Cuba’s New Resolve: Economic Reform and its Implications for U.S. Policy

The Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas  has publised a comprehensive report – Cuba’s New Resolve: Economic Reform and its Implications for U.S. Policy—which reflects what its says it has learned and why it believes it’s important for U.S. policy makers to understand what is unfolding in Cuba at this time.

The report tells the story of fifty years of Cuban economic history; it describes in detail the institutional and economic changes taking place now under President Raúl Castro; it identifies what has already been accomplished and what still needs to be addressed, and concludes with constructive ideas for U.S. policy moving forward.

The findings are based on CDA’s own reporting and analysis, including countless conversations with government officials, experts and analysts, but also with bicycle taxi drivers, new entrepreneurs, and every day Cubans, many of whom have real anxieties about finding a future in Cuba and reforms that will end their access to a guaranteed job and iconic social benefits like the ration card.  It also relies on a broad body of scholarly work already produced, that is pulled together, cited, and put in one place, as never before.

The outcome of the reform process is far from clear.  In the report, CDA tries to provide a realistic assessment of what is happening in Cuba and paint a picture of a process that can make it possible for Cubans to lead more prosperous and independent lives – one that arose not because of pressure from the U.S., but because of forces and ideas that came from inside Cuba itself.

The report is available for download here