While the Cuban people starve, the communist experiment persists

Despite a century of utter and disastrous failure (64 years in Cuba), the socialist economic experiment persists, taking its toll on humanity.

Economist Elias Amor Bravo writes in 14yMedio (translation by Translating Cuba):

In Cuba People Go Hungry but Communist Experiments Continue

The steps that Cuban communist leaders say they are taking to “strengthen local food systems in all municipalities of the country” can give much worse results. This blog has previously warned that transferring production, which should be attended to at the national level, to the territories is a loss of efficiency, because resources are not used properly. If the authorities persist in the effort, let them be warned. This is not the way to achieve sovereignty or food and nutritional security.

The effort to transform local food systems has been one of the latest ideas of communist leaders for a little more than a year, as part of the actions to deal with the serious economic situation in which the economy finds itself, because of the Ordering Task.* The leaders’ slogan is that “there should be no patio, plot or piece of land unplanted.” But the State continues to maintain thousands of idle acres, which do not produce and do not become profitable. Behind this initiative is Prime Minister Marrero, who will end up reaping one more failure in his long political career.

It seems unbelievable that the communist leaders believe that there are strategies to strengthen local food systems in all the municipalities of the country. Apparently no one has explained to them what economic geography is and the remarkable disparity that exists between some areas and others for a productive dedication to agricultural tasks. That disparity favors the specialization and the search for economies of scale to produce at minimum unit costs.

Therefore, in Cuba before 1959, there was one head of beef cattle per inhabitant on the plains of Camagüey and the best sweet potato obtained in the fields near the capital. No one would think of raising cattle in the latter area or planting sweet potato on the Camagüey plains. The Spaniards had already realized these circumstances since colonial times. If it is now intended that the same thing will occur in each municipality and province, not even those commissions created to implement the measures will be successful.

Why have the communists come to these measures to take advantage of local systems? According to Marrero, because of the “financial restrictions faced by the country, the impacts of climate change, the global food crisis and the origin of food in imports.” And once again the question is, what do local systems have to do with these problems that belong to the agenda of governments? Isn’t there a covert intention of the regime to transfer its problems and responsibilities to others? Is there no one in local and provincial governments who doesn’t realize the trap they are setting for them? Well, it doesn’t seem so. And so, if no one or nothing says otherwise, this transfer of power will soon take place and will create first and second class Cubans at the same time.

The point is that with these measures it will not be possible to reduce the importations of food and, at the same time, increase the sources of national production. Quite the contrary. The dependence of imports on the financial resources that can be obtained once again poses the problem of the payment of debts, which the communists never talk about. But in reality, if Cuba does not have access to the international financial markets it is because it does not comply with payment of its debts, and, logically, no one wants to lend. So tell me what this has to do with local and provincial governments.

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