Cuba: A Caribbean Tiger?

Erasmo Calzadilla

HAVANA TIMES — Juan Triana is a Cuban economist we’re hearing more and more of in these days of change. An articulate man, he is precise in his proposals and implacable in his criticisms.

Listening to him speak, suggest that there is really no way around simple economics, that the system is about mathematics and that we will always pay dearly for our idealistic fantasies, is almost like having an epiphany, a refreshing feeling after having suffered Fidel Castro’s totalitarian-philanthropic dementia for so long.

I like this feeling, but I disagree completely with this shrewd economist on one point: the issue of development.

Triana is an ardent proponent of economic development as verified by GDP growth.

What he affirms is that, in order for Cuba to get on the train of the global economy, it must have a Gross Domestic Product similar to those of the Asian Tigers in their best moments, above 7%. Only then will we be able to distribute and re-invest efficiently.

For me, this idea of development is like a carrot at the end of a stick. Why?

First of all, because it is part of an economic paradigm in which human beings (“human capital”, as it is called) are a means rather than an end. Happiness, wellbeing, people’s concrete living conditions stay out of the equation if they do not have a direct impact on the production of quantifiable goods and services.

By imposing his idea of happiness upon us, Fidel Castro sacrificed the country’s economy in one fell swoop. That was far from good for us, but, in our comeback, it is important that we do not sacrifice human beings themselves just to latch onto China’s locomotive (or any fast locomotive out there).

Second of all, because we now know very well that exponential economic growth (even of a modest 1 percent) is not sustainable, not even in the mid-term. Hasn’t this economist been told that we’ve already gone past the oil peak and that even the most powerful nations are having a difficult time growing economically? Hasn’t he realized that a global ecological disaster is practically at our doorsteps?

Listening to him, one gets the impression he is still living in the happy sixties (when the Asian Tigers took off), when oil was gushing out of the earth as though from an inexhaustible spring, and the environment had the lungs of a baby.

Even if the idea of growing at the rate of 7% were implemented only by Cuba, as a means of making up for lost time, I would prefer a sounder economic project which can be applied to other countries as well, at the risk of missing the train of the global economy (which is heading towards a precipice anyways).

In essence, Juan Triana has the following good news for us: “Development is near. Repent for your sins and make huge sacrifices. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a poor nation to enter the kingdom of the global economy.” The believers enthusiastically applaud.

Now, I would like to leave you with the catchy refrain of song by one of reggaeton’s precursors, a man who was also quite the admirer of the Asian Tigers: Cuban singer Candiman.

– Do you want me to take you to Singapore? *
– Yeah, baby.

– Do you want me to take you to Singapore?
– Yeah, baby.

– Do you want me to take you to Singapore?
– Yeah, baby.

– If you want me to take you there, come over and taste my milkshake.
—–
* A suggestive use of the country’s name, which sounds like the vulgar, Cuban slang word “singar”, to fuck.