In slow dance with capitalism, Cuba's Communists turn to future

In slow dance with capitalism, Cuba's Communists turn to future
By Frank Jack Daniel and Nelson Acosta
April 16, 2016

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's Communist Party meets on Saturday under
pressure for the slow pace of promised market reforms as it prepares for
a future without the octogenarian leaders who guided the country from a
1959 revolution to a cautious embrace of the United States.

The meeting is the Communist Party's first congress in five years and
the first since President Raul Castro and his U.S. counterpart Barack
Obama announced they were to end decades of enmity and seek normal
relations.

The party has been secretive about the agenda of the meeting, even by
Cuba's opaque standards, triggering grumbling among younger members who
have grown accustomed to a freer flow of information and contact with
the world.

As well as the lack of discussion, party foot soldiers said they were
worried that the country had not implemented quickly enough the sweeping
market reforms adopted at the last party congress in 2011 to avoid
economic collapse.

"The economic plan is still getting on track but it needs to
accelerate," said Wilson Batista, who has been a party member for twenty
years.

"The world's policies, the world's economy changes daily and we need to
adjust ourselves exactly. We need to get on the world economic train."

Cuba has improved its financial credibility over the last five years,
running trade and current account surpluses and restructuring $50
billion in mainly old debt, although harsh U.S. sanctions remain in place.

A nascent middle-class has emerged, making money from small businesses
such as construction and hospitality. But in what one Cuban blogger
called "paralysis at the cliff edge," the party has not relinquished
control of trade or larger businesses.

ANOINTING A SUCCESSOR

The party has implemented about a fifth of the measures it adopted in
2011, and Cubans are eager for more, especially a unification of the
country's two currencies and an end to the government's monopoly on
imports and exports.

Many Cubans are tired of waiting, especially young professionals who are
rarely allowed to set up private practices. With news from the outside
world closer thanks to more Internet access and booming tourism, ever
greater numbers are taking advantage of new freedoms to travel and emigrate.

The congress takes place three weeks after Obama made history as the
first U.S. president to visit the island in 88 years and eloquently
called for more political freedom and democracy in the one-party state.

His words are unlikely to be heeded, because the party sees itself as
the greatest defense against Washington's past attempts to dominate Cuba.

Cuba's top leaders started their careers as young guerrilla fighters who
overthrew a U.S. backed government in 1959, and a few years later
repelled the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion - which the party congress
is timed to commemorate.

Now, party chief Raul Castro is 84 and his top lieutenant in the party,
José Ramón Machado Ventura is 85.

Castro is due to retire as president in 2018 and by the end of the
four-day congress it will be clear whether he remains as party leader
until 2021, or whether somebody younger takes over the leadership.

Founded in 1965, the Communist Party is seen as more powerful in Cuba
than the government. It was formally led by Fidel Castro until 2011,
although his younger brother had effectively taken command several years
earlier.

(Editing by Mary Milliken)

Source: In slow dance with capitalism, Cuba's Communists turn to future
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