June 2, 2008
Younger Castro shies away from radical change
Thomas Catan
After years of frustration, Cubans have been granted a series of small
but significant freedoms by their new leader, who has vowed to do away
with the "excess of prohibitions" built up during half a century of
communist rule.
Since taking over from his older brother as President, Raúl Castro has
moved to ease some of the restrictions on the island's population. Now
Cubans are allowed to buy some consumer goods in US dollars, including
DVD players, mobile phones and computers (although not with an internet
connection). Foreign television programmes, such as The Sopranos and
Grey's Anatomy, are coming to Cuban screens for the first time,
leavening the diet of official programming about the successes of
tractor factories or the imperial pretentions of the United States.
Cubans are allowed into hotels frequented by foreign tourists - and many
expect the younger Castro to loosen restrictions on foreign travel for
the few Cubans who can afford it.
News that a British company will open a luxury golf complex will have
many people wondering: "Is Cuba preparing to throw open its doors to
foreign investment?"
Despite the small measures intended to stop simmering discontent from
boiling over, there are few signs that the regime is preparing for
radical political or economic change. "Raúl is no Gorbachev and no Deng
Xiaoping," Jaime Suchlicki, a professor at the University of Miami,
said, referring to the leaders who opened up the economies of the Soviet
Union and China. "He is willing to correct some of the glaring irritants
in Cuban society ... yet he is unwilling to move the island much beyond."
The Government will now pause for breath, analysts say, concerned that
recently granted freedoms could be fuelling hopes for a change that they
cannot satisfy.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article4045096.ece
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