Cuba´s economy under immense strain due to the US embargo and solutions by thinking outside the box
The signs are evident and, despite Cuba needing to change from within and allow free enterprise it is unmistakable that the US embargo must end.
The basics of the embargo are now weighting down Cuba´s people as much as its economy in the most grotesque way. Limitations attached the embargo impeding everything from money transfers, to farmers in the US making a buck by selling their goods to Cuba. Tourism is also a touchy subject; I mean why should Americans not be allowed to visit Cuba? Is it because US dollars will somehow make Cuba´s government stronger? What about the 10 million or so non US tourists, predominantly from democracies around the world who, over the past 5 years have brought billions of Canadian Dollars, Euros, Yen or Rubles? Did they strengthen the Cuban government? Alas, it would appear to be an erroneous and misguided belief that somehow Americans visiting Cuba would prejudice the US. If anything, free spirited Americans would meet their likeminded and free spirited Cuban´s. It takes two to tango and if “tangoing of mindsets” is what the whole travel limitation thing is about then maybe, just maybe, today is a good a day as any to let the two cultures meet.
It’s a total fallacy that Cuban´s are a breed apart, a nation unlike Americans or any other such ridiculous pretense. Cuban´s are human beings and as a result strive for everything from family values to the latest TV set. Allowing the country to breathe and relieve it of the weight of such an immense superpower cowering down over it may just be what the doctor ordered. There can be no mistake that with the embargo lifted or even legal travel to Cuba the whole psyche of Cuban´s will change, not gradually but over night. They´ll want more, need more and have absolutely no underlying motive (the embargo) as an excuse for not being able to strive for their goals. Freeing the spirit of Cuban´s will come about when there is no longer any media outlet able to blame the embargo for all life’s ills. No more people, whoever they may be, saying to Cuban´s that there´s no way forward unless the embargo is gone. When it is gone and, most outsiders will show a sign of relief whereas, most Cuban´s will ask themselves “now what? There´s no embargo but things seems to be the same around here”. They´ll ask for more and need more and likewise the government will be obliged to give more. More being what Cuban´s need and that is to allow their historically recognized ingenuity to prevail in vocations they themselves have fostered and grown. Letting Cuban´s strive for free enterprise mixed with the lifting of the embargo will create the right metamorphosis for its people.
Instead of freeing prisoners or allowing free speech in greater or lesser levels why not lift the embargo if the Cuban government opens a Cuban chamber of commerce for Cuban´s instead of the one just for foreigners in Havana? Instead of allowing only 20 different menial activities under the flag of free enterprise why doesn´t the US offer to lift the embargo if Cuban´s can open other types of businesses? Would it not be more logical if the embargo is to be lifted that the business partners and investment recipients be Cubans who have opened fledgling Cuban companies rather than companies owned by the government? It would appear that this would be the way to kill three or more birds with one stone. Liberate Cubans, create free enterprise and, with the embargo lifted, allow Americans to invest in Cubans instead of the Cuban government. There could be no better way of empowering the Cuban people.
It should therefore be Obama´s duty to take a new path and simply forget about all the “requirements” made on the Cuban Government over the past decades and switch his demands. His demands should be that Cuba allow its people to open legitimate businesses, become self employed and be able to engage other Cubans as employees. Foster competition in sectors such as tourism and hospitality. It would make Cuban Government entities more competitive as privately owned ventures fight for market share. It would shake things up a little and create the type of internal competition that Cuban companies have been de-educated about. After all, China and even Venezuela allow that don´t they?
Once the Cuban government welcomes those requests and US dollars can flow freely to businesses owned and managed by Cuban´s, everyone will be wondering what all the fuss was about 10 years from now. The very foundations of the United States stems from free enterprise and the US should request only that if their requests are to be taken seriously and also achieve the outcome yearned for over decades and various presidents. The outcome being, liberate Cuban people, no?
Obama could even inaugurate the new Cuban chamber of commerce (for Cubans) and visit some of their businesses.
