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Five Myths of Cuba
Current student Peter Finfrock ‘04 attended the Thunderbird Winterim program in Cuba with fellow classmates and Professors Linda Wetzel and Heidi García. During his trip, he confronted several of the myths about Cuba that most Americans believe true.
I will tell you what I think is going on in Cuba. I say 'think' because typical Cubans do not acknowledge the duality of their culture. They will tell you an official line, and then leave you in a state of cognitive dissonance as you observe reality. But as the dissonance fades, you connect the dots on your own.
Myth #1: Cuba is a Communist country. Despite the necessity of each person creating his or her own private capitalistic enterprise in order to survive, the myth persists. From my observations, and the comments of university professors and small business people, I have come to the conclusion that while Cuba may be highly authoritarian, it is not solely communist. Instead it is a sort of mix and match of communist services and restrictions with the necessity of capitalist enterprise.
Everybody, of course, has a side business to make the majority of their money. This is run on the pure grass-roots capitalist model. But even in private enterprise, the government gets its take in terms of heavy licensing fees, which is how the authoritarian government sticks its nose into the business world.
Myth #2: Basic economic principles do not function here because of the distorting impact of the state's power. The things that a society values the most are the ones that it will reward with the most money. Here in Cuba, the highest priority is on tourism. Our professors at the University of Havana talked about the “Inverted Pyramid,” meaning that the most educated professionals are at the bottom and the tourist trade people are at the top of the social hierarchy. Tourism is the sugar and tobacco of the 21st century. The 'wealthy' of Cuba are the ones who interact with tourists, from prostitutes to cab drivers, to artisans selling their crafts at the market for tourists, to bands that play in hotels.
The people who were educated for industry, science, technology, medicine, sports, etc. were way ahead of their time, but unfortunately preparing for the wrong economic conditions. They were studying fencing and architecture while they needed to be learning hotel management and culinary arts. And so they are now left behind and forced to do jobs for which they are ill compensated. They are, in fact, prohibited from working in the tourist sector, at least in an official capacity. The government tells these people that their time will come once the country develops to the point where the pyramid will revert to an upright position again.
Myth #3: Land is the property of the People and cannot be sold. This has been the hardest to figure out. Is it true or not? Everyone has a different story. Rainier, a young intellectual, finally clarified it for me. He explained that no one owns their own home or land, except the People (Fidel). They can, however, pay the net present value of the rent to perpetuity, which is a lot like owning it because then you never have to pay anything again. This means that they pay the value of the rent to perpetuity, not the rent to perpetuity. One difference, though, is that they cannot officially sell their homes. Instead, they either live in them with no additional costs or pay a monthly fee to the government to rent them.
Myth #4: The US and Cuba have neither business relations nor diplomatic recognition of each other. As to diplomatic relations, both countries have "Interest Sections" in the other country that function as de facto embassies. The US Interest Section is located under the auspices of the Swiss embassy along the Malecón. For a long time, it had a big sign in front of it saying, "Imperialists, we have absolutely no fear of you!" Cuba's Interest Section is located in the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C.
As to the business relations, Coca-Cola, DHL, Western Union, and Champion Raisins are in Cuba. DHL and Western Union run offices throughout the country. Coca-Cola is brought in from Mexico. If the goods can be imported from Mexico or elsewhere, then the only effect of the embargo is to prevent US companies from receiving their profits.
Myth #5: The embargo, or 'blockade,' as Cuba would have it, is responsible for all of the economic ills of Cuba. The Helms-Burton law contains a provision allowing the US government to sue any foreign government that makes use of properties formerly belonging to the wealthy Cubans who were exiled in or just after 1959 for the full extent of the damages. The provision is meant to be a threat to foreign investors in Cuba, and it means that foreign investors have to research the physical properties, which they will be using in case there are any claims on that property by exiles. Yet Helms-Burton has never actually been used. If Helms-Burton is so powerful, why are so many foreign investors active in Cuba? Canada, Italy, Germany, and Spain are the biggest investors, with Canada leading the pack. In fact, foreign companies doing business in Cuba are protected by its policy of total confidentiality, as evident in the fact that the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Investment would not reveal the names of foreign companies who have invested there.
In Cuba, I felt like I was from another planet, one where people care about making a profit in order to better themselves, and that I had been placed in a land where people don't even see the underlying importance of that, though they talk about it knowingly in the abstract. But if Cuba can be this alive under these circumstances, then imagine what it will be like later in its full flower.
This article first appeared in Volume 38, Issue 4 of Das Tor, Thunderbird's student newspaper. Peter Frinfrock holds a B.A. in history from Wesleyan University and an M.A. in education from the University of Colorado. He has over four years experience in financial services and two years in investment banking and will graduate from Thunderbird in December 2004. Peter can be reached at PeterFinfrock@global.t-bird.edu.
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