The Cuban Revolution Today: Proposals of Changes, Scenarios, and Alternatives 43
Features of the New Economic ModelIn the economic sphere, after the normative and organizational trans-
formations and regulations of the economic reform in its two stages
(from July 1993 to the autumn of 1994 and from this date until the
year 2000, in which a new recentralization meant the reversal of some
aspects of these transformations)^27 and in accordance with the desire
for change expressed by Raúl Castro in a number of speeches, a new
model might emerge. In this new model, foreign investment, together
with the liberation and development of internal productive capacity,
could create an economic structure in which property is not a monop-
oly of the state, though the state remains a regulatory agent. The cen-
tral aim of this model would be to solve in the short and medium term
the two major economic problems: the existence of a dual currency
and the fact that the real wages of the Cubans do not have enough
value to cover their daily needs. This new economic model might have
the following features.
To revitalize production and increase consumption:- A return to the economic reform interrupted around 2000, including constitu-
tional and juridical modifications to facilitate foreign investment,^28 steps toward
decentralization, greater freedom for state enterprises, and diversification of inter-
national trade.
- The reform included the following organizational changes: decentralization of
foreign trade; embryonic creation of commercial duty-free zones and industrial parks
exempt from duties and taxes in June 1996 and of ad hoc commercial and financial
structures; new, more decentralized and autonomous modalities of negotiation between
Cuban enterprises and foreign capital; cash flow in hard currencies in the sugar, nickel,
fishing, oil, and even in certain aspects of social services like higher education; the appe-
arance and development of Cuban corporations that operate in currencies and mixed
companies; a managerial revolution, with new forms of marketing offering products and
services on the Internet as well as joint ventures; the reform of wholesale prices, esta-
blishing more detailed modalities and increasing some of them; and the proliferation of
nongovernmental organizations. The normative changes included the constitutional
reform of July 1992; extension of the statutory order of February 50, 1982, with relation
to foreign investment; and the adoption of statutory orders and resolutions legalizing the
possession of hard currencies, authorizing self-employment, and creating free agricultu-
ral and handicraft markets. - Foreign investment in Cuba amounted to US$4 billion in the period 1994-2004.