It looks like the Cuban regime has finally started to relax its grip on the population of this island:

Communist Cuba has begun dismantling a vast system of state gratuities and subsidised goods and services in favour of higher wages, more individual choice and targeted welfare.

The move is part of President Raúl Castro’s drive to modernise an economy in which, he recently admitted, two plus two often equals five in terms of spending and three when it comes to performance.

They are not doing this because they want to, but because they have to.

In the “bad old days”, they could rely on a bellicose United States to unite their population, but unlike his predecessors, Barack Obama has made it clear that he has no interest in listening to the dead-ender extremists who claim to speak for the Cuban community, and with that threat removed, the Cuban government now has to produce results.

Now, if only Barack Obama would treat Congressional Republicans the same way.