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Fidel Castro goes wherever he can go. An even though Latin American democratic countries cannot close their doors to him when he is coming as part of an Ibero-American Summit, few are those that enjoy the idea of having him as a guest. Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s president, was chosen through a reasonably democratic process, but he has frequently shown that a good part of his heart is in systems which are, at least authoritarian. Therefore, for this host Castro was recently not only a perfectly acceptable visitor but also one enthusiastically desirable. After all, having visited Baghdad last year “to develop closer ties” with Saddam Hussein and hobnobbed in Libya with Muammar al-Qaddafi, there are not many dictators left with which Chavez could feel uncomfortable.
Emboldened by the high oil prices of oil and inspired by spellbinding praise from Castro —whom he considers his mentor— Chavez used the Cuban dictator’s presence in Caracas to implement his “Bolivarian” vision of a more socially equitable and “multi-polar” strain of globalization (which would be the “poles” is not clear).
Through the agreement signed at the end of the visit, in an operation which is tantamount to making an oil donation, Venezuela will “sell” to Cuba 108,000 barrels daily in exchange—now hear this!—to payments made by Cuba with the services of physicians, physical education teachers, sports coaches and trainers, engineers and other Cuban professionals who will be shipped to Venezuela to perform work there.
This is a breakthrough in profiting from slave labor that would be admired by anybody in the slave-trade business three or four centuries ago. He would just sell the slaves he had rounded up to the highest bidder—who, in turn, would benefit from his purchase from years to come—while he had to round up a new set of goods. With the domestic rent-a-slave business developed by Castro a long time ago the slave trader is assured of a steady stream of income from a non-dwindling asset. Now Castro has developed it into an export business.
Domestically, this is the way it has been working since foreigners have been setting up businesses in Cuba. Only the Cuban state can give employment to Cubans. Therefore, any foreign enterprise setting up a business in Cuba in any shape or form has to obtain all its Cuban workers from a government agency that is in effect run by the Communist Party of Cuba. The state pays every Cuban employee’s salary at the miserable local level, is reimbursed by the foreign company at the fictitious official exchange rate of 25 pesos per dollar and pockets the substantial difference.
The agreement now signed with Venezuela marks a new pinnacle in the exploitation of human beings. The salaries of the professional workers that Cuba will send to Venezuela in payment for oil will be set at the local level—which is nothing extraordinary but high above Cuba’s level—and its total will be used by the Chavez government to offset the cost of the oil shipped to Cuba, while the Castro regime will pay those workers at Cuba’s prevailing salaries. As the agreement covers at least $500 million annually, the Castro regime, through its exported slave labor, has the prospect of pocketing a good difference and in effect getting oil it so sorely needs at fire-sale prices.
This, according to Chafes, is a step toward the creation of a “multi-polar” world. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if the rent-a-slave business can go global. But, who knows?
However, there is quite a number of Venezuelans—smaller now but still high—who, even though they support Chafes do not like the arrangement with Cuba. Not only because the price per barrel was set at $20, much lower than the current price of just over $30 and it was given 15 years to pay and a low 2 percent interest rate, but also because in general terms they think Castro’s visit will hurt Venezuela’s international image. Almost 45 per cent of Venezuelans expressed this view, according to a survey conducted by Coca, a local polling company.
Deputies led by the Primmer Justice opposition party boycotted a speech given by Castro to the National Assembly. “This was not a case of only rejecting the political presence of Castro, but also to reject the incorporation of Cuba into the energy agreement,” said Leopoldo Martinez, a PJ deputy.
Many observers are also warning that the warm reception offered to Castro would only further taint Chavez’s increasingly militarized government—several civilian posts have been filled with military chiefs—with the Cuban dictator’s record of repressing civil liberties.
Claudio Campuzano (claudio-campuzano@hotmail.com) is U.S, correspondent for the Latin American newsweekly Tiempos del Mundo and editorial page editor of the New York daily Noticias del Mundo. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com