Slow and Steady Progress for Cuba?

Photograph: Alamy/ The Economist

The Castros, Cuba and America:
On the road towards capitalism

The Economist
March 24, 2012
Citation:http://tinyurl.com/7gu5jgd

In 1998 Pope John Paul II visited Cuba, prompting outsiders to await a political opening of the kind that brought down communism in his native Poland. Sadly, even two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Cuba remains one of the handful of countries around the world where communism lives on. Illness forced Fidel Castro to step down in 2006, but his slightly younger brother, Raúl, is in charge, flanked by a cohort of elderly Stalinists. When Pope Benedict XVI visits the island next week, expectations will be more muted.

Yet a momentous change has begun in Cuba in the meantime. The country has started on the road towards capitalism; and that will have big implications for the United States and the rest of Latin America.

Article clipped; see link above for full version.

On the eve of this changing of the tides, Raul Castro has embarked upon a journey to revitalize the Cuban nation. His paces have been slow as he attempts to balance the one-party rule system with the nature of his endeavors. Unlike his brother Fidel, Raul is a more practical man who recognizes that if the socialist system in Cuba does not adapt to the times it will fall victim to the changes it brings. As such Raul has turned to capitalist measures in order to organize and evaluate the current state of the country and its economy. One major step that Raul has taken has been to privatize certain sectors of Cuban society. For example, he has plans to transform the country's agriculture system, which employs a third of the country's workforce, into a wholly private sector.

However, there are consequences that can result from reform. Although Raul promises that he is strengthening the Communist party's control by intimating sustaining measures, he faces opposition from not only party members but ordinary citizens as well. When talking about this slow and steady change that is occurring one cannot avoid the issue of the future successor of the Castros. It is Raul's hope that through thesis measures of reform that he will find himself an heir to continue the work of him and his brother. There is a fear that the longer that Raul waits to transition Cuba's society and economy the more likely that the current government could face extinction. Another topic that cannot be ignored is the role that the United States will play in this process. The U.S.'s long history of both support and intervention in Cuba as well as the presence of 1.2 million Cuban-Americans in south Florida alone makes it unavoidable that at some point the U.S. will have to address Raul's changes. Its fellow Latin America countries feel that it would be more beneficial to encourage this type of growth, but it remains uncertain whether the U.S. will take action against the Castros, despite their current measures of opening up. What is certain is that after years of failure Cuba is taking a step forward by setting aside its politics for a moment in order to improve and ensure the continuation of its society.

As I reflect upon Cuba's journey towards capitalism I cannot help but think about what the consequences of this journey will be for the education sector. As a part of the socialist rhetoric, education like health care and other social services are available to everyone, but that has proven to be a system that has curtailed over time. Schools and hospitals have not been able to maintain their standards and practices hence inequalities have arisen from these situations of deterioration. As these problems are rampant throughout the various sectors I wonder how Raul will approach these problems and try to solve them. If he is so concerned with improving society so that its citizens will be ready and willing to continue the socialist way of life under new leadership when the Castros are gone, I would assume that education could be an integral component of this transformation process. A combined effort of preparing Cuban citizens, from school age to adulthood, to appreciate and see the positives of the socialist government might prove fruitful for Raul's end goals for this transformation. However, if he chooses to create a drastic change and privatize the education sector I feel that from what I have read about similar situations in Chile and India that this may end up causing more harm than good. By losing control of the education system he would be losing the power to control the knowledge of the ordinary citizen which seems counter to the socialist practices that his brother has maintained in the past. In its following years I will be curious to see what will happen to the Cuban education system and whether any changes will be made in order to expedite this process of transformation. Needless to say Raul will have to be careful when he is maintaining this balance of progress while also staying true to the socialist rhetoric so that he can appease his fellow party members and prepare his citizens for the future of Cuba.

The Global South Unites Through Lending

China lends more than $75bn to Latin America
Financial Times
February 15, 2012
By John Paul Rathbone
Citation: http://on.ft.com/yKyIpQ

Chinese state banks have lent more than $75bn to Latin America since 2005, and in 2010 gave more than the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and US Ex-Im Bank combined, according to a report which highlights China’s growing financial heft in the region.

“On the positive side, it is clear that China is a new and growing source of finance in Latin America,” notes the independent academic report, New Banks in Town: Chinese finance in Latin America.

“That said, and contrary to much commentary on the subject, by and large Latin American nations have to pay a higher premium for loans from China.”

China has overtaken the US to become Brazil and Chile’s largest trade partner. Many US policymakers fear that Beijing is using cheap rate loans to “buy” influence among left-leaning Latin American governments that are hostile to western interests, and that Beijing uses financing to secure long term commodity supplies.

