Cuba: Finally...Business May Start to Boom
June 2, 2008

Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, is making changes in Cuba. He is lifting bans on buying electronics equipment, on buying and selling homes and cars, on using tourist hotels and is allowing open access to cellphones. Farmers are being allowed to till unused land for a profit. This is a move toward freeing up commercial markets.

It's just a few steps so far, but Raul just took office. If he continues, some economists say, it could spark an explosive growth in the Cuban economy. It's conceivable that it could grow the way China and Russia have been growing lately - which is to say 200 times faster than the U.S.
The New York Times recently said that Raul is following the Chinese model, where economic and commercial freedoms are allowed within a mantle of authoritarian political control. If that's so, that should be plenty of opportunity for enterprising foreigners who want to take advantage of the coming growth.

I spent a week in Cuba during the Carter administration, when travel bans were briefly lifted. I was impressed by how resourceful the Cubans were, how they loved their old American cars, how well they dressed their children, how busy the museums were and how well the different ethnicities seemed to get along. This is a culture that is begging for economic freedom, I thought back then. It looks like that freedom is finally underway. That means that in the next ten years there may be hundreds of million-dollar business opportunities for enterprising Cubans and foreigners who get in while the getting is good. The Chinese are already there and waiting. So too are many European businesses, which have been in Cuba since the U.S. pulled out. Getting in early will be nearly impossible for Americans because of the laws that restrict them from going there or doing business with them (talk about commercial freedom!) are lifted. File under Squashed Opportunities for Now.


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posted by M. Masterson @ 11:20 AM, ,