Freedom dearer in Cuba

Havana: Antonio Gomez could be the saviour of the Cuban President, Raul Castro. On a dusty street corner in the working class Centro Havana district, Gomez, 32, has put up a big sign above his living room: ‘Cuenta Propista' — self-employed — and has opened a small kiosk selling sandwiches and pizzas. But he could also be part of the Castro regime's downfall.

"Business is good," he says as he attended a steady stream of clients. "But I would like to open up a bigger kiosk, maybe a proper restaurant, and then maybe another shop. I hope that soon we can do this."

Gomez — not his real name — is one of a growing army of Cubans who hunger for genuine economic liberty.

It is something that Castro, realising that the economy is in dire straits, apparently supports. But diplomatic sources say that the president is "terrified" that the clamour for economic independence will lead to calls for political freedom.

This week, President Castro is offering an olive branch to reformists. He has called the first ‘National Conference' in more than 50 years — a one-off event, gathering together hundreds of Cuban Communist Party officials to approve a raft of political changes.

The most dramatic of these, perhaps, is an expected pledge to limit future presidents to two five-year terms of office — surprising from a man who, with his brother Fidel, has ruled continuously since 1959. "The reforms and changes that have been made by the Cuban government are not only remarkable but indeed stunning," said Kirby Jones, a Cuba scholar at the University of Maryland, writing in the Latin America Advisor. But others warn that Cuba faces a real dilemma.

Tentative steps

Raul Castro, who took over from his increasingly frail brother in 2008, has made tentative steps towards economic reforms.

In November 2010, he proposed taking 500,000 people out of the state sector into private enterprise, allowing them to start small businesses, own mobile telephones and, eventually, buy and sell houses and cars. It is certainly necessary. Cuba's economy was among the most sluggish in Latin America last year, with only El Salvador more sclerotic, and President Castro has realised that the free health care and education on which Cubans rely is unsustainable without a stronger business sector.

In a country that should, in theory, be a Garden of Eden, even mangos, coffee and sugar are imported. Furthermore, many of Cuba's well-educated workforce of five million need something to challenge them. But the impact of economic reforms has been limited. The government remains sensitive about protecting state industries, and many of the professions open to ‘cuenta propistas' are small-scale, such as hairdressers, dog groomers and manicurists.

One dissident showed a photograph of the country's rulers, who looked more like the residents of an old people's home than thriving revolutionaries. Many senior advisers to Raul Castro, 80, are his age or older, while his brother Fidel, 85, has officially retired but still issues revolutionary diktats to the people.

Political inertia

The conference this week aims to promote younger activists. But these token political reforms fall far short of what some Cubans demand. "But we are a country with 11 million dead citizens," says Yoani Sanchez, 36, Cuba's most influential dissident blogger.

And while some young people are eager for the chance to pursue new careers in the private sector, others are angry that the system was allowed to rot for so long before reform was deemed necessary. Among them is Orlando Luis Pardo, a biochemist who spent four years working to develop a dengue fever vaccine. As more and more of his colleagues left Cuba, his work fell apart and he lost faith in the system.

Moving into journalism, Pardo, 41, wrote of his frustrations, but found himself blacklisted. "Cuba has died for me," he says sadly.

— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2012