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Latin America has borrowed more than $75bn from China since 2005. Since then China has transformed into Brazil and Chile’s leading trading partner, beating out the United States. Through financing China has been able to secure long term supplies of commodities. Many U.S. policy makers are voicing concern that the attractive loan rates are a tool to “buy” influence among left-leaning governments in Latin America. Chinese loans to Latin America now account for more than half of Beijing’s international lending. China’s growing presence has not gone unnoticed in the region.

This situation supports Jeannie’s previous post about global interconnectedness: “Venezuelan and Iranian Involvement in Nicaragua: Benevolence or Strategy?” Latin America is now financially tied to China and the implications of such ties are not yet clear.  This article also illustrates the notion within World Systems Theory that international power relations are constantly changing. Even though the money from China is not coming in the form of aid or “assistance”, it still has potential to create a certain level of dependency, especially considering the fact China focus is on commodities in Latin American markets, which critics say, will increase “dependency” exploitation. The article even points out that left-wing development economists denounced this type of dependency four decades ago.  That is not to say the past cannot repeat itself.  Left-leaning governments tired of Western ways may overlook such factors and continue relations with the Chinese in their quest for modernization and development. 

The United States is no longer ranked number one in regard to trade with countries like Brazil and Chile, but that is not their only concern.  Some believe China’s growing presence in the region is driven by an ideological desire to boost South-South ties according to the article. Besides the economic benefits tied to commodities and the influential power of money, it appears China’s strategy may consist of spreading and supporting ideologies of the Global South.  Venezuela and Iran are now supporting Nicaragua and isn’t Iran friends with China? The Global South seems to be uniting in the United State’s backyard. What will that mean for future the future of development and education in Latin America?

UNIALBA Higher Education System: Socialism or Functionalism?

Logo ALBA: Argentina Indymedia

LATINAMERICA: Higher education integration for bloc

University World News

August 14, 2011

Citation: http://tinyurl.com/82w8knd

Member states of Latin America's left-leaning political bloc known as Alba are organising to create an integrated higher education system. The eight participating nations aim to pool resources with a view to strengthening their universities. But the initiative, which has a strong socialist and anti-US agenda, has come in for widespread criticism.

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, or Alba - which includes among others the governments of Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Cuba - was founded by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in December 2004.

The alliance's higher education integration initiative was announced in Nicaragua in June and emphasises strengthening universities and sharing advances made with each of the member countries.

But while pooling resources in higher education is a positive step, according to Kevin Casas Zamora (pictured), a former Costa Rican vice-president and political analyst with the Brookings Institution, it is dangerous when linked to a political agenda.

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Members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, as known as ALBA, are proposing a collaborative higher education system. It is their hope that by pooling all of their resources together that these eight nations will be able to form a network of universities that will support the demand for more venues of higher education in their respective countries. However, this proposal has gained a significant amount of criticism because of the political agenda that is often associated with such projects accomplished through this alliance. In this case, how can education and free thought be fostered in an environment laden with stringent socialist and anti-U.S. ideologies. Not only does the underlying "education" seem to be problematic, but also the coordination of a cohesive curriculum and grading structure. While ministry officials from the two main countries, Cuba and Venezuela, assure that the a unified, integrated system is possible, critics remain skeptical of the accomplishment of such a large venture.

With this type of politically driven university system it is important to consider the role that education will play outside of the institution of learning. Now from a functionalist perspective one could see how this system would easily be able to satisfy the needs within both local and national contexts. However, the implications of this UNIALBA system could have more complex and global implications. It is hard to ignore that these ALBA nations would use this system to propagate the standard set of norms supported by a socialist society. This system has been presented by ALBA ministry officials as a way to not only open up more opportunities for their citizens to learn and grow, but also as a way to preserve what they believe to be their values and beliefs. Within UNIALBA, their way of life could be culturally and socially reproduced. (see

http://tinyurl.com/c87jnx5)

While this may be a very rational response preserve the common identity of these nations, their socialist and anti-U.S. views might support a narrow minded world view. Not only could this type of curriculum be designed to eliminate all opposing ideas, but it could also present a space to openly challenge relations with other non-socialist countries within and outside of Latin America. These are the types of questions that need to be raised in order to solicit the true nature of this education system. What consequences will this type of education system have on these Latin American citizens? Will their underlying political agenda pose a threat to other Latin American countries? One might even go further to see if the support for these ideologies on such an immense scale does pose a threat to U.S. national security?