A Carnival cruise ship carrying do-gooding Americans visited Cuba on Monday – a historic symbol of President Obama's effort to make friends with the Castro brothers and improve relations with the communist island.  For Americans supporting President Obama's kiss-and-make-up approach toward Cuba – including many idealistic cruise ship passengers – such visits are thought to benefit ordinary Cubans by bringing American dollars and democratic values to the communist island.

They are deceiving themselves.

That was underscored by an edict Cuba's government issued on Tuesday aimed at curbing economic distortions (specifically, soaring food prices) that have been provoked by an upsurge in tourism to Cuba, an island nation where "free markets" and "free enterprise" are viewed with contempt.

As AFP reported:

Cuba on Tuesday announced price caps on basic vegetables to protect poor families' purchasing power as a rise in tourism to the communist island puts pressure on the food supply.

The price of tomatoes, bananas, sweet potatoes, and 20 other products will be capped to combat inflation, the government said in a statement published in the media Government data show the price of farm produce in Cuba rose by 27 per cent in 2014. The rise continued in 2015 and this year, authorities said without giving a figure.

The government blames the price rises on Cuba's low domestic production and what President Raul Castro has called "intermediaries" in the retail market.

"Intermediaries" is standard socialist jargon to explain away rising prices in a command-and-control economy – one where the government owns virtually all private property and controls nearly all economic activity.  But it's obviously not "intermediaries" who are undermining Cuba's economy, now that millions of tourists are traveling to the island with the Obama administration's blessing.  The problem, as AFP explained, is that Cuba's farming sector fails to produce enough food for its 11 million inhabitants, and so Cuba must import 80 percent of its food.  "Because there are no wholesale outlets in Cuba, hotels and restaurants compete with individuals to buy food from ordinary retailers," explained AFP, which then added this zinger: "Authorities say that competition drives up prices."

Many do-gooding cruise ship visitors reportedly came bearing things like pens, soap, and spark plugs – items that are expensive for ordinary Cubans, who earn an average of $20 per month.  Last year, three and a half million foreigners visited the island of 11 million to get an up-close look at the fruits of Stalinist-style socialism.

Aside from the naively wishful thinking of President Obama and all those do-gooding cruise ship passengers, it's doubtful that millions of American visitors to Cuba will improve the lot of Cuba's people – not with the Castro brothers in charge.  They are true believers.  As such, they can be counted on to double down on their iron-fisted policies – including price controls that will further distort Cuba's dysfunctional economy – rather than allowing free markets and private property that would bring Cuba into the 21st century and improve living standards for ordinary Cubans.  Many cruise ship visitors seem not to readily understand this as they bring little gifts to ordinary Cubans – a gesture that lets them feel good about themselves but does little in the long term for ordinary Cubans.

Perhaps some of those Carnival passengers should talk to some of the thousands of Cubans who have recently fled their tropical gulag despite the Obama administration's overtures to the Castro bothers.