Dear Friend:

Cuba is taking decisions now to cope with problems like the high cost of imported food and fuel - the problems of today - while it also faces challenging, long-term issues like the aging of its population and the need to provide better education and a more hopeful future for its youth.

These are the kinds of actions, large and small, that we have been covering with increasing intensity since Raúl Castro was elected president in February 2008.

·  In an address last week before the National Assembly, President Raúl Castro described changes in what we might call Cuba's social contract with its people, saying "Socialism means social justice and equality, but equality of rights, of opportunities, not of income."
 
·  In a decree published days ago, land that is owned by the state that has been left idle is being turned over to private farmers and state cooperatives as part of Cuba's continuing effort to boost the production of food.  Praising the efforts of these small producers, President Castro also said, "These are all forms of property and production that can coexist harmoniously because none are antagonistic to socialism."

·  In an effort to revitalize public education, the government announced plans to change the pension system to allow retired teachers who want to return to the classroom to collect both their salaries and retirement benefits.

·  In a strategy designed to capitalize on its energy assets, Cuba announced a three-four year plan to work with Venezuela to increase its domestic refining capacity to a goal of 350,000 bbl a day.

·  In keeping with its effort to stabilize its foreign relations, Cuba announced new agreements with Mexico in the area of health care.

Some of these steps represent departures from the path that Cuba has taken since its revolution; others simply represent efforts to modernize the country and offer its people a better future.

As President Castro noted in his remarks, the chorus of carping critics in the United States continues to raise its voice calling the changes cosmetic, even though, he said, "nobody here asked for their opinion."   That may be true.  But some of us who live on this side of the Florida Straits wouldn't mind if someone in a position of responsibility in our government acknowledged that these changes are taking place, and offered Cuba the same kind of encouragement it has been receiving from our allies in the region and elsewhere.   Now that would be reform, in our opinion.
 
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