Editor’s note: Clare Higgins Morton, vice president for administration at the World Affairs Council of Atlanta, visited Cuba on the council’s April 19-26, 2015, policy trip. The council is returning to Havana June 27-July 1 with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. For details: travel@wacatlanta.org.  

Walking through the streets of Havana, I had an eerie sense, not that I had stepped back in time like so many people assume, but that I was witnessing the end of a civilization. Once-grand buildings were literally falling down, and birth rates had plummeted with the departure of so many young women, so much that people in their 40s and 50s are considered young.

But after a week in Cuba meeting its remarkable people and seeing first-hand how the Cuban economy is “working,” I came to believe that the country could experience a renaissance. Not because of improved relations with the U.S., but because of the spirit that is evident in the nascent middle class. 

Cuba has begun to permit the emergence of a small private sector allowing for restaurants (paladares), guest houses, shopkeepers and artisans. The government has thus far used these private businesses as a means to absorb excess workers while the state maintains control of the economy; nevertheless, it signals a willingness to revisit the goals of the Revolution.

While there is a pervasive black market not only for goods needed by everyday Cubans, but for cigars stolen from factories and sold on street corners to willing tourists, people are starting to work within the system to slowly build prosperity. I met a lawyer working as a tour guide because he can make more in tips in two days than he did in an entire year as a lawyer. Others have braved the system to obtain licenses to start their own businesses in the few permitted areas.

In order for this emerging private sector to thrive – and create significant levels of employment – the government must encourage the Cuban people to invest in themselves and avoid capricious announcements that change the rules of the game from one day to the next. 

One of the most powerful stories of the week came from a young architect whom I’ll call Mónica – not her real name.  After working as a legal secretary for $9 a month, Mónica survived by selling imported baby clothes until this emerging class of small businesses started to undercut government-run stores. 

A government pronouncement ordered that these stores no longer sell imported clothes, but only handmade clothes. There was no change in the law, just an announcement on the evening news. The young mother then described how she knew that she needed to learn how to sew or she and her family would starve.  

This determination was just the beginning of her odyssey. First Mónica needed to find someone who could teach her how to sew; then she needed to find a sewing machine. After scouring Havana on foot – there are no classified ads – she found a sign on a building announcing a sewing machine for sale. As Mónica walked up the rickety wooden stairs, she wanted to give up because she was afraid the stairs would collapse underneath her. She forced herself upward and was rewarded with an old foot-powered Singer. Now, having learned how to sew, Mónica has purchased two additional machines and a better apartment. She employs two women to make and sell baby clothes with her. 

Mónica is an example not only of the incredible resilience and determination that many young Cubans have as they brave the rickety stairs of Cuban government rules and regulations, which actually discourage local Cuban investment in the country.  

If President Raúl Castro’s legacy is to be driving a Cuban renaissance, he must give a further push to the economic reforms that he has initiated and allow Cubans to invest in their own country, create businesses, and drive the economy.

Clare Higgins Morton is the Vice President for Administration at the World Affairs Council of Atlanta (www.wacatlanta.org). She visited Cuba on the Council’s April 19-26, 2015 policy trip.

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