The truth is that no one is really shocked that Cuba’s corrupt totalitarian dictatorship has failed to carry out the so-called reforms promised just a few years ago. Not even the regime’s supporters in the U.S. who so gleefully touted the promised reforms are shocked. They knew then as well as they know now that “Raul the Reformer” is not at all a reformer. What they really expected and hoped for was that the dictator would “play along” and pretend to make reforms so as to make it easier for them to pretend Cuba is not a repressive apartheid hellhole.
Unfortunately for them — but infinitely more unfortunate for the Cuban people — Cuban dictator Raul Castro and his military junta who own and run everything in Cuba are not interested in playing games. Neither are they interested in giving up one iota of power nor giving the false impression they are giving up one iota of power.
Cuba’s communists dig in as Castro’s reform drive hits the sand
Islanders mystified as ‘economic tsar’ Marino Murillo not heard in public for a year
Cuban president Raúl Castro is preparing to step down next year, Venezuela has cut millions of dollars in aid and Donald Trump’s election has cast a shadow over the nascent US-Cuba detente. Unnerved by the changes, Havana has allowed its domestic reform drive to grind to a halt as the Communist party battens down the hatches.
Marino Murillo, the senior official leading Cuba’s reforms, has not been heard in public for almost a year. His absence has mystified Cubans and dented the high expectations Mr Castro’s liberalising drive once fomented, both at home and abroad.
“There are three reasons for the pause in the reforms — and I say pause, because inevitably reforms will continue at some point,” says Richard Feinberg, a Cuba scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “Senior leadership is focused on managing austerity and preparing the succession as Raúl steps down?.?.?.?They are also managing a backlash over emerging inequality, low state wages and inflation.”
Mr Castro made reform the hallmark of his presidency when he formally took over from his elder brother Fidel Castro in 2008. He sought to decentralise the economy and boost productivity by allowing self-employment, slashing state bureaucracy, welcoming foreign investment and unifying Cuba’s dual currency system.
Mr Murillo, who became known as Cuba’s “economic reform tsar” when he was appointed minister of planning and the economy in 2009, was the technocrat in charge of implementing the changes. In some ways, he and Mr Castro made up a tag team that repeatedly cajoled Cuba’s stolid bureaucracy to reform.
While Mr Castro’s revolutionary stature provided moral cover, Mr Murillo gave lengthy PowerPoint presentations to party and government members that explained the changes. His talks, usually an hour long, were later broadcast on state television, sometimes more than once.
By contrast, Mr Murillo has not uttered a word in public since last July. At the same time, price controls have been slapped on burgeoning private sector businesses in agriculture and transport.
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So the neverending scam continues–and I’m not just talking about the “revolution,” but about its despicable foreign apologists and enablers. Lord, the nausea.