A self-employed vendor of sunglasses in Havana

“The Cuban government has said that it wants to transition, to loosen up the economy, so that businesses can operate more freely.  We have not seen evidence that they have been sufficiently aggressive in changing their policies economically”

    President Obama in first meeting with Hispanic journalists, September 12, 2011

"But there is a basic, I think, recognition of people’s human rights that includes their right to work, to change jobs, to get an education, to start a business.  So some elements of freedom are included in how an economic system works.  And right now, we haven’t seen any of that."

   President Obama in second meeting with Hispanic journalists, September 28, 2011

The Obama Administration has minimized the significance of economic reforms underway in Cuba, a part of its rationalization for limiting change in bilateral relations.  Leaving aside the counterproductive illogic of that position as policy, it is disturbing to think they really might be so woefully misinformed. 

Some of the personnel in the US Interests Section in Havana have a cold war political bias that may affect their reporting, but some don't.  It may be that staff in the National Security Council are still giving disproportionate weight to the perspective of the old guard in Miami, but surely others in the White House read the US and international press!

Whatever the reason, ignorance will be less of a defense after publication last week of an excellent comprehensive report by Collin Laverty issued by our colleagues at the Center for Democracy in the Americas.  "Cuba’s New Resolve: Economic Reform and its Implications for U.S. Policy" , available on line here.

It reportedly covers:

•           The origins of Cuba’s economic crisis;

•           What President Raúl Castro is doing to cut centralized bureaucracies and replace Fidel Castro’s economic team; to end state subsidies and mandate painful cuts in state employment; and to rely on private sector solutions to create small businesses, jobs, and markets for property such as cars and housing;

•           The doubts, anxieties, and hopes Cubans are expressing about the changes;

•           The vital role of the Diaspora in providing capital, wholesale goods, support, and training for the Cuban people, with the explicit encouragement of Cuba’s government; and,

•           The actions Cuba can take to expand the reforms, and

•           Policy changes the U.S. should undertake to support them.

Dr. Richard Feinberg, Professor of International Political Economy, University of California, San Diego, will release a complementary report on Friday through the Brookings Institution, "Reaching Out: Cuba’s New Economy and the International Response". 

It is said to offer a detailed pathway for a gradual, step-by-step rapprochement between Cuba and the international financial institutions or IFIs (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank). It also provides an overview of the existing foreign assistance programs sponsored by capitalist nations in Cuba and an analysis of the reforms being enacted by the Cuban government.  The report concludes with several good recommendations for U.S. policy.

Dr. Feinberg served as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director, Office of Inter-American Affairs, National Security Council, in the Clinton White House (1993-96).  He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings where he presented the report on November 18th.

Notable and unusual will be commentary from a Cuban perspective by Professor Carlos Alzugaray Treto of the University of Havana's Center for the Study of the US.  Gary Hufbauer, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economic Policy will also respond.  RSVP for this event here (A video of the program, and possibly the report itself, should be available next week through the same link on the Brookings site.)

Of course for three years the Administration has studiously ignored far reaching recommendations on Cuba issued by Brookings so ignorance may continue to be politically self-serving bliss.

John McAuliff

Fund for Reconciliation and Development

********************

Update:

The full Brookings report by Dr. Feinberg is available on line here.