Global Economic Slide Deepens Cuba's Hardships

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

[The original headline on this article made it sound as if only Cuba
was having economic difficulty, and somehow to blame for its
problems. In fact, the economic disaster created by the current
pResident at the White House and his handlers is a global collapse,
led by the economic woes of the USA, running out of third-world
countries to rip off. Venezuelan oil was cut off by the US-sponsored
coup. Foreign remittances from the hypocrites in Miami because they
too are feeling the pinch. 

The most serious rot is right here in the belly of the beast; even
now it is not yet obvious how serious the disaster is. And Bush & Co.
aim to keep it that way, because as long as the lazy, ignorant
doltish population is kept pacified with their 6-packs and their TVs
and their DVDs and their SUVs and their flags, those in charge can
rip off a few hundred million more. The goal is to consolidate their
fascist power completely before the fools wake up.]

Reuters via Yahoo - June 10, 2002

by Anthony Boadle 

HAVANA (Reuters) - Communist Cuba's economy has been battered by
falling tourism, low export prices and shortages of oil that will
make life harder on the Caribbean island, experts and business
sources said on Monday.

President Fidel Castro's government plans to shut down almost half of
Cuba's inefficient sugar mills, which cannot compete at today's
rock-bottom world price of about 5 U.S. cents a pound.

The drastic measure will leave tens of thousands of Cubans out of
work in Cuba's largest industry, which for decades was the backbone
of its socialist revolution.

Cuba's pressing need for hard currency to pay for essential imports
of food and oil led the government to jack up prices for consumer
goods sold in dollar shops by up to 30 percent.

The price hikes angered Cubans, most of whom earn local pesos but
need dollars to buy a fan, a refrigerator or other basic consumer
goods in the state-run shops.

"It is going to be a very hot summer in Havana, which can only mean
more push for migration and more social tension," said Damian
Fernandez, an expert on Cuba at Miami's Florida International
University.

The Castro government has taken difficult steps long overdue, such as
the closing of 71 unproductive sugar mills, but has done nothing to
spur output, he said.

"The economic downturn can only widen the gap between the government
and the people," Fernandez said.

"Tired is the word. People are tired," a member of Cuba's Catholic
Church hierarchy told Reuters.

REMITTANCES DOWN

The world economic slowdown reduced the remittances sent by relatives
living mainly in the United States, an estimated $800 million a year
that for many Cubans has become vital for daily survival.

The communist government was forced to legalize possession of U.S.
dollars in 1993 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which
subsidized the Cuban economy by buying sugar at good prices and
supplied the island with cheap oil.

The economy shrank by one third between 1989 and 1994 and Cuba opened
up to tourism and foreign investment to dig itself out of the crisis.

But the impact on world travel of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United
States has meant tourism, Cuba's main source of foreign currency and
the engine of its recovery, fell off by 15 percent in the first four
months of 2002, officials said.

Ten days ago, Cuba began allowing tourists to pay in euros at its
prime beach resort of Varadero, in an attempt to draw more visitors
from Europe.

The Cuban government, which blames four decades of U.S. trade
sanctions for its economic woes, forecasts 3 per cent growth this
year, the same rate posted last year.

But Western diplomats do not expect to see any growth.

CASH NEEDED FOR U.S. FOOD

Following last year's devastating hurricane Michelle, Cuba's worst
storm in half a century, Cuba began buying food from the United
States for the first time since Castro took power in the 1959
revolution.

So far Cuba has bought some $90 million-worth in U.S. farm goods
allowed after American agroindustrial groups succeeded in modifying
the embargo. But the purchases must be maid in cash.

Cuba's increasing international isolation and chronic credit
difficulties have worsened the economic outlook.

Venezuela stopped supplies of 53,000 barrels-a-day on easy terms in
April, when President Hugo Chavez was briefly overthrown.

Chavez, an admirer of Castro's, vowed to restart shipments as soon as
he returned to power, but Venezuela's state oil monopoly PDVSA says
shipments have not resumed because of Cuba's arrears.

A foreign executive in a joint venture with the Cuban state said
shortages of diesel may force temporary industrial plant closures in
coming weeks.

"I don't see any growth. If there is growth it will be minimal and
offset by the fact that daily life is

 
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