Caribbean Phoenix

The opening of Cuba to greater tourism, greater and freer circulation of foreign currency (US dollars, Euros) decentralization of some commercial and agricultural activity, relaxation of property rules and the opening of the island to foreign investment has helped the crumbling Cuban economy since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But Castro is no Deng Xiaoping. He has learned nothing, it seems, from the Chinese experience and from that of his own country in the last decade. Cuba has begun a new wave or recentralization and state control, curbing the few liberalizing policies that it had adopted not long ago. US dollar circulation has been curtailed, tips in the tourism industry have been banned, and now, BBC reports that minimal contact between tourism workers and tourists will be enforced. In Castro's mind, it is the process of recentralizing which has enabled Cuba to improve its economy, however modestly, and not the market liberalizing policies.

Workers are also told to watch their foreign employers and report actions that might threaten Cuba's revolution.

The new regulations make stark reading. Everyone who works in Cuba's expanding tourism industry - from bar staff to taxi drivers - is warned to keep a safe distance from foreigners.

Workers are advised that they can attend events at the homes of non-Cubans only with advanced written permission.

Gifts received from foreigners have to be declared. Electronic goods such as video players are expected to be handed over to the ministry for common use.

In the last few months, the US dollar has been removed from circulation. Private enterprise has been curbed and managers of Cuban state enterprises have been stripped of much of their autonomy.

President Fidel Castro has said that recentralization is enabling the Cuban state to rise again, like a phoenix.