| | |  Travel & Outdoors | May 2009 
Cubans Prepare for a Bonanza
 PVNN
 |  | The economy stands to benefit after Obama eased travel restrictions to the country. |  | | |
Terasita, the owner of a small family restaurant by the same name on the outskirts of Havana, has let her fantasies run wild as she considers the decision by Barack Obama, US president, to ease restrictions on US citizens - and particularly Cuban Americans - visiting the island.
"I'm planning to fix the place up, make it more comfortable, a better environment for family fiestas," she says, looking at the empty tables on the garden-enclosed terrace of her home.
Similar to many small businesses off the beaten track in and around Havana, Terasita caters to Cubans often supported and visited by family abroad. And in her mind, the move by the Obama administration to lift restrictions on the number of visits Cuban Americans can make and the amount of money they can send home means more business.
"There will be more people and money coming in and logically more business," she says. "Cubans like to take their families and friends out for a meal when they visit."
A broad spectrum of Cubans, from dissidents to state workers, and even - albeit begrudgingly - Fidel Castro, the former leader, praised Mr Obama this week for his moves.
Besides easing restrictions on travel and remittances, the US president also loosened regulations on communications companies doing business with the island, although this has received far less public attention.
"Positive, although minimal," the ailing Mr Castro quipped in one of two essays on the measures in the official media, demanding in the other that Mr Obama lift the "cruel" and "genocidal blockade" completely.
He warned in a third essay on a different topic that, while Mr Obama might mean well, the next US president could be even more menacing than George W. Bush.
"The measures are a huge threat to the government but difficult to reject given [the] rhetoric," says Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a dissident economist. "They are not sure how to respond."
Welcoming the US
Foreign businessmen with years of experience in Cuba say the reality is that the government would welcome US telecom companies for talks, approve what was in its interests and stall and block what was not.
Mr Espinosa says that with his measures Mr Obama is helping tens of thousands of family businesses, such as Terasita's, round the edges of the state-dominated economy that have been hurt by the imposition of tight controls on Cuban Americans.
Mr Obama's authorisation to explore commercial flights to the island, he says, also signals that all Americans might be travelling to the country soon.
Many Cubans and foreign observers also believe that this week's move is just the beginning.
"The measures signalled 49 states, not just Florida, are now influencing US policy," says the trade promotion manager for an Asian country, who asked not to be identified. "Those 49 states are in recession and looking for new markets. Cuba is the best new market out there."
The Cuban government, which takes 20 cents of every dollar entering the country and then slaps a 240 per cent mark up on goods at hard currency shops, will also benefit. That angers Mr Obama's critics, but not most foreign governments and businessmen.
The international financial crisis and slowdown have combined with three hurricanes last year and bureaucratic bungling to create a serious liquidity crisis that has many foreign businesses waiting for weeks and months to transfer money out of the country.
"This package is very likely to ease the credit and banking crunch that many foreign companies have been experiencing," says a western economic attaché.
On course
A Communist party economist says relations with the US and President Raúl Castro's efforts to improve economic efficiency appear to be headed in the right direction and the result could be improved economic liberties and performance.
"The economic situation is really deteriorating and Raúl does not have much time to improve the situation," the economist says. He asked not to be identified due to a prohibition on talking to journalists without government permission.
Raúl Castro's economic cabinet was replaced last month and the new one has been busy reviewing policy, he says.
"I think the measures were just the beginning of changes that will help us." |
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