Without a doubt, the 1990s were the most difficult period in Cuba's recent history.
We are still far from the total shortages of that incredible era, when an entire generation did not give up and ended up getting by... some with a university degree.
In the aftermath of the fall of the Eastern European socialist bloc, the Cuban economy had completely collapsed. In a matter of weeks, we went from a certain abundance to extreme precariousness.
The economic crisis, as well as the political crisis, had particularly intensified during the summer of 1994.
Here is an "echo" that I hope will allow you to better understand a historic moment in Cuba, which marked a definitive turning point in the country's journey since then.
"Fidel Castro is trying to regain control of the protests. The first riot in Cuba's communist history reflects the despair of a population tired of three years of almost total shortages. But the "líder máximo" is unwilling to give up and is going on the counter-offensive.
Fidel Castro's regime, which seemed to be somewhat faltering in recent weeks, has pulled itself together in the aftermath of the first popular riot in thirty-five years of communism. Since Sunday, Havana has been the scene of a vast security and ideological counteroffensive: a massive presence of police officers and even a few paratrooper patrols on the port and at the nerve centers of the old colonial city, a grandiose funeral ceremony for the police officers killed during the violent clashes last Friday in Revolution Square, a high place of Castro's liturgy, patrols of regime supporters brought in en masse from the provinces, traditionally less rebellious than the capital... All of this is orchestrated by long speeches from the Supreme Commander, who did not hesitate to go to the sites of the riots.
This deleterious atmosphere, a mixture of tension and status quo while waiting for a possible opening of the borders, under the stormy heaviness of the Cuban summer, can only reinforce the ironic skepticism of the Havana youth who, for lack of distractions, gather, at night, on the parapets of the Malecón, the seafront boulevard, facing... the American coast.
The beginning of the popular uprising in the capital of one of the last communist countries on the planet, although it was quickly brought under control, underlines the depth of the unprecedented economic crisis that the Cuban regime has been struggling with since the disappearance of the Soviet bloc. The successive hijackings (which continued again yesterday) of passenger boats in the port of Havana to Miami, with the clear and noisy support of a population massed on the docks, reflect, like the riots of last week, the latent despair of a population subjected for three years to a regime of generalized shortages. The dizzying fall in the resources of the Caribbean state, whose trade depended 80% on Eastern countries four years ago, is cruelly perceptible at all levels of the daily life of the 11 million Cubans.
** Queues and shortages **
The drastic reduction in oil imports (from 14 to 6 million tons) has led, in addition to serious disruptions to public transport, to widespread power cuts, which are now daily occurrences. With a GDP that plunged by 50% between 1991 and 1993, the island's import capacity is at its lowest. The omnipresent State is no longer able to supply the basic necessities accessible through the "libreta", the famous Cuban ration book, which is on the verge of falling into disuse. The queues in front of empty stores, particularly in the historic districts where the riots broke out, and whose colonial-style buildings are often in an advanced state of disrepair, are now a daily obstacle course for the majority of Havana's 2 million people. There is the same distressing shortage in pharmacies, where hospitals lack medicines and cleaning products, as well as public services, which until now were the social showcase of the Castro regime.
The decriminalization of possession of dollars, the opening of shops where one can pay in American currency, and the generalization of the black market make this situation even more bitter in the eyes of a population becoming aware of the precariousness of its purchasing power: the average salary in pesos represents barely a handful of dollars at the parallel exchange rate. All the more so since the economic **agiornamento** measures adopted - volens nolens - over the past two years by Fidel Castro are slow to bear fruit. The concessions of offshore exploration permits to Western oil companies, joint ventures with foreign companies and the accelerated development of mass tourism will not be enough to quickly fill the coffers of a State eager to reduce both the money supply and the budget deficit and which is preparing, for the first time in its history, to raise taxes. It is not the most recent economic speech by the Cuban president, delivered at the last session of the National Assembly, just a few days before the wave of incidents, that will bring a glimmer of hope. The "Commander in Chief" announced the worst sugar harvest (the island's main source of foreign currency) in thirty years: 4 million tons compared to 8 million in 1988. He then encouraged Cuban executives "to change their attitude to win the food battle" and simply proposed "to accelerate the return of city dwellers to the countryside". Faced with such a prospect, the discouragement of Cubans, who suffer from malnutrition and vitamin deficiency, is easily understandable, as is their growing fascination with the shores of neighboring Florida, where a powerful and organized diaspora awaits them.
** Wild emigration to Miami **
The wild emigration to the United States, which was at the center of last week's unrest, does not seem to be a miracle solution to the country's economic problems. While Fidel Castro has threatened the United States with authorizing a mass emigration (comparable to that of Operation Mariel, which in 1980 projected 130,000 Cubans onto the coast of Florida), the U.S. State Department has reiterated that "the United States will not allow him to dictate its emigration policy." This does not prevent the American authorities from refining a plan to intercept a possible flow of Cuban refugees and distribute them to military bases in different parts of the territory.
Jean Baudot
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