Sunday, January 29, 2012

Socialismo o Muerte

"Socialismo o Muerte!" Socialism or death. The banner hangs across 23rd Street in Vedado, a couple blocks down from Hotel Habana Libre. It is a banner of pride for Cubans who consider their home the last bastion of true socialism, alone in defiance of foreign imperialism and tyranny. For Cuba, socialism is central to the existence of the state and people. Virtually every sign in Havana highlights this fact, and plenty of Cubans are ready to point out to the visiting American the benefits of state-provided health and education.

The grim reality of "Socialismo o Muerte" is beginning to catch up with Cuba. As the country ages and the birthrate remains stagnant, Cuba will find it more and more difficult to maintain the social programs that are considered integral to its identity. The government-provided healthcare system will continue to grow more and more strained as the average age trends upwards and the state of Cuba needs to provide more care than it is able to. While Cuba's low birthrate makes for a lower quantity of education that needs to be provided by the state, the ever-increasing competitiveness of the global marketplace requires Cuba to provide increasingly high quality education if Cubans are to be competitive. Given how important socialism is to Cuba, these programs cannot be scaled back. "Socialismo o Muerte" does not provide the Cuban government with any flexibility, and as socialism becomes more and more difficult to sustain, it grows closer to the unfortunate alternative.

In order to secure hard currency and float the social programs that define Cuba, the government uses a unique, bizarre two-currency system. Tourist and luxury goods are paid for in an alternate currency which is pegged to the dollar and wholly separate from the peso that most Cubans use for everyday goods. This may be an economically sound choice for the government of Cuba, but it comes at a tremendous ethical and ideological cost to the ideal of the Cuban Revolution and what it means to be Cuban.

It is acknowledged that the double currency widens the economic gap between Cuban haves and have-nots, but it also has the danger to separate these two worlds much further. Farmers, professors, and doctors do not have the means to obtain the more valuable tourist currency, and therefore cannot obtain the goods that Cubans who earn tourist dollars can afford. The nightlife scene in Havana provides the most striking example of this problem- as more and more bars adjust prices to what tourists and Cubans earning tourist dollars can afford, going out becomes more cost prohibitive for Cubans that earn pesos.

The double currency has opened a chasm in Cuban society, and runs counter to the goals of a socialist state or any reasonable state in the twenty-first century. Until it is done away with, currency apartheid will continue to decide which Cubans will possess mobility and opportunity, and who will be left out.

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