Matthew Fisher - Cuba’s coming revolution

Matthew Fisher: Cuba's coming revolution
Matthew Fisher | February 16, 2015 4:26 PM ET

More than half a century of isolation from America has left Cuba
economically stagnant and culturally idiosyncratic. But the revelation
that the two countries are normalizing ties means change is coming to
everything from the cars on the road to the tourists on the beach. This
week, Matthew Fisher reports from a country on the verge of a new
revolution.

HAVANA, Cuba — Any shortlist of what Cuba is most famous for would
include Fidel Castro, cigars, baseball and the 60,000 vintage American
cars imported before the Cuban Revolution and still on the road today.

The 1952 Chevrolet may be the most popular car in Cuba. But that relic
has lots of lovingly maintained competition from the same post-war era.
Buick Roadmasters, Cadillac Eldorados with their mammoth tailfins, sleek
Plymouth Furys, two-toned pastel Studebakers and even Ford's notorious
Edsel are the most visible legacies of the severe U.S. trade embargo
that was imposed by Washington in 1960 under statutes including the
Trading with the Enemy Act.

It can cost tourists about $30 an hour to ride around in one of the
fancier American convertibles. A Cuban friend arranged a more authentic
experience, finding a driver willing to drive me all day for $70 in a
62-year-old Chevy taxi he had bought a few years back for a couple of
thousand dollars.

Yuniel, who posed for photos with his car but was reluctant to give his
full name, reckoned that his jalopy had been refreshed about a dozen
times over the years with thick coats of black house paint. The car's
odometer stopped working ages ago. Only one windshield wiper worked. The
upholstery was lumpy and the leather and plastic covering it was
probably already thin when Richard Nixon won the White House for the
first time. But the car handled just fine.

During the week, Yuniel usually drives about 400 kilometres during his
12-hour shifts. Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of American cars
built during the design heyday of Detroit's golden era, he rhymed off
vehicle names as the parade of magnificent beauties went by as we drove
past the Baroque ruins of Old Havana and through the sprawling,
ramshackle suburbs where most of the capital's two million residents live.

As thrilling as Cuba is for car buffs searching for old models such as
the Dodge Coronet or DeSoto Firedome, these timeworn automobiles are a
potent symbol of how long the Cuban economy has been frozen in time and
how much catching up there is to do if Washington and Havana make good
on the dramatic promise they made to re-establish diplomatic ties and
lift the severe trade sanctions that have crippled Cuba for so long.

Those landmark changes will not mean much if Cuba does not drastically
change the way it allows foreigners to do business. As longtime Cuban
correspondent, Marc Frank, reported in the Financial Times recently, the
Canadians and Europeans who have been allowed to do business here have
not had an easy time of it. As well as recounting a litany of sad
stories about government interference, Frank noted that about 60% of the
businesses started by foreigners in Cuba over the past 25 years have failed.

Cuba's Marxist-Leninist bureaucracy is slow, inflexible and often
corrupt. Standing with and behind the bureaucrats are security agencies
and courts that have remained deeply suspicious of outsiders and
especially of capitalists. For example, police still interrogate and
often detain Cubans if they see them speaking to visitors without
official sanction.

Still, there is a groundswell of optimism among many Cubans that another
revolution as profound as the one that brought Castro to power is surely
coming and coming soon.

"Everybody is waiting to see what the first step will be," said one of
Yuniel's friends, whose father had served as one of Castro's generals.
"The momentum that has been created now is impossible to stop."

Another man, who spent 19 months in prison for refusing to fight for
Cuba in Angola, said: "After 56 years of terror and being scared of our
own government we have so much hope riding on this. Communism has been a
catastrophe for us. But honestly, very big changes are in prospect and
nobody knows how this will play out."

Drivers such as Yuniel and others insisted that there is a huge pent-up
desire to buy new Fords and Chevrolets and other vehicles that would
allow them to finally retire their treasured old cars. But as most
Cubans earn less than $300 a year it is hard to see how there will be
much of a market.

Cuban authorities allowed a small number of European and Asian cars to
be imported last year. But once import duties and other taxes were
factored in, a Volkswagen ended up costing more than double what it
would anywhere else, so there have been few takers.

If they get the chance, collectors from the U.S. will snap up hundreds,
if not thousands, of Cuba's venerable American cars. But Cuba's stubborn
bureaucracy and its feeble economy make it likely that Yuniel's trusty
Chevy and lots of similar antiques will continue wheeling around Cuba
for years to come.

Source: Matthew Fisher: Cuba's coming revolution | National Post -
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/02/16/matthew-fisher-cubas-coming-revolution/