Cuba restructures its socialism: steadily but without stopping or pausing

Cuba restructures its socialism: steadily but without stopping or pausing
by: John Bachtell
April 6 2015

HAVANA, Cuba - Approximately 30 miles west of this city, one of the largest construction projects since the start of the Cuban revolution in 1959 is taking shape - a state of the art container port in Mariel Bay. Once complete it will be the largest deep-water port in the Caribbean.

The publicly owned Mariel Port, straddling a major maritime transport artery, and an associated special economic zone is envisioned as a vital economic engine. It aims to attract foreign investment capital and trade, capable of receiving 1 million containers a year including from larger ships crossing through the expanded Panama Canal.

The project is part of the far reaching restructuring and updating of Cuba's socialist model well underway, literally a revolution in the revolution, that seeks to correct mistakes festering for decades which have contributed to a slowdown in economic growth, growing foreign debt, inefficiencies and black market corruption.

Objectives of restructuring

In the late 1990s as Cuba began emerging from the "special period" brought on by the collapse of socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, slowing economic development (1.8 percent average yearly growth) made it painfully obvious changes needed to be made.

More:
http://peoplesworld.org/cuba-restructures-its-socialism-steadily-but-without-stopping-or-pausing/