November 24, 2011
Fernando Ravsberg
In Cuba it is impossible to legally buy wood.
HAVANA TIMES, Nov 24 — The official newspaper Granma issued a desperate
SOS to save Cuba's forests from woodland rustlers who are
indiscriminately felling the nation's tree supply. The paper called on
us to "prevent this natural, enormous and beautiful reserve from
completely disappearing."
The problem with some newspapers is that they sometimes tell us only
half the story with the hope that we'll swallow the whole pill. But this
doesn't always work. People aren't stupid, and Cubans are particularly
well educated.
Of course, everyone is against the indiscriminate felling of forests,
either in Cuba or the Amazon. The difference is that in Brazil, citizens
can legally go to any carpenter and acquire what wood they need.
But here in Cuba there's not a single store where one can buy a simple
board to fix the dinner table or replace a roof beam. This means that
the only alternative left to people is the black market.
To top it all off, though the authorities have just begun allowing
self-employment by carpenters, they don't sell them any wood.
Nonetheless — as if by magic — these workers continue to turn out
rocking chairs, children's toys and even full bedroom sets.
Handicraft production is not far behind. Those who visit the island will
see plenty of beautiful wood sculptures that are sold to tourists, yet
much of these works of art originate from the indiscriminate felling of
forests.
It's true that illegal loggers are committing a crime against the
ecosystem, but it's also true that others of us — forced by necessity —
are receptive to buying from them, thus making it possible to complete
the parallel commercial circuit.
Self employed workers use wood products that come from the black market.
Photo: Raquel Perez
No doubt a major factor in all this is the scarcity due to a lack of
resources, but there's an artificial shortage created by inefficiency,
negligence and corruption that creates the ideal conditions for
speculation in these materials.
Another important aspect of the problem is that the absurd prohibitions
in the past acted to establish an environment conducive to the
under-the-table selling of cellphone lines, computers, hotel
reservations, and building materials.
The truth is that fines or confiscations could do nothing as long as
bans on self-employed remained in place, forcing these activities
underground as well as those of the automotive and real estate markets
operating in the shadows.
Today the black market has lost ground in all these sectors; it has
substantially less power, and much of the money that it used to pocket
is now received by the government in the form of taxes. The lesson
should be obvious to everyone.
One of the most important aspects of the reforms is that they open up
legal alternatives to allow the public to address their everyday
problems. The solution is not repression but the organization of the
sale of wood at reasonable prices.
I'm sure most Cubans would then stop buying on the black market and the
lack of demand would force illegal logging to dry up. In addition, these
adjustments to the economic system would end up benefiting the ecosystem.
But instead of proposing to continue "adjusting" the model to life, the
only thing occurring to the newspaper is to refine the "actions and
measures" that go after illegal logging; they believe "otherwise people
will continue committing these crimes."
A great majority of the sculptures sold to tourists are made from wood
coming from trees illegally felled. Photo: Raquel Perez
Following this logic, they'll also have jail all those people who
receive Internet services illegally, those who buy letters of invitation
to emigrate and the sheet metal workers who continue to work without
anyone who can sell them oxygen and acetylene.
They can also throw behind bars all those drivers who come up with parts
for their cars, parents who buy leather shoes under the table, teachers
who give private lessons, and the flight attendants and pilots who
return loaded with goods for sale.
All of us who live in Cuba have been forced at some point to turn to the
black market to "resolver" certain needs. I wonder if those who work for
the Granma newspaper are so irreproachable that they can go around
throwing stones at the rest of us.
It would be more constructive if they were to re-read Antoine
Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, where the wise king explained that in
order to govern "it's necessary to require of each person what they can
individually give," adding "authority rests primarily on reason."
—
An authorized Havana Times translation of the Spanish original appearing
in BBC Mundo.
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