Cuba Tweaks Socialist Model to Encourage Work Amid Crisis
For more than 60 years, Cuba supplied at least some rice, milk, beans, sugar, chicken, electrical power and even cigarettes to its people nearly free of cost regardless of whether they worked, allowing many to survive without a job or depend solely on remittances.
But this year, the government is implementing a deep financial reform that reduces subsidies, eliminates a dual currency that was key to the old system and raises salaries. It hopes to boost productivity to alleviate an economic crisis and reconfigure a socialist system that will still grant universal benefits such as free health care and education.
For more than 60 years, Cuba supplied at least some rice, milk, beans, sugar, chicken, electrical power and even cigarettes to its people nearly free of cost