Cuban Economy Minister says there’s only one economic system in Cuba: Socialism

For all those who continue to believe in the fantasy that opening up credit and flooding Cuba with cash will bring about freedom and democracy, the Cuban Communist Party has some bad news for you.

Via CiberCuba (my translation):

Alejandro Gil: ‘The only business system in Cuba is socialist’

The Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, told members of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) that the Cuban regime has a single business system and defined it as “socialist.”

“We always reaffirm that there is a single business system in the country, which aims to produce goods and services to meet the demands of the population and support economic and social growth,” said Gil Fernández in his presentation on the “Situation of the Cuban Economy” during the sessions of the 10th Legislature of the ANPP.

The Cuban socialist business system consists of 16,253 entities, including 2,422 state-owned entities and over 5,000 cooperatives. Additionally, this model includes 103 mixed-ownership enterprises in Cuba (with state participation), nearly 600,000 self-employed workers, and more than 8,500 recently established micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (Mipymes).

According to the minister – who completed five years in office on July 21 – the state-owned enterprises should “generate the greatest dynamic growth of the economy.” Contrary to empirical evidence from the world economy, Gil Fernández insists that these state-owned and socialist “forms of ownership” should be the driving force of the Cuban economy.

“It is a single business system with diverse management and ownership forms, but with the same objective: it is a single socialist system,” affirmed the economy minister, leaving analysts with the striking idea that the “objective” of the state business system is to remain “unique” and “socialist,” rather than producing goods and services profitably.

According to the website noverbal.es, experts in scientific nonverbal communication consider that touching the nose can indicate that someone is not telling the truth, since lying involuntarily releases certain substances that may cause itching in the nose.

Gil Fernández touched his nose on several occasions while explaining to the more than 500 deputies of the ANPP that the socialist business system is responsible for 87 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 75 percent of exports, and 92 percent of net sales.

He also touched his nose while explaining the transformation of 159 Basic Business Units (UEB) into “subsidiary companies” gives them greater autonomy in their management, or when referring to the 270 commercial companies (known as S.A.) with 100 percent Cuban capital, or the more than 100 state-owned Mipymes.

“All of them are socialist state-owned enterprises,” said the minister of the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel. “This is the main economic actor. This is where we have to implement transformations and seek ways of productive development.”

Continue reading (in Spanish) HERE.

1 thought on “Cuban Economy Minister says there’s only one economic system in Cuba: Socialism”

  1. Doesn’t matter what he says. Just another apparatchik. The whole thing is like a really old, really tired joke.

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