characterized other processes” that citizens must undergo.

At one office, a surly worker tried to turn the group away because they had not received prior permission. That was a “‘welcome’ that should already belong to our ancient history,” the article said. One of the officials retorted: “Didn’t you listen to compañero Raul? The locomotive is already starting to roll.”