Ken,
We were in Cuba in January (in Satiago di Cuba) for a holiday at a
resort (an excellent one that we can recommend, a favourite of pro-
Cuban Canadians and very loud Italians) but although we visited
Satiago and other places around the area, and did our best to talk
to the locals and the staff, almost all the information I got was
anecdotal and impressionistic. Also, my wife organized a Manitoba
tour of the renowned Cuban choir, Ex Audi last fall and we more or
less lived with them for the better part of a week. However, again
what we got was personal and anecdotal. Unlike our last visit, I did
not meet with university economists and academics to get a more
aggregate view. We do hope to return in December and I have
some possible contacts at the university in Santiago but whether
that will pan out or not I don't know.
A couple of observations, however. There is a very real attempt to
insulate the Cuban population from the tourists. This was nowhere
clearer than at our resort which was 20-30 kilometers from
Santiago. But the staff all lived in Santiago and had to commute
daily. For them it was not bad because the resort ran a shuttle
bus. But for the "locals" running supporting tourist facilities, such
as the cactus garden, it was a daily 6 hour commute (no bus
service, by hitchhiking.)
Further, there is a definite social divide between the tourist staffs
and the general population. Our local tour guides and tour
arrangers were all university trained -- one a former university
professor of French, one other who taught French and English and
spoke fluently Italian, Russian, one other language and, of course,
Spanish. The University professor became a tourist guide, he told
us, quite simply because he could make more money as a guide
than a University professor.
There are shortages -- soap and vegetable oil being perhaps the
most pressing, at least that was what we were told. School
supplies (pencils, paper, crayons, etc.) were also short. Friends
we made there from Ontario who visit Cuba regularly and visit with
local people who have befriended them, told us that it was
important to tip the bands and local musicians because, even when
they play regularly at the resorts, they often don't get paid. So
those that work directly for the resorts do get paid, though not well.
They rely on tipping. Those who work indirectly, frequently don't
get paid and are dependent on tipping.
Begging in the city was a problem, though on one or two
occassions, we were asked for soap, not money. Still, I got the
impression which our guide agreed, that things were gradually
improving. We were there, of course, at the height of the Elian
kidnapping so the anti-Americanism was pretty virulent and explicit
-- though as usual, it was always anti-US government, not anti-
American people. (One tourist site supervisor told us that despite
the embargo and the Elian situation, he prefered American to
Italian tourists.)
The reaction to Castro and the system from those we talked to was
curious (though, admittedly, our sample was very, very small.)
Castro is reverred, even amonst those who aren't much enamored
with the overall system. This is exactly the attitude I found in
Yugoslavia to Tito when I first went there in the 1980s, and even
today. The revolution and socialism seems to command
continuing support though one detects some dissastisfaction with
"the system" as it manifests itself in the bureaucracy. But this is
all very impressionistic. Nevertheless, I think that any evaluation of
Cuba based on capitalistic market measures would be a gross
miscalculation of social welfare.
Paul
Paul Phillips,
Economics,
University of Manitoba
Date sent: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 14:00:00 -0500
From: Ken Hanly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [PEN-L:21677] Re: Markets and socialism
> A very interesting and informative post. I have heard that there is in effect a
> new stratification of workers in Cuba depending upon whether they work in the
> tourist related industry or not. Pay in this area is far above that in the
> state or public sector. Also, the production of co-operative farms is often
> linked to the tourist industry and prices of this produce is often beyond the
> reach of the workers. Finally, I understand that Castro is a reactionary
> influence upon the development of the agricultural sector, insisting that more
> sugar should be grown. Can someone comment on these matters. I thought that
> Paul Phillips went to Cuba a while ago. Can he give us his impressions?
>
> Cheers,Ken Hanly
>
> Louis Proyect wrote:
>
> > About three years ago I attended a panel at the Socialist Scholars
>
