2023-10-17 03:09:05
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel came to the crossroads of criticism over the shortages, inflation and migration that the island is experiencing, defending the economic measures taken by his government, while blaming the United States for a “maximum pressure” policy.
The president was interviewed on prime time state television Monday night.
Cuba is going through a tough economic crisis, which has worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the decrease in tourism, as well as US sanctions. Washington limited travel and the sending of remittances, prohibited cruise ships from docking on the island and sanctioned ships that transport crude oil to its ports.
Some of these measures imposed by the government of former President Donald Trump were reversed to a limited extent by his successor Joe Biden, but the embargo on Cuba remained, in order to pressure a change in the economic and social model.
In any case, in January 2021 the Cuban authorities made the decisions – in the midst of the pandemic – to unify the currency and the exchange rate, promote a salary reform and make adjustments to the macroeconomy. As a result of these measures, inflation was unleashed, and according to experts, it ended up putting the island in its current situation.
The president defended the Ordering Task, as the package of measures was called, and assured that inflation had occurred in the same way, since there was more demand than supply of goods, impossible to buy abroad given the lack of foreign currency in the country. and international prices. In any case, he assured that he is seeking to rectify it.
“We are not closed, nor are we dogmatic. We are doing an exhaustive analysis of all the background of the order, of where we could have gone wrong,” said Díaz-Canel. “We have every intention of rectifying all these deviations in the shortest possible time.”
Discontent over the situation on the island led to citizen marches in July 2021 and October 2022, demanding everything from an end to blackouts and shortages to political changes. In addition, thousands of people emigrated, especially to the United States.
Likewise, Díaz-Canel defended the creation of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) — which were opened in September 2022 after having been closed in the 1960s — even those that are not dedicated to national production, but rather They import food and resell it at prices above average purchasing power.
An example of this disparity can be seen when comparing the salary of a state employee on the island—about 5,000 Cuban pesos (208 dollars at the official exchange rate; 20 dollars in the parallel market)—with what a kilo of powdered milk costs in one of these importing and marketing SMEs: about 2,000 Cuban pesos (83 dollars at the official exchange rate; 8 dollars in the parallel market).
In July the authorities recognized a year-on-year inflation of 45.48%, which could rise significantly if the informal market is included, in which products continue to rise.
In any case, Díaz-Canel recalled, the monthly supply booklet that all Cubans have was maintained and that includes some pieces of chicken or meat, half a dozen eggs, a liter of milk daily for children up to 7 years old, beans , rice and toiletries, among others.
Cuba had an 11% drop in gross domestic product in 2020, and barely grew 1.3% in 2021 and 2% in 2022. Tourism still does not take its place in the country’s foreign exchange income as before the pandemic.
“If we had applied neoliberal formulas here we would have solved the problem of 1% of the population, and the rest is every man for himself. But we continue to share a basic basket with everyone,” said Díaz-Canel, who also criticized the media campaign that was unleashed against the island and of which he accused interest groups in the United States.
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Andrea Rodríguez is on X as: www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP
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