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Cuban President Praises Successful Substitution of US Dollar

Havana, Nov 17 (AIN) Cuba’s decision to replace the circulation of the US dollar with its local currency has proven a major success that strengthens national sovereignty, said President Fidel Castro.

On Tuesday evening’s edition of the nationally televised “The Round Table” program, the Cuban leader noted that only a socialist country could accomplish the feat of conducting such a complex operation in just 18 days.

Over the period, more than 2,580,000 exchange and bank operations were made. Banking officials on hand for the program also noted that despite its intricacy, the process was carried out in total normality.

They said it strengthened the country and dealt a blow to those who seek to undermine the Cuban revolution. In replacing the dollar, Cuba implemented an exchange system similar to that in most nations where the local currency is used for all transactions. Such a system already existed on the island before 1993.

President Fidel Castro said a timely response to protect both the economy and the people was needed to counter attempts by the US government to asphyxiate the Cuban revolution by blocking it from using the dollar in its international trade.

“We are made of solid volcanic rock,” said the Cuban leader, who added that any act of aggression against the island will encounter an appropriate response. We will defend our values, culture and independence, and we have the organizing capacity to do so, as was just demonstrated,” emphasized the president.

Francisco Soberon, President of the Central Bank of Cuba said the reason that led to the adoption of Resolution 80 that suspended the circulation of the US dollar as of Monday, was the insidious campaigns of the Miami-based Cuban-American mafia, seconded by the Bush Administration with the creation of a special task force to hunt down Cuban assets.

They say the purpose of this task force is to “identify and curb the flow of foreign exchange to Cuba,” that is, to reinforce even more the 45-year economic, financial and trade blockade against the island nation. However, Cuban citizens fully understand their government’s response, commented the top Cuban banking official.

Soberon told The Round Table audience experiences and anecdotes of these last days that included numerous exchanges with the population, which he dubbed as the main protagonists of the process.

As a sign of the Cuban people’s confidence in the measure, the Central Bank president said that the number of hard currency accounts opened during the 18 days prior to the end of the US dollar circulation, surpassed all those that were established over the last 10 years.

“This is a unique case in the world,” said Soberon, while stressing that reactions abroad and from foreign investors and executives that do business with Cuba have been quite positive. In this regard, he noted that the 23 international airlines that have offices in Cuba have all agreed to operate solely with the Cuban convertible peso.

A large number of companies and firms that have relations with the country have also voiced their conformity with the new regulations, including the opening of bank accounts in Cuban convertible pesos.

A Central Bank vice-president further noted that foreign visitors arriving to the country’s different international airports were well informed on the new measure and expressed their understanding and acceptance.

In fact, the official added, 80% percent of the 2 million tourists visiting Cuba each year from Europe, Canada and Latin America will no longer have to exchange their money into dollars before traveling to the island.

Only the Miami mafia has reacted negatively with its typical aggressiveness, although they have not recovered yet from the blow the new measure inflicted on their pretensions to hurt the Cuban economy.

Other program participants explained the four phases that were required to undertake the measure.

The first two were related with the drafting of the legal documents (including Resolution 80) and the notification of the changes to the population.

The third phase dealt with the training of the bank personnel that would be involved in the exchange operations and the fourth had to do with the distribution of the Cuban convertible currency to the nationwide network exchange points.

A total of 203 tons of money had to be transported from the Central Bank vault, and millions of bills and coins were distributed.

The panel made reference as well to the outstanding efforts of bank workers, as well as of a host of other disciplined and efficient institutions and entities that were involved in the operation.

The specialists on “The Round Table,” coincided in stating that besides allowing the recovery of the nation’s monetary sovereignty, the newly adopted measure will also enable Cuba to explore other ways of conducting foreign trade that will reinforce the island’s international economic relations.

Cuba to Safeguard Value of Convertible Peso, said Fidel Castro

Havana, Nov 17 (AIN) Cuba will fully guarantee the value of its convertible peso, the currency that replaced the US dollar from domestic circulation, said Cuban President Fidel Castro.

During a round table discussion aired on Cuban radio and TV Tuesday evening, President Castro said that the dollars collected during the recent dollar-for-convertible pesos exchange process throughout the island will be used to back the value of the local currency.

Not a single dollar of these will be used for our ongoing social programs, or for food or medical development initiatives, said Fidel.

More than 2,580,000 currency exchange and banking operations were made from October 28 to November 14, in what was described as a highly successful process that allowed for the recovery of the country’s monetary sovereignty.

During the 18-day period, the number of new bank accounts in hard currency surpassed the total figure of the last 10 years.

The Cuban president said, “We now have a currency that begins to be accepted by foreign investors, enterprises, airline companies and tourists; many of whom have told us that they will change all their dollars into convertible pesos to carry out their operations in Cuba.”

“If the value of a given currency is X, we will guarantee the value of the convertible peso with three times that amount, said Fidel Castro and noted “we will guarantee an international currency which will have acceptance and permanent value.”

To meet that objective we need to prepare the population, since the people must know the objective of the initiative, just as we did to explain the reasons to replace dollars with convertible pesos, a process that proved the people’s understanding capacity and intelligence, said Fidel Castro.

Fidel added, “we always succeed because we have created a human resource capital that gains in strength every day and we have successfully faced difficult times such as the Special Period, in reference to the deep economic crisis that hit the island in the 1990īs.

“Our production fell during those years but we were able to recover and now we have to wage a battle for efficiency,” said the leader of the Cuban revolution.

“Even without the credit that other countries receive, we have been able to take steps forward and we now have a currency that begins to gain acceptance by different companies and most importantly by the Cuban people.”

President Castro also referred to the world economic situation marked by monetary chaos, which he described as a madhouse amidst neoliberal globalization aimed at maintaining and strengthening a dying imperial system already in crisis.

The Bretton Woods Accords, adopted in 1944, were the basis for world financial policy for years, he said. They made the US dollar the international currency, backed by gold, a situation that has become obsolete today and needs to be changed.

The United States took on the right to print the bills that would make up the world reserves and every 35 US dollars were backed by 31.10 grams of fine gold, so the Americans owned up to 80 percent of the world gold reserves.

At present, the huge US budget deficits, its war policy and the turning of the world economy into a casino -- where money looks for money instead of investors-- have brought about problems without solution, said Fidel Castro.

At the end of his address, the President Castro stressed that all those who changed their dollars into convertible pesos and thus trusted the government initiative can count on the absolute guarantee that the commitments made by the Cuban revolution in that regard will be thoroughly met.

President Fidel Castro congratulated the workers of the Cuban banking system and other sectors and enterprises who took part in the currency exchange process.