[Marxism] Raúl Castro, the Deng Xiaoping of Cuba?

["Yoshie Furuhashi" <critical.montages@xxxxxxxxx>]

A major theme of the MSM: "Raúl Castro has what it takes to become the
Deng Xiaoping of Cuba, but, given oil from Chavez, reform will be
slower than we would like." -- Yoshie

<blockquote>As Cuba's defense minister, Raúl Castro made virtue of the
necessity for Cuba to liberalize its economy after the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991, when Cuba's military was forced to use horses to
move equipment due to fuel shortages.

Cuba's 50,000-strong army was the first of the island's institutions
to embrace free-market business practices. The military now plays a
major role in tourism the main source of hard currency for a country
whose economy has been under a U.S. trade embargo for more than four
decades.

"Beans are more important than cannons," Raul said in the early 1990s,
arguing for agricultural reforms that had long been opposed by Fidel.
On a visit to China in 1997, he expressed interest in the country's
hybrid of free-enterprise socialism. He has also called in recent
years for more cooperation with the United States on combating
terrorism, drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
<http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/02/news/raul.php></blockquote>
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>

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