Competition in the Realm of Incompetence

Competition in the Realm of Incompetence / Miriam Celaya
Miriam Celaya, Translator: Norma Whiting

Castillo de Jagua State Restaurant, though centrally located on 23rd and
G Streets in the capital, remains empty.

I heard on good authority that the government is "studying" how to allow
state-owned restaurants and other eating establishments to become
mini-cooperatives in the hands of their own workers, to make them
productive and rotate the food, which — due to poor quality of the
ingredients, the deplorable condition of the premises or a combination
of these and other factors — accumulates in the warehouses of these
entities. Operations for the inspection process in the gastronomic
industry have been unleashed in the capital, specifically in premises
belonging to the Provincial Enterprise of Luxury Restaurants — a
mouthful to describe the unfortunate culinary slums that were formerly
Havana's pride(!) — and they have revealed that the value of stored
ingredients, products not being rotated for lack of customers, is
several million dollars, not counting the numerous violations and
detected corruption cases that are inherent to the system. This is how
the system of renting those venues to restaurant co-ops by the year 2013
is being analyzed by (competent?) authorities.

It is a well-known secret that, while state restaurants and cafes remain
completely lacking in customers, many of the so-called "paladares",
[eating places] in private hands are the choice of Cubans and
foreigners. Some of the paladares usually have long lines from the time
they open until closing which demonstrates the better quality, working
conditions, service, etc., of private versus state performance.

The implementation of co-operatives is still good news. In any case, for
a long time, the offering of services in general should have enjoyed
autonomy. In fact, this turning of pages to what is officially and
euphemistically being termed "other forms of employment" is the tacit
acknowledgment of the failure of nationalization and the need to
privatize as the only way to turn profitable these and other places of
the domestic economy. The bad news is that, most likely, the process
will be fraught with obstacles and excessive controls that will slow
down the results, and that state restaurant employees should be patient;
such an old government moves with difficulty and is slow to learn.

So the addition of these state establishments in the autonomous culinary
chain adds a new component to the already established competition among
the private ones, and a potential increment in the demand for foodstuffs
that the government will not be able to satisfy. It is expected that the
new measure (reform?) is accompanied by greater economic freedom for
food producers, i.e. the private-sector farmer, given the proverbial
incompetence of the state agricultural production. In the end, the
government will be forced to give up obstacles to producers and to
establish a more flexible marketing system for foodstuffs. Competition,
a natural result of the market, will expose the incompetence of the
socialist system that currently the Reformist General insists on
"renewing", which is to say that apparently the only way to "upgrade"
socialism is to return to the production and market ways of capitalism…
or what the voice of the people is saying: "all that swimming and
swimming to end up dying on shore!"

Translated by Norma Whiting

July 2 2012

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