The Castro family tree and an update on Cuba

On friday, FP Passport had a very interesting post on how the Castro family has spread its tentacles throughout the Cuban government. Once you realize how many Castro's are involved, you'll see why those who used to say that the regime in Cuba would fall with the death of Fidel Castro, were sorely mistaken. They are part of the military, the security forces and the Communist party, making them a significant force in the country's political and economic life.

This post, however, will not focus on the Castro family tree, but rather will be a sort of catch-up post on what's been going on in the island since my last post on the subject.

Raul Castro officially ascended to the Presidency of Cuba on February 28 of this year, he has instituted a series of reforms that have strengthened his political standing, quashing doubts about a post Fidel Cuba. Not only has Raul lifted bans on electric appliances, such as microwaves and computers, but also has lifted the ban on people owning cell phones. To be sure, given the low wages in Cuba, around $20/month some of these luxuries, though no longer prohibited by the government, will still be out of reach of the average citizen. However, the reforms, though gradual seem to be pointing toward a new direction for Cuba.

More recently, the government has also made it easier for private farmers and cooperatives to use, though not own, uncultivated government land. It has also made it easier for farmers to purchase equipment and supplies at government stores. According to the AP article, linked to above, Raul is an admirer of the free-market reforms pursued by China and Vietnam that allowed them to move away from Communism, even as they maintained single party control.

Raul has also lifted the hotel ban on Cuban citizens, which prevented them from entering tourists resorts on the island. Though many commentators scuffed at the reform, stating that given the low wages in Cuba, no Cuban citizen would be able to afford to stay at these resorts, they missed, perhaps the most important consequence of the lifting of the ban. Since many Cubans cannot afford computers at home, nor an internet connection, lifting the ban removed one of the biggest obstacles for Cuban bloggers to post their thoughts about the island online. In October of last year, the NY Times and IHT posted an article on anonymous Cuban bloggers who had to pretend to be tourists, in order to be able to blog secretly from the country's resorts. One such blogger was Yoani Sanchez, from her blog GeneracionY. Since the reforms, she now blogs openly and is even stopped in the streets by Cuban fans. Though the government accuses her of taking money from opposition groups, other than slow connection speeds, they have not really done much to stop her from blogging. In fact, she was recently named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time Magazine.

She is one of a growing network of Cuban cyber-rebels who are defying the state's limits. Using memory sticks, digital cameras and clandestine internet connections they have challenged the government by spreading news it has tried to suppress. For example, when the government tried to impose a tax on tips and wages of employees of foreign companies, workers when told via cell phone of the proposal erupted against the measure. The government, according to the NYTimes has been hard pressed to control internet access as there is a thriving black market for these services. It is particularly difficult for the government since many times, government employees sell their government usernames and passwords so that people can access the internet in the middle of the night. The article further notes, that

Even the country’s top computer science school, the University of Information Sciences, set in a campus once used by Cuba’s spy services, has become a hotbed of cyber-rebels. Students download everything from the latest American television shows to articles and videos criticizing the government, and pass them quickly around the island.

All in all, despite the fact that the Castro's continue running Cuba, and that nepotism has spread them wide across the country's political and security institutions, there are some positive developments as a result of the reforms commenced by Raul. It remains to be seen, however, whether the Cuban state will continue to allow the thriving black market for internet connections or if it will crackdown and seek to restrict access once again. So far, the government seems to be loosing the battle, and as Tom Barnett has pointed out with regard to China, connectivity always wins.