Often in the pages of Granma, the red-and-black-inkedCommunist Party newspaper that is a daily presence in Cuban life, there is astandard sort of feature article about the island’s economic troubles.
Sometimes it’s a story about bread. Other times bus service,or tires, or the sugar harvest. But the theme is generally the same: workers ata Cuban state-run company struggling to meet production quotas and publicdemand because of supply shortages, broken equipment and a “lack ofdiscipline.”
In one recent edition of Granma, the story was sanitarynapkins.
“Since 2004, investments have been made in national sanitarynapkin production to improve quality,” the Granma article explained. “Inaddition to increasing production capacity at different plants around thecountry, their physical attributes have been perfected, incorporating ergonomicwings, and starting in 2008, super-absorbent material.”
“But frequent complaints about the lack of adhesive on theirwings and a lack of padding have led many to think that the investment hasn’tproduced the desired result.”
Once again, it was a window into an economy still at greatpains to produce basic items that were abundant on Cuban store shelves morethan 50 years ago, under a different system.
More from GlobalPost: A snapshot of Cuba's economy(infographic)
After Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, Cuba adopted a Sovieteconomic model based on central planning and the elimination of most forms ofprivate property. By the late 1960s, Castro had nationalized all businesses ”down to the last shoe shine stand and ice cream cart ” converting nearly everyCuban into a state employee.
Generous subsidies from Moscow kept the island’s economyafloat until 1991, when the aid was cut off by the Soviet collapse. A period ofpainful austerity set in that Cuba has never really recovered from.
Even as the centralized, state-run model disappeared inEastern Europe, Cuba stuck with it. When China and Vietnam unleashed theirentrepreneurs and forged ahead with “market socialism,” Cuba stayed behind.
Many see Cuba’s stubbornness as the result of atrench-mentality developed by decades of US hostility.
The US trade embargo established in 1960 ” the world’slongest-running trade sanctions ” has continued to squeeze Cuba’s finances,targeting foreign companies that do business with Havana for huge fines.
But what has changed in recent years is that Raul Castro nowpublicly acknowledges that the island’s most nagging economic problems aremainly the result of overzealous bureaucracy and excessive state control.
