There is little hope for relief for the Cuban people, let alone recovery, as long as the communist Castro dictatorship refuses to abandon its failed socialist economic policies.
Cuban American economist Carlos Martinez explains in Cubanomics:
Blackouts, Economic Decline, and Bleak Prospects
Over the last month, my schedule was overwhelmed with midterms and simply keeping up with class readings. It is only now that time and current circumstances have become more favorable for my writing.
As some of you who follow Cuba more closely may know, it has become impossible to ignore the ongoing blackouts on the island. At the beginning of the year, around February, blackouts became increasingly severe and prolonged over time, as I reported in previous updates. These blackouts affected anywhere between 20% and 45% of the population, lasting up to 16 hours in some areas, particularly in the central and eastern parts of the country.
At the end of last month, the Antonio Guiteras Plant failed, compounding the already dire circumstances caused by the lack of fuel in the country. This left the population in darkness for several days. The economic conditions on the island have worsened considerably due to recent tropical storms and hurricanes that have battered the country. Miami Herald reporter Nora Gámez Torres has reported:
“Two hurricanes in a month, plus the lack of electrical service and oil, will worsen what experts call ‘food insecurity,’ or the lack of available food on the island. The government’s disastrous agricultural policies, premised on price caps and a centralized distribution system that forces producers to sell most of their crops to the government at below-market prices, have caused food production to plummet on the island.”
Her statement succinctly summarizes the current state of market forces on the island, which faces immense governmental pressure in the form of price controls, central planning, and a lack of Smithian gains. Private entrepreneurs are suffocated by the heavy-handed policies that the regime has imposed, particularly through its recent legislation on imports.
Continue reading HERE.
You mean there is little hope for relief as long as the Castro dictatorship refuses to abandon power, which it will never do unless it is forced out. It has nothing to offer other than what it is doing and has always done.