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Catching up with the changes being wrought in Cuba

Cuba doesn't much rate in the media. If it does, it is in relation to the country continuing to be hard-core Communist, the poverty of the people, Fidel Castro's health issues or cigars.

Julia E. Sweig is the author of “Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know” and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Writing an op-ed piece "Absent at the Creation" in the IHT [republished in The New York Times], she reflects on the US being left behind in understanding what changes are afoot in Cuba - a country, after all, a mere 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

"A radical new phase in Cuban history is unfolding in plain sight. But unlike the rest of the world, Washington appears not to notice.

Under President Raúl Castro, preserving the Revolution is now about evolution: land reform, property rights, real estate investment, progressive taxation, small businesses, privatization and government lay-offs — a half-million will start next month, with more to come.

In practical terms, this means ending the system where everyone is paid but almost no one works, and where the state doles out a long list of freebies but has little productive tax base to finance its expenditures.

Starting next month, Cubans running businesses in a huge range of goods and services will pay income, payroll and social security taxes. And the Cuban state will spend the new revenue on health care, education and infrastructure."

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