Just over a week ago, Cuba’s President, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said that starting this month all state employed workers will receive the first of what will likely be several salary increases. His widely reported announcement responded to shared concern among Cubans that their salaries have become inadequate in relation to the cost of living.
Far more significantly, however, and barely mentioned outside of Cuba, the decision was just one of several potentially far-reaching economic reforms.
In his remarks – subsequently published under the headline ‘Update of the Cuban Socialist Model’ – Cuba’s President told participants at a meeting in the city of Pinar del Rio, that Cuba is about to embark on what might best be described as an unconventional process of economic reform, and the long overdue process of breathing new life into the country’s struggling economy is about to begin.
