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Cuba’s Communist Party Government Can’t Reform Itself

By Eloy Viera Cañive (El Toque)

HAVANA TIMES — At first glance, the “reforms” announced by the administration of Miguel Díaz-Canel appear profound. They could even be interpreted as a substantial change to Cuba’s economic model. However, when evaluating their real scope and their chances of success, two fundamental problems emerge.

The first is political and legal in nature.

Late-stage Castroism appears willing, at least on paper, to transform important aspects of its economic model. But it shows no intention whatsoever of modifying the institutional structures or legal guarantees that are indispensable for those changes to function in a stable, transparent, and predictable manner.

A decree can be issued stating that state-owned enterprises will become a joint-stock corporations. That is relatively simple. What is difficult is building the institutional environment that allows such a transformation to generate confidence, investment, and prosperity.

There is something deeply paradoxical about this situation.

I still remember being taught in law school that Commercial Law belonged to capitalist economies, while Economic Law corresponded to the specific legal relationships of socialism. For years, the teaching of Commercial Law was minimized or even eliminated from Cuban curricula because it was considered a discipline associated with an economic system that was........

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