Cuba: The Old Men And The Sea

                               by David Parmer

In 1954 Ernest Miller Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his short novel The Old Man and the Sea. The story tells of Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman who has gone 84 days without catching a fish. The fisherman goes out one more time in the hopes that his luck will change, and it does. He hooks a huge marlin and after a long battle with the fish he heads back to shore. Along the way he is attacked by sharks numerous times. He does his best, but finally the sharks prevail, and he lands with only the head, tail and backbone of the great fish. The sharks have won.

Surely the aging leaders of Cuba’s Communist party know Hemingway’s story and maybe, subconsciously, they could see a parallel between the fish being attacked by sharks and the threat of Cuba’s revolution being eaten away by “the empire” and greedy capitalists.

It could be so, for the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party gave little ground in the area that the Chinese call “reform and opening up.” This Congress, held from April 16–19 passed few “reforms” and did not even tip its hat to “opening up.”

Well before the conference, former President Fidel Castro set the tone in his open letter to Barack Obama on March 27 published in the Granma newspaper. President Raul Castro, while noting the slow implementation of measures mandated at the last congress five years ago, echoed brother Fidel’s sentiments. He clearly stated than any reform measures, past or future, do not mean a return to Capitalism.

There was no leadership change at the Seventh Congress, and no new economic or political reforms. Fidel Castro hinted that this might be his last appearance at a party congress, and Raul Castro oversaw the introduction of age limits that will retire older members. For the time being, the older generation will oversee the transition to a younger politbureau. Five new members were elected this time.

So how will the transition go? The hardline revolutionaries who poured into Havana on January 1,1959, including the Castro brothers will disappear. The revolution itself will change. The Chinese and Vietnamese models (made brief reference to by Raul Castro during the conference) have shown that a vibrant economy can co-exist with a one-party Communist system. But the present leadership seems no more enamored of these models than of Mr. Obama’s offer for a new relationship made the preceding month. There are many roads open for Cuba including ones that lead to the fate of the former Communist states of the Soviet Union and East Germany.

Vigorous management and a fresh vision for the future of the country, the society and the economy could make the difference, but when the leadership seems to focus  only  on sharks, and not opportunities, it is problematic.

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Photo: M.G.N. via flickr (Cropped for size)