ROMANIA'S COMMUNISTS POISED FOR A COMEBACK

by Ricardo Calvo

"Si nos queda inteligencia, aprenderemos con esta experiencia" Autor

This wire from Romania illustrates the need to address NOW and not later the future needs of Cuba during the post marxist period. One can see one more time that the communists are still around and I do not mean physically but in power.

The old nomeklature almost never dies. The other extremely important point is that the governments of Romania, as most of the other governments of the former marxists countries of Easter Europe, did not make a decise move to institute FULL private property.

They have kept old "state owned enterprises (SOE)" and have subsidized then through "state banks". This is nothing more than a very elegant way of keeping the old socialism working. Natrurally all the "state banks" are supported by the CENTRAL BANK which as in most of all coubtries of the world is nothing more than the "bank of last resort" to lend to the politicians all the money ( ie to print "false money") that is required for them to stay in power and carry out all their political agendas.

Naturally the results are here in this wire and then the "saviors" of the moment fill the gap : ie the social dewmocrats, nothing more than socialists who loudly will invoke the need to get rid of the " brutal capitalism" attempted by the previous government.

The question is : where is the institution of private property? How come not all property is in the hands of private enterprises after 11 years post communism?.

Without the existence and respect for private ownership of ALL property there will never be freedom, human rights and the rule of law. For us to move to democracy and pluralism in Cuba we must first have established and without hesitation the unique and indispensable cornerstone for the very existence of freedom :

PRIVATE PROPERTY.

Democracy, elections and new set of poltitician WILL NOT necessarily make us free.Without the full establishment and support for the existence of private ownership we run the risk that the former it will make us one more time slave of socialism and of the economic interes which will "dance" with them.

No more CENTRAL BANKS. NO more counterfiting money by the printing presses of the State. No more "state banks" . Only private national and international banks. Cuba will have two paths to follow with respect to its currency: either we totally dollarize o we institute a Currency Board as in H. Kong, Estonia o Argentina ( although this last one is not a full one). No more politicians printing money and debasing the hard earned currency.

If we do not have the bases that will guarantee freedom both politically and eonomically then to expect the emergence and endurance of democracy and pluralism in Cuba is just nothing more than a utopic illusion to satisfy and dope the minds of the cubans in exile and in Cuba as well as to sugar coat the high govt officials of foreign nations.


END


Ricardo Calvo


Romania's Communists Poised for a Comeback

Summary

Propelled by a banking scandal, the Romanian government may be on its way out of power. The current administration, which has led the country in its bid for membership in both NATO and the European Union, suffered unprecedented losses at municipal elections May 4 - partly as a result of the scandal. After four years of pro-Western rule in Romania, the country seems prepared to consider a return to leaders who are leftovers of the communist era.

Analysis

A banking scandal threw Romanian investors into panic last week, resulting in the collapse of a national investment fund. An anonymous source leaked information to the public that led to a run on the bank. The information leak - apparently politically motivated - was the first in what will likely be a string of events aimed at weakening the current government.

The banking scandal - combined with success at the polls in recent elections - will strengthen the hand of the Social Democrats, composed of former communist-era officials, led by former president Ion Iliescu. Supporters of the ruling Christian Democratic Party largely boycotted local elections on May 4 and, along with low voter turnout, helped throw the elections to the Social Democrats. In November, the country will hold parliamentary and presidential elections.

By themselves the local elections cannot indicate who will win in the fall. But the public's awareness of the corruption surrounding the banking sector, however, does suggest an imminent collapse of the Romanian administration. If the Social Democrats can continue to expose government corruption, while influencing voters at the municipal level, they may be able to manipulate mass sentiment enough to position themselves for a win in November.

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In mid-May several anonymous phone calls to investors in the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) began a run on the bank that led to the collapse of its partner, the state-run National Investment Fund (FNI), according to Bucharest press reports. A total of 10,000 small investors - out of 300,000 with investments with the fund - reportedly attempted to withdraw their cash from the BCR. With only 4 percent of its $164 million worth of assets liquid, the fund collapsed.

Romania's ruling Christian Democrats say the crisis was an attempt by the political opposition to sway the elections. They are probably right, in that the crisis would not have happened without the anonymous phone calls.

A problem had already been brewing; but it was sparked into a crisis by a timely leak of information to the public. Initially Stefan Boboc, president of the National Securities Commission (CNVM) denied any knowledge of FNI's precarious and illegal financial position. Two days later he was charged with directly managing the fund's questionable operations, reported the Romanian daily Economy T


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