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Cuba's New Rules

Cuba's New Rules
Willis Sparks
By Willis SparksAugust 03, 2018
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
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Cuba, not a democracy by any definition, is now reworking its constitution for the post-Castro era. It’s an update on a National Charter in place since 1976. A draft approved last month offers some interesting insights into the ruling party’s plans.

  • There is no change for “the directing role of the Communist Party of Cuba," which will remain “Fidelist” and Marxist-Leninist.

  • But the plan “to advance towards communist society" has been removed from the current draft.

  • There are still references to socialism and a centrally planned economy, but there is also official recognition of "the role of the market" and of "private property."

The bottom line: Cuba has tinkered with market reforms before. This is not Chinese-style state capitalism, but it appears to be a recognition that another round of economic experimentation is inevitable, and that President Miguel Díaz-Canel will need extra authority to give it a try.

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