Cuban Government Orders a Reduction in Purchases from the United States

Cuban Government Orders a Reduction in Purchases from the United States
/ Juan Juan Almeida
Posted on October 16, 2015

Juan Juan Almeida, 7 September 2015 — The reduction in products imported
from the United States could be explained as an unspoken attempt by the
Cuban government to manipulate an important American commercial sector
with the goal of derailing the embargo.

A government strategy? According to statistics published by the US-Cuban
Economic and Commercial Council, commercial activity by state import
conglomerate, ALIMPORT, has decreased. From 2009 until today, the Cuban
government has significantly reduced its purchase of food, drugs and
medical equipment from its neighbor to the north, which reached a high
of 710,000 million dollars in 2008.

Several experts say the decline is due primarily to financial
considerations, specifically those related to the Cuban government,
which they liken to an ineffective, bankrupt company. But I find this
explanation to be unconvincing. Governmental ineffectiveness is relative
and the prospect of bankruptcy is doubtful. If we carefully dig a little
past the airtight surface of the opaque Cuban economic system, new
statistics begin to appear.

A friend — an official of the Ministry of Economy and Planning, where my
mother worked for years — informed me that the decline only pertains to
trade with the United States. "A directive came from upstairs and it has
nothing to do with money," he notes. "Since late 2012, Cuba has
increased purchases of food and medicines by more than two billion dollars."

Further investigation led me to a US-based Cuban merchant who has a
license to sell American goods to Cuba. He assured me that the decline
in purchases of US products by Cuban companies such as Cubazucar,
Transimport, Alimport, Cubametales, Quimimport, Maprinter, Consumimport
and Palco is intended to put financial pressure American producers so
that they might in turn lobby their senators to lift the "blockade."

Meanwhile, Justo J. Sanchez, an award-winning journalist and analyst in
New York, believes that "if ALIMPORT and other government agencies think
that cutting off business dealings with American farmers will put
pressure on supporters of the Helms Burton Act, they are politically
naive. That idea won't even get off the ground."

He adds, "Most observers agree that the farm lobby, led by the American
Farm Bureau Federation, has the power to change the policy imposed at
the time by President Clinton. The bill that would repeal the Helms
Burton it rests on the shoulders of six senators, three from each party.
The others will remain cautiously in the shadows until after the next
presidential elections.

"The death notice will not appear until sometime after Obama leaves
office. The farmers do not have the influence or resources to convince
legislators of their point of view, something the banking, tourism and
industrial sectors can do more easily. It is a well-known fact that the
tourism industry has been lobbying for a diplomatic approach since the
George W. Bush administration. If Cuba wants to see Helms-Burton wither
and die, it will have to learn to play in the big leagues of American
politics."

Using trade as a tool to exert pressure is not a new tactic and it can
seem like an effective strategy. As my grandmother used to say, "better
to be here than in the breadline." Passion often blinds us and looking
at the world through a partisan lens often leads us in the wrong
direction. But it is easy to understand that the real architects of the
new relationship between the US and Cuba were not Barack Obama and Raul
Castro; they were the seldom-mentioned representatives of America's
industrial, economic, commercial and corporate interests.

So I decided to investigate and contacted a prosperous, well-connected
European businessman based on the island with years of experience. When
I asked why Cuban purchases of American products had fallen off, he
replied, "It's not a written policy. It's more like a verbal order from
GAESA (Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A or Business
Administration Group, Inc.), which is common practice among military
men. There is concern about hacking and cyber-espionage, and the best
protection (for them) is verbal communication. Business is not conducted
here in a business-like climate. You're dealing with lieutenants,
captains, colonels and generals."

"These are the rules of a country at peace which enjoys being at war."
he adds. "And foreign businessmen, the people who make money, have to
let them use us as pawns in their game of politics or have to carry out
some filthy spying exercise for them. Those are the rules of the game
and you have to take it or leave it."

Source: Cuban Government Orders a Reduction in Purchases from the United
States / Juan Juan Almeida | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-government-orders-a-reduction-in-purchases-from-the-united-states-juan-juan-almeida/