32 Chapter 2
a singular combination of planning and the market.^12 Its logic was to
redistribute hard currency, and this is why the prices in the shops that
sell in hard currencies (tiendas de recaudación de divisas or TRDs) are 270
percent higher than in other countries. Between 1995 and 2000 the
country reached an average growth rate of almost 4.5 percent. In 2006
the minister of the economy declared that Cuba had overcome the
Special Period, since the value of the GDP was equivalent to that of
1989 (Carranza, 1996; Monreal, 1997; 2007; 2008). However, the eco-
nomic reform had driven the prices that prevailed in the informal
economy toward the economy as a whole, generating severe inflation.
This implied a sudden decline in the wages of Cubans who received
their salaries in the national currency. I am not against the authoriza-
tion of foreign currency, but to mitigate the rapid emergence of
inequalities that it produces, a parallel solution should be implemented
for the problem of the low salaries of teachers, doctors, and other pro-
fessionals, who earn less than waiters or taxi drivers. The result has
been to punish the ablest and most revolutionary sectors of Cuban
society. The lifting of sanctions on foreign currency was urgent in
order to acquire hard currency in a situation of extreme economic cri-
sis after the crumbling of the “real socialism,” but it happened 17
years ago, and salaries in pesos—also they increased in 2005 and
later—are extremely low in comparison with the income and salaries
received in hard currency in other areas of the economy such as for-
eign enterprises and tourism and with the prices of commodities in
the market.^13
Even the redistributive attempt of the TRDs to recover hard cur-
rencies had a perverse effect in several senses: their prices for meat
and agricultural products were reflected in increasing prices in the
agricultural free market. This caused many potential national or for-
- Central planning remained, but broader areas were opened to private markets that
had been limited since the “revolutionary offensive” of 1968 against small businesses.
Foreign enterprises were invited to invest in almost all sectors of the economy and small
businesses were authorized for Cuban nationals. - Doctors working abroad and outstanding trainers and sports figures receive part of
their salaries in hard currency and, in some cases, pensions.