Manuel E. Yepe: Cuba's Libreta - A Fifty-Year-Old Strategy Against the Blockade (July 2013)

Cuba's Libreta:
A FIFTY-YEAR-OLD STRATEGY AGAINST THE BLOCKADE
By Manuel E. Yepe

A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.

The Cuban ration book is now 50 years old, and Cubans are remembering this with a display of humor and pride.

There were humoristic TV and radio shows full of popular jokes and mockery recalling the birth of the “libreta de los mandados” [ration booklet for groceries] –as Cubans have called it since its emergence in July 1963.

The libreta was a response by the revolutionary project to the malicious measures of the commercial and economic blockade decreed by the government of the United States, and made official in 1962.

On April 6, 1960, the genocidal policy was formalized. On that day, Lester I.D. Mallory, the State Department’s Assistant Undersecretary for Inter American Affairs, wrote in a secret report –declassified in 1991- that the majority of Cubans supported the Revolution, and therefore the objective of overthrowing the Cuban Government had to be achieved “swiftly, using all means to weaken their economic life with a line of action as skillful and discreet as possible to promote disappointment and frustration that would arise from dissatisfaction and economic difficulties; denying money and supplies to reduce real salaries and financial resources to cause hunger, despair and the overthrow of the government.”

The libreta has served, during the half century of its existence, to guarantee each one of the 11 million Cuban citizens a modest food basket (rice, beans, bread, coffee, eggs, meat, sugar, cooking oil, and other products) at state-subsidized prices, in order to exclude hunger – the denigrating social phenomenon typical of market economies from which not even the highly industrialized countries escape- from the everyday reality of Cubans.

As a defense mechanism against Washington’s goal of overthrowing Cuba’s revolutionary government through hunger, the libreta and its associated sub-systems of collecting and distributing products, constitute a complex supply network which comprises the egalitarian basic food distribution system that operates in Cuba.

The libreta has played a bigger or smaller role in the diet of Cubans, sharing its function with other mechanisms, such as the venta liberada or the mercado paralelo [products available for purchase outside the rationing scheme] whose difference from the libreta is that their products are not subsidized.

During the crisis the island suffered in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had been its main support in the struggle against the U.S. blockade, Washington intensified its measures of economic suffocation with opportunistic aims.

The Torricelli Act was passed in 1992, giving a legal foundation for the blockade’s regulations, and conditioning its lifting on issues related to human rights and “democratization” -- policies systematically manipulated by U.S. diplomacy.

In 1996, the Helms-Burton Act increased the extraterritorial nature of the blockade by making it applicable to branches of U.S. companies overseas, and forbidding merchant ships of any flag to touch U.S. ports for a period of six months after touching Cuban ports.

Cuba then applied a survival strategy of policies and measures that as a whole was named the “Special Period”. Among these measures was the creation of several chains of shops to collect convertible currencies. Their aim was to stimulate foreign currency incomes by offering products that are not normally sold in the national network which offers goods and services.

To complement this measure, the Cuban banking system issued -in parallel to the national currency- the convertible peso which is the only currency accepted at the shops that collect convertible currencies.

The dual currency fulfilled its role of collecting the convertible currencies urgently needed by the economy after the crisis of the 90’s, but it has also created social inequalities and complex accounting and practical problems. These are in the process of solution and represent one of the main economic objectives of the ongoing process of updating the Cuban socialist model

The libreta has survived much longer than the dual currency, and has also rendered a remarkable service to the survival strategy of the Cuban Revolution. It will also disappear in the short or medium term. The concrete advances the Cuban economy has been experiencing, despite the blockade and the persistent hostility of its powerful neighbor, allows and advises setting the objective of eliminating the ration book. This must be done based on the premises that the state should subsidize persons instead of products, that nobody should be abandoned without help, and that education and health services remain free and available for all.

July 2013.

