Other firms simply take the risk themselves. Executives from such companies as Hyatt, Marriott, Merck and Eli Lilly have been seen around Havana. One Western diplomat in Cuba laughs at the increasingly flagrant violations, even by exiles in Miami who have spent 30 years condemning Castro. Even Cuban Americans are coming here to look at business opportunities. No one, except perhaps those in Castro's inner circle, knows how far the old revolutionary is prepared to allow economic changes to go.
Insiders say there is a lack of consensus in the government.
The guiding philosophy seems to be to avoid any move that might threaten the social order and the political status quo. Castro appears resistant to any but the most modest concessions, and while a well-honed instinct for survival may drive him and his closest associates further into dalliance with free enterprise, they have not shown an intellectual acceptance of the superiority of market forces. Without an independent source of income, the Cuban regime will have to continue grudgingly to open up the economy, but the moves will be fitful and reverses inevitable. Yet even as he flirts with capitalism, Castro continues to insist that communism is alive and well in Cuba. I am proud to be one.