Cuba

The Cuban state adheres to socialist principles in organizing its largely state-controlled planned
economy. Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of
the labor force is employed by the state. Recent years have seen a trend towards more private
sector employment. By 2006, public sector employment was 78% and private sector 22%,
compared to 91.8% to 8.2% in 1981.[87] Capital investment is restricted and requires approval by
the government. The Cuban government sets most prices and rations goods. Any firm wishing to
hire a Cuban must pay the Cuban government, which in turn will pay the employee in Cuban
pesos.[88] Cubans can not change jobs without government permission.[41] The average wage at
the end of 2005 was 334 regular pesos per month ($16.70 per month) and the average pension
was $9 per month.[89]

Cuba relied heavily on trade with the Soviet Union. From the late 1980s, Soviet subsidies for
Cuban goods started to dry up. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba depended on
Moscow for substantial aid and sheltered markets for its exports. The removal of these subsidies
sent the Cuban economy into a rapid depression known in Cuba as the Special Period. In 1992
the United States tightened the trade embargo, hoping to see democratization of the sort that took
place in Eastern Europe.

Like some other Communist and post-Communist states following the collapse of the Soviet
Union, Cuba took limited free market-oriented measures to alleviate severe shortages of food,
consumer goods, and services. These steps included allowing some self-employment in certain
retail and light manufacturing sectors, the legalization of the use of the US dollar in business, and
the encouragement of tourism. Cuba has developed a unique urban farm system (the
organopónicos) to compensate for the end of food imports from the Soviet Union. In recent
years, Cuba has rolled back some of the market oriented measures undertaken in the 1990s. In
2004 Cuban officials publicly backed the Euro as a "global counter-balance to the US dollar",
and eliminated U.S. currency from circulation in its stores and businesses.[citation needed]

Tourism was initially restricted to enclave resorts where tourists would be segregated
from Cuban society, referred to as "enclave tourism" and "tourism apartheid".[90] Contacts
between foreign visitors and ordinary Cubans were de facto illegal until 1997.[91][92] In
1996 tourism surpassed the sugar industry as the largest source of hard currency for
Cuba. Cuba has tripled its market share of Caribbean tourism in the last decade; as a
result of significant investment in tourism infrastructure, this growth rate is predicted to
continue.[93] 1.9 million tourists visited Cuba in 2003, predominantly from Canada and the
European Union, generating revenue of $2.1 billion.[94] The rapid growth of tourism
during the Special Period had widespread social and economic repercussions in Cuba,
and led to speculation about the emergence of a two-tier economy.[95] The Medical
tourism sector caters to thousands of European, Latin American, Canadian, and American
consumers every year.

The communist agricultural production system was ridiculed by Raúl Castro in 2008.[96] Cuba
now imports up to 80% of its food.[96] Before 1959, Cuba boasted as many cattle as people.
For some time, Cuba has been experiencing a housing shortage because of the state's failure to
keep pace with increasing demand.[97] The government instituted food rationing policies in 1962,
which were exacerbated following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the tightening of the U.S.
embargo. Studies have shown that, as late as 2001, the average Cuban's standard of living was
lower than before the downturn of the post-Soviet period. Paramount issues have been state
salaries failing to meet personal needs under the state rationing system, chronically plagued with
shortages. The variety and quantity of available rationed goods declined.

Under Venezuela's Mission Barrio Adentro, Hugo Chávez has supplied Cuba with up to
80,000 barrels (13,000 m3) of oil per day in exchange for 30,000 doctors and teachers.

In 2005 Cuba had exports of $2.4 billion, ranking 114 of 226 world countries, and imports of
$6.9 billion, ranking 87 of 226 countries.[98] Its major export partners are China 27.5%, Canada
26.9%, Netherlands 11.1%, Spain 4.7% (2007).[8] Cuba's major exports are sugar, nickel,
tobacco, fish, medical products, citrus, and coffee;[8] imports include food, fuel, clothing, and
machinery. Cuba presently holds debt in an amount estimated to be $13 billion,[99] approximately
38% of GDP.[100] According to the Heritage Foundation, Cuba is dependent on credit accounts
that rotate from country to country.[101] Cuba's prior 35% supply of the world's export market for
sugar has declined to 10% due to a variety of factors, including a global sugar commodity price
drop that made Cuba less competitive on world markets.[102] At one time, Cuba was the world's
most important sugar producer and exporter. As a result of diversification, underinvestment, and
natural disasters, Cuba's sugar production has seen a drastic decline. In 2002 more than half of
Cuba's sugar mills were shut down. Cuba holds 6.4% of the global market for nickel,[103] which
constitutes about 25% of total Cuban exports.[104] Recently, large reserves of oil have been found
in the North Cuba Basin.[105]

In 2010, Cubans were allowed to build their own houses. According to Raul Castro, they will be
able to improve their houses with this new permission, but the government will not endorse these
new houses or improvements.[106]

Sociolismo also known as amiguismo meaning "partner-ism" or "friend-ism" is the informal

term used in Cuba to describe the reciprocal exchange of favors by individuals, usually relating
to circumventing bureaucratic restrictions or obtaining hard-to-find goods.

It comes from the Spanish word socio which means business partner or buddy, and is a pun on
socialismo, the Spanish term for socialism. It is analogous to the blat of the Soviet Union or the
term combina in Israel.[1] It is a form of corruption in Cuba.[2]

The term is particularly associated with the black market economy, and perceived cronyism in
Cuba’s state controlled command economy. Socios can be black market operators who
"facilitate" (steal) goods that are officially reserved for the state. They can also get someone a job
or obtain paperwork.
The system is used by anyone who needs to send an e-mail or print a resume (but doesn't have a
computer), or needs paint or cement but has no access to an Office Store or Home Improvement
Store. Gary Marx, the Chicago Tribune's Havana correspondent, reports the system works this
way: Cubans send out signals they need something, make telephone calls and visit neighbors and
friends to find the right person who can get things in motion.

Few people own cars and the buses, or camellos, are slow and overcrowded; many Cubans spend
hours each day arranging rides to get to work, school or accomplish a task.[3] People often must
reach out and secure what they need por fuera ("through the outside") or por la izquierda
("through the left"), slang terms that mean "outside the official system".

The system has different levels and obligations. Friends, neighbors and relatives do favors for
each other without expecting anything in return. But with lesser-known acquaintances, exchange
is more normal for such things as shampoo, a piece of chicken, fruit, or cash.[4]

Sometimes the favors extend to hundreds of people. Employees of a state company in Pinar del
Rio were given special treatment at a local hospital in exchange for paper, pens and other scarce
materials and services.[5]

The theory of "sociolismo" follows that any person with control over resources could exchange
access to those resources for some current or future personal material benefit. Complex networks
of reciprocal obligations thus became an important part of the functioning of the Cuban
economy.

Daily life involves maintaining the personal relationships necessary to ensure access to necessary
goods and services, through unofficial channels or through the official channels unofficially.
Though the term became prominent during the economic downturn known as the Special Period
in Cuba, usage has continued into the mid-2000s.[6]

Aspects of Cuban Sociolismo were exported to the United States via Cuban immigrants, who
relied on friends and relatives in their new country for help in finding jobs, since they were not
able to verify their skills or employment in Cuba. This was particularly prevalent in the largest
Cuban-American community in Florida.[7]