Amid economic reforms, Cuba goes after corruption

[Dover]

Source: AP

HAVANA (AP) — Green-clad security agents swoop down on an upscale business complex to shutter the offices of a Canadian car dealership. Top executives at Cuba's famed cigar monopoly find themselves behind bars. A former government minister trades his seat in power for a jail cell and a 15-year term.

President Raul Castro is matching his free market economic changes with a zealous battle against entrenched corruption on this Communist-run island, much of it involving Cuban officials at major state-run companies and ministries as well as the foreigners they do business with.

Cuba says the crusade is essential to save the socialist system. Others wonder at the timing of a crackdown that has sent a chill through the small foreign business community, just when the cash-strapped economy needs international financing to push the reforms along.

Cuba has battled corruption before, even executing a former revolutionary war hero on drug trafficking charges in 1989. But past arrests have been largely limited to Cubans. Analysts say the current crackdown seems different, with Canadian, French, Czech, Chilean and English citizens jailed or sentenced for their alleged roles, and scores of small South American and European companies kicked out of the country.


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[harmonicon]

1. This phrase is hilarious:

"... the timing of a crackdown that has sent a chill through the small foreign business community"

I like the implication that arresting criminals would send a chill through businessmen.