The Future of Cuba

There are signs of hope in Cuba. Despite some of the observations I have made in earlier blog posts on the dim shades foreign capital investment may have for economic growth in Cuba, there are prevalent signs signs of hope, especially when looking at the people. When dealing with normalizing Cuba into relations with the US, I believe our main priority lies in the majority of the Cuban people, if we succeed there, we succeed in the future. In this blog entry, I hope to bring to light positive growth in Cuba and from there, delineate a possible future.

Unknown to most, there is a small, yet proportionately large to the country’s size, biotech industry booming in Cuba. The World Economic forum, notes that “Cuba produces an array of vaccines, pharmaceuticals and diagnostic tools; has a robust pipeline of new drugs in development; and also produces animal, fish and plant protection products.” This development has been successful in alluring substantive foreign capital, that which has directly aided progress. In order to support this investment in Cuba, the Cuban government has set aside 5 mandates regarding the biotech industry:

1. Substantial sustained investment

2. Focus on creating products to meet the needs of the Cuban population

3. Integrating the industry into the National System of Preventive Health

4. Integrating the diverse centers into a single functioning whole

5. A closed cycle approach to product development

As seen above, sustained growth and meeting the needs of the Cuban people (Mandates 1,2 & 3), the Cuban government's top priorities are building a better future for Cubans. In addition to this, the World Economic Foreign notes that;

Since the 1961 nationalization of education, health and other services, all Cubans have enjoyed free access to education, healthcare and social protection. Social development has always been a priority, even in times of severe economic crisis”.

With this in mind and also considering mandate 3 (integrating the industry into the National System of Preventive Health), it’s obvious their goal is headed in the right direction. Therefore, foreigners should not seek to dismantle the current government, but rather, people should support it in creating new infrastructure and socio-economic growth, so when the time to focus on democratization arrives, the Cuban people have the needed support behind their back. La patria always comes first; trying to further fragment a broke country( by unstainable growth) will cease its growth, we must build from within.

Overall, the most important step for a successful future in Cuba is securing personal security for Cubans (bringing down health risks, creating jobs, new education). This, in addition to simultaneously implicating both infrastructure and sustainable private sector growth/investment. Positive growth and infrastructure, will support the growth of civil institutions and societies, those which can delineate and work towards a positive Cuban government reform. However, without a certain solid footing in the door, the civil institutions and societies will be hard to sustain.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/06/what-does-the-future-hold-for-cuba/http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/newsletters/pres_letter/052012/cuba_biotech_report