Vol. 79/No. 3      February 2, 2015

The new measures “are a step in the right direction,” said a statement published Jan. 16 in Granma, Juventud Rebelde and other Cuban dailies.

“But there is still a long road to go to dismantle other aspects of the economic, commercial and financial blockade through the use of the executive powers of the U.S. president and for the U.S. Congress to put an end to it once and for all,” the statement said.

Prohibitions on most U.S. exports to Cuba remain in place, especially for advanced technology, the statement notes, with the exception of telecommunications equipment, which are designed to advance “the objectives of the U.S. policy of trying to increase U.S. influence in Cuban society.”

There is growing consensus among the propertied rulers in the United States in favor of loosening restrictions on Cuba. They see new openings to intervene more directly in Cuban social relations given the success of the embargo at inflicting hardships on the island’s workers and farmers, especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

To meet the challenges created by the embargo, the Cuban government has allowed more room for the workings of the market — including creation of hundreds of thousands of small businesses — while assuring that the bulk of the economy remains nationalized under control of the island’s working people.

Conservative columnist George Will supported Obama’s moves in the Dec. 24 National Review. “Obama’s new policy is defensible if it will improve their [11 million Cubans’] political conditions by insinuating into Cuba economic and cultural forces that will be subversive of tyranny,” he wrote.

The Cuban government estimates that the more than 50-year-long U.S. embargo — instituted to punish the Cuban people for overthrowing the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, ending U.S. domination and opening the first socialist revolution in the Americas — has caused more than $100 billion of losses for Cuba.

While the bulk of the embargo remains in place, the new rules allow the sale of equipment and tools and “micro-financing” to privately owned businesses. The Treasury regulations also make it easier to send money to U.S.-backed “human rights organizations” and other counterrevolutionary groups in Cuba.

The Washington Post remains skeptical that the U.S. shift can have the desired effect. A Jan. 18 article by Nick Miroff points to the widespread celebrations around the return of the Cuban Five. He notes continued backing for the 1959 revolution and complains that in Cuba there is a “culture of revolutionary heroism.” He says President Castro has “promoted more women, Afro-Cubans and younger figures” and that leadership development is based “on their merits rather than on the strength of personal charisma.”

Opportunities for Cuba

The biggest change makes it easier for U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba. Those traveling under 12 allowed categories — including educational purposes — no longer have to apply for a U.S. permit. They only need to make sure their schedules don’t “include free time or recreation in excess of that consistent with a full-time schedule of attendance at professional meetings or conferences,” according to new rules issued by the Treasury Department. Many of those travelers will take the opportunity to learn firsthand about Cuba’s living revolution. Plain tourism remains prohibited.

The rules raise the limit on what U.S. citizens can bring back from Cuba, including rum and cigars, which will generate additional revenue for the island. For the first time, travelers will be allowed to use their credit cards to pay for goods and services in Cuba.

Some 98,000 U.S. citizens — not including Cuban-Americans — visited Cuba in 2012. Travel agencies expect a substantial increase under the new rules.

Cuban-Americans, who already had few restrictions on their travel to Cuba, will now be allowed to send up to $2,000 to family members on the island every three months, up from $500.

U.S. farm giants seek greater access

Although U.S. corporations have been allowed to sell some agricultural products to Cuba they have been hampered by U.S. regulations that require cash payment in advance and ban ships that dock in Cuba from docking at U.S. ports for six months.

U.S. agricultural exports peaked at $700 million in 2008, but fell to under $350 million by 2013. Competitors moved in, with Brazil’s exports increasing fourfold over the last 10 years. The new rules lift the docking restrictions, but keep the cash payment requirement.
 
 
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