The Cuba
reforms are proceeding at a
glacial pace, but even so there have been the
first rumblings of criticism, with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the head of the Catholic Church in Cuba saying it is in one of its worst crises in recent times, and that people are openly criticising the socialist system.
Personally if I was Cuba's rulers, I would think that
economic reforms should predate any 'political' ones, or else risk a
'Russian' reform i.e. problems of corruption and oligarchs arising before any benefits hit the people.
In other words do a China and get working on introducing a private economy, with some adjustments to ensure countryside not left behind, and to ensure poverty gap doesn't get too big.
It's all very well for the US congress to make an issue of political reforms in Cuba before they will lift the sanctions but do they really want several million Cubans sailing to the US because the economy has collapsed in Cuba?
I doubt whether Pres. Obama could survive the backlash from a '
boat people' invasion ..... so let Cuba manage the change, accept that the political changes will come somewhat later than the economic ones (Cuba isn't China. It can't isolate the communist party from the influence of its neighbours,especially the US with its Cuban diaspora), and play the long game.
