Can cellphones free Cuba?
Cuba’s new president, Raúl Castro, is loosening restrictions on his people, said Carlos Alberto Montaner in The Miami Herald, but letting people have cellphones and stay in tourist hotels won't change Cuba's "intrinsically unproductive" economic
What happened
Cuba’s new president, Raúl Castro, has loosened some restrictions put in place during the 50-year rule of his brother, Fidel. The changes instituted in the past week include allowing Cubans to use cellphones; buy microwaves, DVD players, and computers; and stay at tourist hotels on the island. In a country where the average salary is $20 a month, most Cubans won’t be able to take advantage of their new rights. “I can’t afford to go to the hotels,” said retired sound technician Georgina Garcia. “But I think it’s good anyway. I have the right to go, and I feel the same as the tourists who come here.” (CNN)
What the commentators said
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Raúl understands the importance of material incentives” to make people work harder, said Carlos Alberto Montaner in The Miami Herald (free registration). But he will still “fail as a leader.” Brother Fidel just exercised his “permanent veto” over a “minor” proposal to facilitate Cuban travel abroad, and he will use it on other “sensible” reforms, too. The larger problem, though, is that Cuba’s economic system is “intrinsically unproductive.”
Allowing cellphones and other goods is "hardly the last word in fixing Cuba’s screwed-up economic system,” said Matthew Yglesias in The Atlantic. But it’s “certainly a step in the right direction.” In order to “alleviate the sorry conditions of the Cuban people,” however, the U.S. will have to “take a step in the right direction of our own” and lift at least part of our “draconian” embargo.
Cellphones and toasters aren’t going to give Cubans what they really need, said Investor’s Business Daily in an editorial. They need “real economic freedom.” Even poor people in India and Indonesia have access to “consumer technology,” because they have the “economic liberty” to earn real cash. Dangling generally unaffordable “consumer offerings” before the people is merely the act of “a new dictator seeking to win some popularity.”
If Raúl thinks these “now-popular changes” will prolong his rule, said Gordon Chang in Commentary’s Contentions blog, he “has obviously fallen behind in his readings on political science.” Small reforms merely remind oppressed people of the “thousand little things” that still irritate them about their oppressive rulers. And “those annoyances will eventually push them to changing their leaders.” Whether he meant to or not, “Raúl has just started down a path of change that will, one way or another, lead to the end of communism in Cuba.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Magazine solutions - August 2, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - August 2, 2024
By The Week Staff Published
-
Magazine printables - August 2, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - August 2, 2024
By The Week Staff Published
-
'In a normal country, their activities wouldn't even be crimes'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court rejects challenge to CFPB
Speed Read The court rejected a conservative-backed challenge to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published