Cuba Troubled by Political Shifts, Economic Hard Times

Cuban leader Fidel Castro told a French newspaper not long ago that, despite reports to the contrary, Cuba does not force its people to stay on the island against their will. He challenged France to issue entry visas to any malcontents who want to leave Cuba.

“We are willing to let all those who want to leave the country do it,” Castro said in an interview with L’Humanite, the newspaper of the French Communist Party, “provided that France grants visas to them.”

Some Cubans took Castro at his word.

A few days after the interview appeared, hundreds of Cubans began to gather at the French Embassy in Havana to request visas. Castro’s challenge had somehow been interpreted as an invitation from France.

Growing Uneasiness

The Cuban police intervened and, according to witnesses, rounded up several dozen people in the crowd and took them off to jail, where their heads were shaved. They were released a few days later.

The incident seemed to confirm what foreign observers here and analysts abroad have been saying for months, that there is uneasiness on the island, increasing as Cuba passes through a period of political change and hard times.

There are similar conditions, or worse, in many Third World countries, but Cuba gets special attention. Because Cuba has thrust itself onto the world stage through its tight alliance with the Soviet Union, any difficulties on the island are of special interest to the United States.

Moreover, some foreign observers have seen signs that Castro might encourage an exodus of his people, as he has done periodically in the 28 years of his rule. The interview in L’Humanite helped fuel such speculation.

Chaotic Boat Lift

“We have no objection to the United States admitting 10,000, 50,000 or 100,000 people,” Castro was quoted as saying.

In 1980, Castro invited Cuban exiles in the United States to go to Mariel, a port in western Cuba, and take family members away by boat. The result was a chaotic boat lift that removed about 125,000 discontented Cubans from the island. In the process, Castro emptied many of the nation’s jails and sent common criminals to the United States.

Now, in discussing the possibility of opening a new escape valve, Castro seems to be acknowledging that these are difficult times for his government.

Recently, in the type of policy swing that has become as closely identified with Castro as his beard, Castro undertook a campaign to instill a spirit of selflessness in the population. His goal is to increase production and efficiency by whipping up patriotic fervor.

Signs of Dissatisfaction

This followed cancellation of a program initiated by Castro in the early 1980s that emphasized material gain as a way to move the economy forward.

Also, Castro has pledged to weed out corruption and waste in the Communist Party and government through a process called “rectification.” In many Communist countries, such rhetoric would indicate some sort of power struggle in the ruling party, and there have, in fact, been signs of dissatisfaction at high levels of Cuba’s government.

Last year, Castro shuffled his inner circle and eliminated at least one official who was known to favor Soviet-style development programs. The ouster of the official is now being seen as significant since Castro’s current campaign of mass mobilization and dogmatic communism runs counter to the results-oriented reforms initiated in the Soviet Union under Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

In May, an air force general defected to the United States and suggested that Castro’s new austerity measures and rectification campaign are unacceptable to some military officers because they are seen as another wild swing that will throw Cuba off its development course.

Criticized ‘Technocrats’

Soon afterward, a Cuban intelligence agent, Florentino Azpillaga, fled to Austria from Czechoslovakia and defected to the United States. In statements made to Radio Marti, the U.S. government’s anti-Castro radio station, Azpillaga said that Castro’s “egomania is ruining the country.”

Castro may be having trouble, too, with the trained elite in his government. In June, in a speech to government industrial officials in Havana, he spoke disparagingly of “technocrats.”

“The technocrats--we will use the word in a slightly disrespectful way--usually came in with their big ideas and built castles in the air,” he said. “They pretended they knew everything, that they had burned the midnight oil. Perhaps all they did was study a few manuals and nothing else without any real creativity.”

For whatever reason, Cuba is running into serious economic problems. Worldwide prices for Cuba’s exports are down and, although Cuba receives considerable economic aid from the Soviet Union, its reserve of dollars to buy needed imports from the West is on the decline. Last year Cuba reduced its imports from the West by half.

Consumer Prices Up

Prices are up for scarce consumer goods, food, gasoline and electricity; the government has cut back several employee bonus programs that gave workers an extra margin of income, and underemployment is said to be on the rise.

Castro insists that despite the belt tightening, he will maintain his government’s massive welfare state.

“Investments and social programs, especially those related to education and health, have been maintained,” Castro said in the interview with L’Humanite.

Castro has called on Cubans to return to voluntary work to resolve some economic problems, notably the housing shortage. He has reactivated long-abandoned “micro-brigades” of laborers to build housing, especially in dilapidated Havana.

Contrasting Programs

The micro-brigades are often described as examples of revolutionary devotion, but the members are often paid off for their work by being given a home once their unit has completed a few housing projects.

This contrasts sharply with attempts in recent years to solve some shortages by giving entrepreneurs free rein in some fields. Following the Mariel boat lift, Castro instituted free markets where holders of small, private lands could sell their produce.

The program’s success was its downfall. Peasants began to make money, and workers on state cooperative farms began to scramble for private plots.

Castro became incensed by stories that farmers were making up to $50,000 a year, contracting privately to have homes built and flaunting their wealth on shopping trips to Havana.

“The peasant stopped delivering his production to the state,” Castro said in the L’Humanite interview. “Instead, he sold that production freely at a higher price. He was becoming rich. The development of the cooperative movement, which was essential for the country’s economic life, was halted.”

Lends a Personal Touch

Castro insists that production can be increased by promoting revolutionary ardor as a weapon against waste and corruption. He himself seems to enjoy making inspection tours, lending a personal touch to his policies.

He visits mechanics’ shops and talks about how to repair diesel motors; with cattlemen he talks cattle, and he makes surprise visits to building projects to complain that they are behind schedule.

He also whips up patriotism, usually by reminding Cubans that there is always the danger of an invasion from the United States.

His recent policy adjustments have been accompanied by mass mobilizations that resemble preparations for war. Over the past year, hundreds of thousands of citizens have been trained to defend against a U.S. invasion, and new legions of street vigilantes are being dispatched throughout the island to be on the lookout for traitors and saboteurs.