Cuba has been a communist country since 1965 and we can observe the very controversial moments in Cuba’s development at the moment. On the one hand, this country offers free education and health care services and therefore there is high level of literacy, old life expectancy and overall human development. On the other hand, this country is in general poor and its macroeconomic indicators are very low. So it seems that the Cuban planned economy has failed and the local people have to look for the ways how to survive.
In the article “To live Outside the Law You Must Be Honest”, Dick Cluster (2004) writes about the Cubans and the illegal ways in which they earn the money. He tells a joke in which the people are divided in three classes: dirigentes (officials who are protected from the economic problems), diplogentes (people who have access to the dollar stores) and indigents (poor people). Unsurprisingly, the latter are the majority in the country with the 10 million people population. In addition, there are many books and films that touch upon the topic of the crisis of the Cuban society. The 1990s were especially difficult years for Cuba, because the Eastern Block collapsed, and the Cuban economy became isolated and suffered greatly. A lot of people began break the laws and the communist values, because the state allowances and wages are insufficient for living.
More importantly, Cuba’s transition toward some features of capitalism may have been caused by the understanding that when human beings work individually, they will have more motivation to work effectively. Therefore, in the 1990s there were some liberalization reforms that allowed the firms not to rely excessively on the Cuban government. Cuba is not the first communist country that went through liberalization. There is also an example of contemporary China led by the Communist party, but able to cooperate with the majority of the capitalist countries. Probably the communism in the pure form is impossible to achieve. Therefore, there are mixed models of planned economies that allow a certain level of individualism.
This is hard to predict how Cuba will change when the Castro brothers stop ruling the country. It is likely to look like the countries in Latin America. There will be some features of democracy, but in general the society will value truthfulness, equality and no exploitation, even though the Cuban society is already divided. The American government will try to cooperate with Cuba and become the key partner. For Cuba this is a good thing, because the country lacks investment and markets for exports.
Lastly, the issue of ethics in the situation with the Cuban people and the private or state companies that do not follow the laws is very controversial and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. The people and the companies often have to break the law in order to overcome the financial difficulties if the government’s activity harms them. At the same time, there are companies and people who would like to cash in on the financial problems. Such people are not only in Cuba, but in nearly all countries of the world. So it is up to the society of this or that country how to recognize the illegality. Nevertheless, absence of justice for sure will bring inequality into the society. Therefore, the governments no matter what their political ideology is should think of the ways how to provide the equal opportunities for the people and companies. If that is impossible, than there is a crisis of the political ideology in the country and in order to overcome the difficulties some structural economic and societal changes have to be made.
In conclusion, Dick Cluster in his article refers to the notion of honesty in Cuba and explains that poverty and economic crisis led to the development of the black market economy in Cuba. This is impossible to predict how Cuba would live without imposed sanctions and in the more favorable international environment. Though it is very clear now that the planned economy of Cuba failed a long time ago and the government of the country should finally acknowledge its mistakes and implement the reforms that will bring prosperity and honesty back.
References
Cluster, Dick. (2004). To live Outside the Law You Must Be Honest. Cuba Today Continuity
and Change since the ‘Periodo Expecial’. Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere
Studies The Graduate Center, The City University of New York. Web. Retrieved from
https://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-
Center/PDF/Centers/Bildner%20Center%20for%20Western%20Hemisphere%20Stud
ies/cubatodaybookcomplete.pdf
