32 The Americas The EconomistNovember 30th 2019
21a campaigner. Some 600,000 citizens
signed a petition to oblige politicians to de-
clare their assets and conflicts of interest.
It became law. Congress established an
“anti-corruption system”, which created
new agencies and was meant to strengthen
existing ones. Another law bolstered the
independence of the attorney-general’s of-
fice. The Peña government did its best to
avoid implementing most reforms.
The ngos that championed these
changes had hoped that amlowould bring
them to fruition. But he has proved a foe,
not an ally. The leftist president regards
groups financed by business as agents of
“neoliberalism”. He refers to Mexicans
Against Corruption and Impunity (mcci), a
business-backed ngo, as “Mexicans in fa-
vour of corruption”. In part, this is just
amlohogging the limelight. But it also re-
flects his rejection of the ngos’ thesis that
the key to reducing corruption is to bolster
institutions and change incentives. “The
morale in the movement is very pessimis-
tic,” says one campaigner.
Under amlo, the anti-corruption sys-
tem has made no progress, say its archi-
tects. ngos have filed a court challenge
against his appointment of the anti-cor-
ruption prosecutor on the grounds that she
is too close to him. The revamped attorney-
general’s office has kept its old staff and or-
ganisational structure.
amlo prefers discretion to rules. As
president-elect he promised not to follow
his predecessors in prosecuting a few high-
profile wrongdoers from the previous ad-
ministration. Yet he apparently changed
his mind. His government has, for exam-
ple, arrested Rosario Robles, a minister un-
der Mr Peña who is accused of stealing a
quarter of a billion dollars. amloproposes,
bizarrely, to hold a referendum on whether
to investigate Mr Peña and other past presi-
dents for corruption.
The government’s critics are being
treated less gently. In February Guillermo
García Alcocer, boss of the energy regula-
tor, complained that the government had
appointed unqualified officials to his agen-
cy. Days later prosecutors opened an inves-
tigation into suspected conflicts of inter-
est. Mr García resigned.
Even more worrying is the case of
Eduardo Medina Mora, a supreme-court
judge against whom amlohas long held a
grudge. The judge resigned in October this
year after the chief of the government’s fi-
nancial-intelligence unit accused him of
money-laundering. Reports soon emerged
that bank accounts belonging to the judge
and his brothers were frozen hours before
his resignation, only to be unfrozen days
later. Such cases create a climate of fear and
chill dissent. A new law lets the govern-
ment jail suspected tax-dodgers before
they are tried, giving it another tool to in-
timidate critics.amlo’s friends seem to fare better. Take
Manuel Bartlett, an ally who heads the Fed-
eral Electricity Commission. mcciclaimed
that he failed to declare an interest in two
dozen properties worth 800m pesos regis-
tered in the names of people close to him.
amlocalled the allegation “journalism at
the service of conservatives”.
Four-fifths of government contracts are
not awarded through transparent procure-
ment procedures. Many contracts to build
amlo’s pet projects are being awarded
without a bidding process. The govern-
ment invokes national-security grounds.amlo’s administration, like most young
governments, has so far produced few cor-
ruption scandals. As rivalries flare, tales of
malfeasance tend to come out. A report by
the federal auditor into government
spending next year will either burnish or
batter its reputation for rectitude. The han-
dling of the investigation of Mr Bartlett
may show whether it will take seriously al-
legations made against amlo loyalists.
None of this is likely to alter the president’s
approach to corruption. He would rather
hand out big cheques than strengthen
checks and balances. 7A
merican saloonsfrom the 1950s and
Chinese-brand cars still fill Havana’s
streets. Lately, though, they have shared
the road with brand-new electric scooters.
Once rarities—sourced in Panama, Mexico
or the Dominican Republic and sold at a big
mark-up in the black market—scooters can
now be purchased at home, and far more
cheaply than before. The catch: Cubans
must pay in American dollars or another
rich-country currency.
In October Cuba’s communist govern-
ment said citizens could open bank ac-
counts that receive dollars, yen, euros and
other European currencies. They will be
able to use the money to buy importedgoods from new state-owned shops, called
Tiendas Moneda Libremente Convertible
(or convertible-currency shops), where
prices are given in dollars. More than 70 are
planned. This ends a ban on dollar transac-
tions introduced in 2004.
The Tiendas mlcare proving popular.
Shoppers queue to buy refrigerators, air-
conditioners, car parts and television sets.
Some items, including freezers and scoot-
ers, cannot be restocked quickly enough.
By reintroducing the greenback, Cuba
has in effect added a third leg to its dual-
currency system. The state pays its em-
ployees (ie, most workers) in Cuban pesos,
the currency for buying necessities like
electricity, water and bus tickets. In 1994,
during the “special period” that followed
the collapse of the Soviet Union, the gov-
ernment introduced convertible pesos
(cuc), which could be exchanged for dol-
lars at a rate of one to one. This was an at-
tempt to hoover up dollars from remit-
tances and curb inflation by offering
Cubans an alternative to dollars. cucare
now the main way to pay for things like pet-
rol, internet access, hotel stays, appliances
and restaurant meals.
The reintroduction of the dollar is a re-
sponse to hardship. Sources of foreign cur-
rency needed to sustain the import-depen-
dent economy are running dry. A drop in
deliveries of subsidised oil from Venezue-
la, caused by a slump in production and by
American sanctions on firms that ship
Venezuelan oil, led to fuel shortages in Sep-
tember. In response, the government cut
bus services, suspended manufacturing
and urged farmers to use oxen instead of
tractors. Images of Fred Flintstone’s foot-
powered car circulated on social media.
Tourism, which had helped offset theWhy the communist island is reintroducing the dollarCuba’s economyBringing back the greenback
Zooming towards a modern economy