We Are Fewer But With More Problems / Jorge Olivera Castillo

HAVANA, Cuba , September, www.cubanet.org – Raul Castro and those accompanying him in the exercise of power don’t give a damn about the unstoppable population decrease in Cuba. Faced with this unfortunate prediction, revealed by National Bureau of Statistics and Information (ONEI), we confirm once again that the government has no sense of the nation which, without a hint of modesty, it continues to call revolutionary.

The reluctance of the women to bring children into the world, clear from the high rate of abortions, has its foundation in the socio-economic problems. In addition to the depressed wages we have rising unemployment and the inability to choose a house or apartment with the minimum standards of livability. Currently, the deficit amounts to more than a million homes.

The current environment favors  alienation and marginalization, especially among young people, who tend to see their future away from the land of their birth. The preference for emigrating abroad is also another cause underlying the predictions of a marked decline in the population.

According to the government agency that brought to light details of the issues, By 2030 Cuba will have 10,904,985 inhabitants. Comparing this number to the current population, the decrease exceeds a quarter million people since the most recent census conducted last year, which counted 11,163,934 Cubans.

The consequences of such a reduction in a depopulated country, given that Cuba has a land area of 42,400 square miles, will be unpredictable. Extreme poverty , increase in prostitution and trafficking of drugs, decay of social services, among other high-impact phenomena in the lives of the majority of the people. Of course the heaviest part of the burden will fall on the shoulders of Cuba’s elderly. Many will not be able to endure the stifling conditions.

The symptoms of Social Darwinism are accelerated to the extent that the foundations of real socialism are dismantled. The extreme nationalization, characterized by arbitrary prohibitions, voluntarism and enlarging the bureaucracy to a scale never before seen, have been the main triggers for a series of anomalies that have ruined the economy and social fabric.

The worst news is the fact that there are no reasonable methods to reverse the situation. The circle of power is still committed to delaying a transition to facilitate the rearrangements necessary so that the country will not to fall into chaos. The economic changes implemented lack vision that is viable and pragmatic rather than obstructionist.

While the end for Raul Castro and his entourage is their conservation as a political class, nothing can be expected beyond the news compels them to take refuge in the most remote areas of pessimism.

In 2030 we will be fewer people with many more dilemmas to solve. The culprits of the disaster set back the clock of history at their convenience. So far, unfortunately, they have been lucky in their maneuvers.

Jorge Olivera Castillo – oliverajorge75@yahoo.com

From Cubanet

9 September 2013