		Cuba's Libreta: A FIFTY-YEAR-OLD STRATEGY AGAINST THE BLOCKADE By Manuel E. Yepe A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann. The Cuban ration book is now 50 years old, and Cubans are remembering this with a display of humor and pride. There were humoristic TV and radio shows full of popular jokes and mockery recalling the birth of the “libreta de los mandados” [ration booklet for groceries] –as Cubans have called it since its emergence in July 1963. The libreta was a response by the revolutionary project to the malicious measures of the commercial and economic blockade decreed by the government of the United States, and made official in 1962. On April 6, 1960, the genocidal policy was formalized. On that day, Lester I.D. Mallory, the State Department’s Assistant Undersecretary for Inter American Affairs, wrote in a secret report –declassified in 1991- that the majority of Cubans supported the Revolution, and therefore the objective of overthrowing the Cuban Government had to be achieved “swiftly, using all means to weaken their economic life with a line of action as skillful and discreet as possible to promote disappointment and frustration that would arise from dissatisfaction and economic difficulties; denying money and supplies to reduce real salaries and financial resources to cause hunger, despair and the overthrow of the government.” The libreta has served, during the half century of its existence, to guarantee each one of the 11 million Cuban citizens a modest food basket (rice, beans, bread, coffee, eggs, meat, sugar, cooking oil, and other products) at state-subsidized prices, in order to exclude hunger – the denigrating social phenomenon typical of market economies from which not even the highly industrialized countries escape- from the everyday reality of Cubans. As a defense mechanism against Washington’s goal of overthrowing Cuba’s revolutionary government through hunger, the libreta and its associated sub-systems of collecting and distributing products, constitute a complex supply network which comprises the egalitarian basic food distribution system that operates in Cuba. The libreta has played a bigger or smaller role in the diet of Cubans, sharing its function with other mechanisms, such as the venta liberada or the mercado paralelo [products available for purchase outside the rationing scheme] whose difference from the libreta is that their products are not subsidized. During the crisis the island suffered in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had been its main support in the struggle against the U.S. blockade, Washington intensified its measures of economic suffocation with opportunistic aims. The Torricelli Act was passed in 1992, giving a legal foundation for the blockade’s regulations, and conditioning its lifting on issues related to human rights and “democratization” -- policies systematically manipulated by U.S. diplomacy. In 1996, the Helms-Burton Act increased the extraterritorial nature of the blockade by making it applicable to branches of U.S. companies overseas, and forbidding merchant ships of any flag to touch U.S. ports for a period of six months after touching Cuban ports. Cuba then applied a survival strategy of policies and measures that as a whole was named the “Special Period”. Among these measures was the creation of several chains of shops to collect convertible currencies. Their aim was to stimulate foreign currency incomes by offering products that are not normally sold in the national network which offers goods and services. To complement this measure, the Cuban banking system issued -in parallel to the national currency- the convertible peso which is the only currency accepted at the shops that collect convertible currencies. The dual currency fulfilled its role of collecting the convertible currencies urgently needed by the economy after the crisis of the 90’s, but it has also created social inequalities and complex accounting and practical problems. These are in the process of solution and represent one of the main economic objectives of the ongoing process of updating the Cuban socialist model The libreta has survived much longer than the dual currency, and has also rendered a remarkable service to the survival strategy of the Cuban Revolution. It will also disappear in the short or medium term. The concrete advances the Cuban economy has been experiencing, despite the blockade and the persistent hostility of its powerful neighbor, allows and advises setting the objective of eliminating the ration book. This must be done based on the premises that the state should subsidize persons instead of products, that nobody should be abandoned without help, and that education and health services remain free and available for all. July 2013.
