[NYTr] Dateline Havana: Between Parks and Bus Stops
 
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 06:56:29 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Progreso Weekly - Jul 5, 2007
http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Ramy&otherweek=1183611600

Dateline Havana

Between Parks and Bus Stops

By Manuel Alberto Ramy

Nothing is better than to go to a newspaper stand and later meditate --
and even better when itbs located near a park or a bus stop at its
busiest hours. There youbll find the heart of the street, where regular
people say what they will with absolute freedom, thereby denying the
false rumor reported by many international media about the fear Cubans
have of criticizing their government.  

To those places I went during the five days of the plenary sessions of
the National Assembly of Popular Power (the Cuban Parliament) who took
up very important and sensitive issues dealing with the countrybs
population. These are some of the opinions I heard mentioned.

Eloy Alfaro Park

In this park, which carries the name of this notable Ecuadorian, one
not only finds a bus stop but also a newspaper stand located at the
bottleneck formed by the coming together of Infanta, O and 25th
Streets. Many buy there and then sit to read while they wait for their
means of transportation. Retirees and people with other work hours
create their morning discussion after reading the newspaper.  

bIf I donbt pay the electric bill, they shut it off,b argued a
grey-haired man with plastic-frame eyeglasses, referring to the debt
accumulated (25 million Cuban pesos) with private farmers by the
companies of the Agricultural Ministry. bTheybll come after me, but
what about the public entities?b he added.

bHow is it possible that Acopio (a wholesale company) did not have any
money to pay what it was purchasing?b opined another member of the
discussion group dressed in shorts, a worn t-shirt with illegible
publicity, and sandals.

During the sessions of the National Assembly, the Finance and Price
Minister Georgina Barreiro announced that the debt owed the
agricultural sector, which amounted to 25 million pesos, had been paid,
and that in addition they had negotiated the payoff of debts to
different organisms within the economic sector -- which were owed more
than 863 million pesos -- as well as liquidating more than 500 million
pesos as blosses.b I must say I am still not clear on the other people
owed money as well as the case of the blosses.b What are they and whose
losses?

I must add that the minister said that a mechanism had been implemented
for a system of quick payment to farmers when they present their
invoices, like the hike in the price of a liter of milk, from 33 cents
to 2.5 pesos, and that a kilo of meat will increase to 8.90 to
producers. In Spanish, you can check out my blog entry of  June 28th
bPaB4la leche que da la vaca...b here: http://www.progresoblog.com/espanol/

bAll this is because Raul (in reference to Raul Castro, interim
president) put them between a rock and a hard place last December,b
said the grey-haired man with the glasses.

During the December Assembly sessions, Raul Castro demanded a study of
non-payments and a solution to these since the sector not being paid
represented 60% of the agricultural production of the country. And the
conclusion was logical: if you donbt pay me, first production goes down
-- in the past year it has diminished by 10% -- and secondly, what they
produce they sell by other means and for a better price -- in other
words, a black market where the law of supply and demand functions.

But that phrase, bRaul put them between a rock and a hard place,b
deserves this meditation: Didnbt the adequate mechanisms exist so that
the situation did not have to become critical? Isnbt the countrybs
corporate system guided by legal norms which include a judicial norm
for non performance of contract? Does the arbitration court no longer
exist? What is the reason for the buyer, in this case Acopios, not to
have liquidity? 

The issue brought to the table -- faults in the system -- was common
knowledge because this time there was greater information in the
national media on the work of the commissions. And even though they do
not reflect the debates, or the totality of the information, they did
indicate the mood of the situation.

bWhy do we have to wait for a high functionary to become involved for
problems to be solved? The same happens with the 'apagones' (electric
shortages that cause lights to go out). Fidel had to get involved,b
asked and affirmed the man in shorts and sandals.

