From 1961 Monetary Exchange to 2023: Further Continuity

Last August 3 Resolution 11/2023 of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) entered into forceIt establishes limits on cash receipts and payments in the national currency, as well as deposits, withdrawals and possessions.

Economists and other experts have devoted large spaces to analyzing controversial regulations. This proves that these lines are limited to recalling an event that happened exactly 62 years ago More disastrous sequel than recent action.

On August 4, 1961, the revolutionary government promulgated Law 963 with the aim of replacing the currency notes. In use by others of equal value. Borders were closed and the country paralyzed for the next two days to carry out the transfer.

Seven months earlier, on January 3, in response to the nationalization of American assets, President Dwight D. Eisenhower severed diplomatic relations with the Cuban government, showing that this was part of the dispute with the United States.

According to the arguments advanced, this action could not be postponed because of the insecurity and danger represented by banknotes printed in the United States, outside the control of the Cuban government. Therefore, it was imperative to prevent the use of monetary resources in the hands of the counter-revolution to plot against the revolutionary government.

Six months before the exchange, Commander Ernesto Guevara had resigned as president of the Banco Nacional de Cuba, but he took over the production of the new banknotes printed in Czechoslovakia bearing the “Say” signature. He started using it as soon as he took office. On that occasion, he objected to not signing as Ernesto Guevara, to which he replied, “Everybody signs as they like.”

In absolute peace, 3,500 offices were set up, in charge of the transportation of security bonds and security armed forces, the technical responsibility of the National Bank, the ORI (Integrated Revolutionary Organizations), the germ of the current PPC , took care of the organization of the premises and the selection of personnel to carry out the exchange.

Ticket exchange began on the morning of Saturday, August 5: a representative from each family gave an affidavit of their identity, address, activities they performed and the persons they represented in the process. Up to 10,000 paise could be transferred, out of which he got 200 in cash and the remaining 9,800 was in the bank to be withdrawn at the rate of 100 paise per month. The rest of the money was confiscated.

Realizing the injustice, Fidel Castro expressed: “It is often not easy to achieve the revolutionary objective without injuring to a certain degree even those who cannot be considered counter-revolutionaries, speculators, exploiters or currency traders. There will be lawsuits. Victimized people”. This resulted in the economic ruin of thousands of national businessmen.Apart from suicides, conspiracies and desertions, their capitals suddenly disappeared.

The 1961 swap was the initial step that first enabled 1). To abolish the national economic classand 2) until preventing its revival, which received constitutional status. Article 87 of the 1940 Constitution states: “The Cuban State recognizes the existence and legitimacy of private property in its wider social function”, while Article 30 of the Constitution in force in Cuba today states: “Natural or accumulated legal persons are controlled by the State”.

is in progress The express purpose of creating a society of poor people dependent on the government. In 1965, payments and receipts between companies were halted in an attempt to abolish money and eliminate commercial ties; Taxes, interest charges and accounting system were abolished.

In 1968, 55,000 small manufacturing and service firms in Cuban hands were seized by the government. In 1982, with the “Pitirre en el Alambre” and “Adoquín” operations, the businesses of artisans, artists and farmers were closed and their tools, materials and coins confiscated. In 1987, taking advantage of the shortage of various types of goods, “Gold and Silver Houses” were established to exchange expensive clothes in the hands of their owners and for bonuses for obtaining low-quality items.

In 1993, due to the impact of the crisis created by the loss of Soviet subsidies, the use of the dollar was approved, a network of exchange houses (CADECA) was opened and a retail trade network was established in dollars to collect foreign currency. In 2004, as the economy showed signs of revival, the greenback was replaced by the convertible peso (CUC), making Cuba the only country with two national currencies, both without manufacturing backing. In a setback to 1914, 12 years after the birth of the republic, Cuba introduced a national currency system that, while seemingly subordinated to the dollar, allowed the Cuban peso to prevail and circulate freely alongside it.

Without the facts cited—and others like them—cannot be understood There was a setback in economic relations and spiritual life, whose latest manifestation is 2023’s Coralito, one of whose manifestations is distrust in the banking system; A reality summed up in one sentence by economist Rafaela Cruz: The last thing Cubans can do is put their money in the bank.

The revolutionaries who came to power in 1959 forgot the laws governing economic events and finances. To eliminate business relationships and money, and placed that responsibility in the hands of “trusted” individuals, which extended to the entire social structure. In 1948 Felipe Pazós Roque, the founder and first president of the Banco Nacional de Cuba, was reappointed to the post, and a few months later he was replaced by General Ernesto Guevara.

The Disruption of government in personal accounts -Dacoberto Valdez said – It is an invasion of private property and the autonomy of the citizen. I would add that this is the last step, as private property and the citizen have already been erased from the Cuban scene.

The complexity of social phenomena does not allow us to predict precisely what step will definitely lead to the collapse of a system like Cuba, alien to human nature. But that’s what the facts say Playpen puts us closer to it than ever before.