| Titulo |
International
Migrations in Cuba: persinting trends and changes Contents |
| Autor |
Rolando García Quiñones
Director del Centro de Estudios Demográficos (CEDEM), Cuba |
Compared with previous
migration flows, today's Cubans emigrate for different reasons, mostly economic reasons,
to join family members or, in their words, because they have lost faith in the Cuban
project's capacity to overcome the current crisis (or Special Period).
There is no doubt that today the decision to emigrate is part of Cubans' survival
strategies to solve daily problems and increase the income of other family members through
cash remittances from abroad, gifts and resource.
In his article on migrations and family remittances, Pedro Monreal points out that
"…Even though Cuba may not be classified as a classical economy dependent on
remittances, in recent years its dependency on remittances from abroad, particularly
family remittances and donations, has become more apparent… today emigration and
family remittances play a leading economic and social role unprecedented in the nation's
recent history and, in practice, remittances are working as a mechanism for international
insertion…this phenomenon may indicate that today the exportation of workers is one
of the areas with the most 'competitive advantages' for the country and in fact a
significant section of the Cuban economy's 'modern' sector is outside its formal borders.
One of the implications of this is that Cubans depend to a large extent on family
remittances from abroad… The considerable increase in the flow of family remittances
hints at the existence of a sort of 'one's own' modernizing effort in vast sectors of
Cuban society.
Even though some attempts have been made to estimate it, the value of remittances is not
precise and continues to be an enigmatic process. Cuba's official balance of payments data
reveal that in 1996 net current transferences - comprising mostly family remittances and
donations - reached $743.7 million. Other Cuban estimates calculate the volume of
remittances around 300 to 400 million dollars, while in 1996 ECLAC calculated them to be
approximately $800 million. In his article, Monreal suggests a total of approximately $500
million. 5
Remittances are, therefore, one of the most important sectors of Cuba's economy as far as
its international insertion is concerned. In terms of gross foreign exchange revenues
volume remittances are second only to tourism and sugar, but are first in terms of net
foreign exchange revenues. In this economist's view the existence of a sizable foreign
exchange internal trade around which a complex network of products and services has
prospered, has spurred the reactivation of important economic activities - the so called
border exports - and eased an international insertion of sorts, based mostly on
remittances from abroad. This has made it possible to manage the economic adjustment
process in a way more acceptable to society, avoiding the increase in unemployment that
would derive from a direct insertion into the world market.
Nevertheless, the effects of remittances from abroad have also been felt in areas that are
not compatible with the social justice policies that are being promoted. In fact, they
have caused stratification among consumers, the fragmentation of markets and some
manifestations of social inequality and exclusion, which have affected Cuban society's
well-established value system.
Obviously, it is not an easy task to define the strategies and policies needed to better
profit from remittances, especially since the U.S. is the main source of such remittances
and as such could resort to manipulation by limiting such transfers under the argument
that all "oxygen valves" to the Cuban political system must be closed, as if the
embargo were not enough. Paradoxically, it appears that it is not.
From Cuba's point of view the problem is not the existence of remittances but rather how
to incorporate them into the economy and society in an eventual future scenario of less
conflicting relations with the U.S. The most important issue is not what happens in the
short term but rather what would be the impact of a "transnational" family
strategy. Meanwhile, at the micro level, families continue to adopt and implement their
own "integration and cooperation models", regardless of their possible
institutionalization.
5
Monreal, P.: "Migraciones y remesas familiares. Notas e hipótesis sobre el
caso Cuba". Centro de Investigaciones de la Economía Internacional (CIEI),
Universidad de La Habana; 2001 (in print).
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