The “Blockade” Will End Only With a Change in the Internal Order

The "Blockade" Will End Only With a Change in the Internal Order /
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar
Posted on September 20, 2015

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Mexico City, 19 September 2015 – The first
reactions from the Cuban government to the recent relaxations of the
embargo decreed by Obama concentrate mainly on protesting the underlying
condition that, in order to receive the benefits, the Government will
have to modify "the internal order," a euphemism that can be translated
as: tear down what remains of the socialist system in Cuba.

The expressed desire of the Cuban authorities, in this case of the
spokespeople who have made pronouncements, is that the US government
allow companies with "social property in Cuba" (i.e., State-owned) to
participate in the spaces opened by the new policy.

The government's argument is that "these companies are the foundation of
the national economy and the highest percentage of citizens work in
them." Privileging these benefits to the non-state sector makes clear
the political objective of empowering an emerging middle class, which in
this way would have better conditions under which to compete with the
planned state sector.

The curious thing is that, so far, the Government has not clearly told
its people that the country is faced with two options: maintaining the
planned socialist model proposed in the guidelines of the 6th Party
Congress, where the predominance of the socialist state sector
continues; or take a leap without a protective net to the market economy.

If this dilemma were submitted right now to a referendum, the desire to
preserve the so-called "internal order" would probably win. If, however,
there was an open public debate where people of all opinions could
participate, perhaps the results would be different.

The government's room to resist the temptation to open up to the US
proposals is expressed in a temporal dimension and depends on external
factors as diverse as the results of the parliamentary elections in
Venezuela or the recovery of the Chinese economy.

But before the offering of tangible empowerment through private
initiative, ordinary Cubans (that vague social category) might feel more
inclined to give up the benefits offered by "a prosperous and
sustainable socialism" as promised by Raul Castro.

One of the main reasons to believe in this paradigm shift is that Raul
Castro has not ceased to insist on the gradual character of his reforms,
in which everything is done "without haste, but without pause," making
first small, limited local experiments because of the widespread fear of
making mistakes.

To bet on the success of these reforms requires a high level of faith
and this subjective component will only work if people can expect
substantial results in a shorter time frame, especially in a population
that has accumulated so many frustrations after having had to tighten
their belts over and over, while waiting for the "bright future of
socialism."

Obama is now offering Cubans a faster solution, if the Cuban government
gives way and if it changes the internal order that today is the
principal obstacle to the flow of investments or, to put it more rudely,
for (private) stores to be filled with goods and to allow American
business invest in (private) bus and railway companies for public
transportation, and to allow people to get up early in the morning and
to search Google from their own homes for a chicken curry recipe.

This appears to be the main thing, the rest is filler, or rather the
wrapper.

Source: The "Blockade" Will End Only With a Change in the Internal Order
/ 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-blockade-will-end-only-with-a-change-in-the-internal-order-14ymedio-reinaldo-escobar/