> Cuba claims that it will be using Vietnam as a model of some of the
> changes in the system. The state employment sector will be reduced although the
> document circulated by Julio says there will be no shock therapy. Translated
> this means there will be. Subsidies will be reduced, big cuts will be made to
> employment in the public sector and rationing removed. Rationing involved the
> harmful notion of equality as the circulated document puts it:
I don't have any particular insight on where Cuba is heading. As Monedero says, the Cubans are trying to solve very pressing practical problems with solutions (with or without quotation marks) that will only create new problems. That is how all societies evolve. Monedero, very aptly (I think), refers to the NEP reform under Lenin. Given Cuba's history after, say, 1970, I can tell that the process has been sweeping in scope and rather deep. There's been a significant amount of participation from the grassroots. People who had grown extremely cynical about Cuba's situation -- for reasons I can understand even if I don't share -- have decided to grant Raúl the benefit of the doubt. I see the process with solidarity in my heart, for obvious personal reasons. And I frankly think that Raúl has the heart in the right place. But we all know that this is not a sufficient condition (and I often wonder whether it's even a necessary one) for a leader to usher real progress in a complex historical situation. The Cubans will have to deal with the outcome, whichever it may wind up being. I believe we should observe, support the process (even if we are nervous about particular policies adopted), learn from the experience, and deal with our own thing here.