| Cuba refuses to reform its sclerotic economy—because economic power gives way to political power, says the Wall Street Journal’s Mary Anastasia O’Grady:
As Cuban-American economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago observed in March, Castro’s Cuba has been a dependency for 60 years. The Soviet Union poured $65 billion into the island from 1960-90. With the dissolution of the Soviet empire, aid to Cuba dried up and the 1990s were an extremely difficult period. But Venezuela picked up the subsidy slack when Chávez came to power in 1999.
“At its peak in 2012, Venezuelan aid, subsidies and investment amounted to $14 billion, or close to 12% of gross domestic product,” Mr. Mesa-Lago wrote. But Cuba “is now facing its worst economic crisis since the 1990s,” he added.
Cuba is interested in keeping Maduro in power, since Chavista money has kept the Cuban economy afloat and because his downfall would mean another failure for the Cuban political model in Latin America, according to Alejandro Barahona, a political scientist and international analyst at the University of Costa Rica….RTWT
U.S. officials believe there are about 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela, including security forces, intelligence agents, among others such as doctors and health professionals, notes CSIS analyst Moises Rendon…RTWT
Michael Allen
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