		CINCUENTENARIA ESTRATEGIA CONTRA EL BLOQUEO Por Manuel E. Yepe La cartilla de racionamiento en Cuba ha cumplido 50 años y los cubanos lo están recordando con muestras de jocosidad y orgullo. Hubo programas humorísticos en la televisión y la radio que recordaron el surgimiento de la “libreta de los mandados” -como la llaman los cubanos desde que surgiera en julio de 1963- con chistes y burlas extraídas del gracejo popular. La “libreta” fue una respuesta del proyecto revolucionario cubano a los aviesos designios del bloqueo comercial y económico decretado por el gobierno de Estados Unidos, oficializado en 1962. Desde el 6 de abril de 1960, la política genocida estaba decidida. Ese día Lester I. D. Mallory, Vicesecretario Asistente del Departamento de Estado para Asuntos Interamericanos consignó en Informe Secreto - desclasificado en 1991- que la mayoría de los cubanos apoyaba la revolución, por lo que el objetivo de derrocar al gobierno de Cuba debía proceder “empleando rápidamente todos los medios que debiliten su vida económica con una línea de acción tan habilidosa y discreta como sea posible para promover el desencanto y el desaliento que derivarían de la insatisfacción y las dificultades económicas; negarle dinero y suministros para que disminuyan los salarios reales y los recursos financieros a fin de causar hambre, desesperación y el derrocamiento del gobierno”. La libreta ha servido, a lo largo del medio siglo de su vigencia, para garantizar a cada uno de los 11 millones de ciudadanos cubanos una modesta canasta básica de alimentos (arroz, frijoles, pan, café, huevos, carne, azúcar, aceite y otros productos) a precios subsidiados por el Estado a fin de excluir de la realidad cotidiana de los cubanos el hambre, ese denigrante fenómeno social propio de las economías de mercado del que no escapan siquiera los países más industrializados. Como mecanismo de defensa contra el propósito de Washington de derrocar por hambre al gobierno revolucionario cubano, la libreta y sus múltiples sub sistemas de acopio y distribución han integrado una compleja red de aseguramientos que forman el sistema de distribución igualitaria elemental de alimentos que funciona en Cuba. La libreta ha mantenido una participación mayor o menor en la dieta de los cubanos compartiendo su función con otros mecanismos, como la venta liberada o mercado paralelo, que se diferencian de la libreta en que sus objetos de distribución no son subsidiados. A raíz de la crisis que sufrió la isla en los años 90 del pasado siglo a causa del derrumbe de la Unión Soviética, su principal apoyo en el enfrentamiento del bloqueo estadounidense, Washington intensificó las medidas de estrangulamiento económico con fines oportunistas. Se aprobó entonces, en 1992, la Ley Torricelli que dio carácter legal al conjunto de disposiciones del bloqueo y condicionó su levantamiento a aspectos relativos a derechos humanos y políticas de “democratización” que sistemáticamente manipula la diplomacia de Estados Unidos. En 1996, la Ley Helm-Burton incrementó la extraterritorialidad del bloqueo al hacerlo aplicable a subsidiarias de compañías de Estados Unidos en terceros países y prohibir a buques mercantes de cualquier país que visiten puertos cubanos tocar puertos de Estados Unidos durante los seis meses siguientes. Cuba puso en práctica la estrategia de supervivencia consistente en políticas y mecanismos que en su conjunto se denominó “período especial” entre cuyas medidas estuvo la creación de varias cadenas de tiendas recaudadoras de divisas convertibles llamadas a incentivar los ingresos de moneda extranjera con oferta de mercancías que no brinda la red habitual nacional de ventas de bienes y servicios. Como complemento, comenzó a emitirse por el sistema bancario cubano, en paralelo a la moneda nacional, el peso convertible, única moneda aceptada en las tiendas recaudadoras de divisas. Si bien la doble moneda ha cumplido su papel captador de divisas que urgentemente requería la economía a raíz de la crisis de los años 90, ella ha generado desigualdades sociales y engorrosos problemas, tanto contables como prácticos, que ahora están en camino de solventarse al ser ello uno de los objetivos económicos fundamentales del proceso de actualización del modelo socialista cubano en curso. La libreta, que ha sobrevivido por mucho más tiempo que la doble moneda y también ha prestado un precioso servicio a la estrategia de supervivencia de la revolución cubana, está igualmente llamada a desaparecer a corto o mediano plazo. Los sólidos avances que ha venido experimentando la economía cubana no obstante el bloqueo y la sostenida hostilidad del poderoso vecino, permiten y aconsejan ya proyectar el objetivo de eliminar la cartilla de racionamiento a partir del principio de que el Estado subsidie personas y no productos, sin que nadie quede desamparado y se mantenga para todos el acceso gratuito a la salud y la educación. Julio de 2013.