For all its more than half a century of Communist rule, the disposition of entrepreneurial ‘hustle’ that characterises free enterprise economies has enjoyed an enduring attraction among many Cubans. When, some years ago, small businessmen and women from the island began arriving in Guyana to acquire consumer goods that were difficult to obtain in Cuba for re-sale back home, Guyanese, having been fed a steady diet of information about a Cuban ideological psyche that rejected consumerism, were, in many instances, taken back by the sense of ‘hustle’ that the visitors portrayed.
The Cuban Communist Party remains ‘large and in charge’ on the island but the veil of ideology has been lifted somewhat from the Cuban mindset, releasing, these days, far more generous evidence of the spirit of enterprise that preceded the revolution.
