The New York Times recently asked “Can a rice maker possibly be revolutionary?” The answer for now, at least in the case of Cuba, is a still tentative “maybe.” Appliances including rice makers, DVD players, televisions and home computers have gone on sale to the general public in Cuba, following President Raul Castro’s declaration that these items should be available to the average Cuban citizen (BBC, 2008). While Fidel Castro fought for years to maintain a strictly communist political and economic system in place, Raul’s actions are quickly beginning to weave threads of capitalism into the system with consumer goods and increased access to communication devices.
Castro has also taken other leaps toward bringing 21st century technology to the hands of many more than his brother’s previous policies by expanding access to personal communication devices. Earlier this year, he opened the doors for privately owned cell phones in the country. Prior to the change, only government employees and foreign workers could use them. Other policy changes include allowing farmers to manage their unused land for profit and lifting a ban on Cubans using tourist-designated hotels. However, we must not be too quick to view these policy changes as indicators of larger steps for the Cuban population until the impact of these changes become clearer.
The New York Times article quoted government officials as saying more restrictions will be eased up in the near future as Raul continues to settle in to his new role. Possibly up next on the agenda? Allowing Cubans to buy and sell their own vehicles and relaxing restrictions on traveling abroad. However, it is worth noting that while the restrictions that have been relaxed in the first part of 2008 may seem like huge steps for the previously rigidly socialist nation, these changes are still only a reality for a small portion of the public. The Times notes that a rice maker, at $70, currently costs three times the average monthly income in Cuba and a home computer will not be a reality for many Cuban families for quite some time to come.
Still, according to the BBC, over 7000 cell phone contracts have already been sold in the two weeks since the devices became accessible to nongovernment workers and ordinary citizens, demonstrating a clear demand for such products. And Etecsa, the mobile service provider, anticipates selling over a million new phone contracts by 2013, despite a new contract costing six times the average monthly salary in Cuba.
Not all obstacles to communication lie within the Cuban government. For instance, the BBC reports that while personal computers may be on sale, the ban remains on Internet access across Cuba. However, the Cuban government is insisting that the cause of the disconnect is the inability to complete undersea fiber optic cables, due to the US trade embargo with the country, limiting Internet access at the moment to spotty and expensive satellite service. So where does Cuba go from here?
With China now serving as Cuba’s second largest trading partner, could the development of a more complex system of consumerism be on the rise side by side in both countries as more goods and services become more reasonably priced? Possibly. Economists and politicians are at work asking questions about how significant these recent changes are to Cuba in the big picture. Is this a sign of a much larger change in Cuba’s economic and political infrastructure? Or just a sign of the current structure adapting to the times in order to continue to go strong?
Many news sources are focusing attention on the symbolic freedom of such policy changes, regardless of how accessible these freedoms may be for regular Cuban citizens. For example, the Havana Journal, a Massachusetts-based publication, reported that the unrestricted sale of these new appliances and electronic communications devices was “the first sign President Raul Castro is moving to improve access to consumer goods for Cubans.” B
The recently relaxed policies discussed here create just one example of how, while Cuba is clearly shifting away from the rigid consumer and communications restrictions of Fidel Castro’s rule, we must still wait and see just how far his brother is willing to take these new implementations into the twenty-first century.
For more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7381646.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7364791.stm
http://havanajournal.com/politics/entry/cuba-allows-cuban-people-to-own-computers/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/world/americas/02cuba.html?em&ex=1209873600&en=8cbea22a8fcc2025&ei=5087%0A
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