The electricity and energy issue was debated in the plenary and, to be
honest, the situation has substantially varied. There are practically no
light shortages any more as they are changing poles along thousands of
kilometers of electrical networks in order to avoid the low voltage
that affects the countrybs different areas. Today Cuba can count on a
generation capacity of 3,400 megawatts and the demand is for 2,500
megawatts. And in spite of the availability of almost 20% more than is
needed, the Minister of Basic Industry, Yadira Garcia, has asked the
state to save more electricity.  

At the bus stop

His name is Elmo and he is, they say, one of the thousands of Cubans
crowded with people in their house or apartment. bWe are 8 in two
bedrooms. Can you imagine... going to the bathroom, sleeping... even...
well, you know.b If I tell you the whole story it would make a movie a
la Sharon Stone and her movie partner making love by the stairs and
other crazy places, bit is good to be creative,b says Elmo, but a couple
along in their years of marriage, this is not the usual, just the
extra, bto surprise from time to time.b

Cuba is in need of 600,000 new homes and between 60 and 70 percent need
repairs. To confront the critical situation, last yearbs construction
plan, which called for 150,000, was not attained and banyway they
lied,b says Elmo, and he answers with a recent declaration from Vice
President Carlos Lage asking for no more lies.

This year the figure given is for 70,300 homes -- evidently more
rational -- but up to the month of May only 16,241 had been built, a
number that indicates a construction pace of 3,248 home per month. To
reach the goal it is necessary to build 7,700 monthly starting in July.
Will it be achieved?

Elmo, who bdesires it,b as he says, sees it as bdifficultb and points
out that people confront problems like bthe purchase of materials,
there is not enough transportation for the delivery... in other words, a
mess.b

Waiting for the bus

bIbve been waiting for an hour and 10 minutes and nothing,b says Rosa
de la Cuesta, 37. For her, bit is fine that they meet in the Assembly,"
but she wants the camel (a transport bus that can carry up to 400
passengers) or a regular bus... "itbs the same, as long as it possesses
four wheels and can take me where Ibm going and that it comes by every
five minutes.b

At the Assembly, Transport Minister Jorge Luis Sierra said that there
was a bdiscreet improvement,b but insufficient, and that to reach
service provided before the Special Period (the decade of the 1990s)
would take time. The situation is so critical that in last Decemberbs
national Assembly, Raul Castro said that the transport sector had been
bmillimetersb from collapsing.

Recently it was announced that 28 used buses had arrived in the
country, but for a city of 2.1 million persons, without counting the
temporary population, a service fleet of 400 to 500 buses is critical.

"I travel by asking for rides or in official cars," which are obligated
to carry passengers as long as youbre going in the same direction. And
when I am very hurried I have no choice but to pay 10 or 12 pesos,
depending on where Ibm going, to an almendronb (old American antique
cars run privately in collective taxi fleets).

Organisms from the statebs central administration, as well as companies
considered strategic, have transport available for their workers, and
their bus park is much better than the public transport. This should,
as a minimum, arrive at the present in the decade of the 80s.

The National Assembly

While I meditated in the park about what I had seen and heard to arrive
at my conclusions for this work, suddenly the ending showed up in the
words of retiree Guillermo bbut they call me Guille, and except for
stealing, Ibve done almost everything in my life.b Guille is a regular
at the park and is known by those who gather there for morning
discussions. He is a polemicist among them because bI really am
revolutionary,b he emphasizes which sets me up for my question.

bWhat do you think is happening in Cuba?b

bLook Ibve been a shoemaker, maker and seller of brooms, carpenter,
laborer and plumber. I have worked for the state and outside of work I
made do with my work. After retirement I worked with a private moving
truck,b he tells me of his work experience before answering.

And here comes what makes Guille most interesting.

bHere webre moving but inside the house, you know? And the first thing
one does is have an idea of what I am going to move and where, what do
I need and what I have to dispose of to gain more space, make it more
comfortable... in other words, habitable. Understand? Organize myself,
pick up and organize things and start to move them, get it?b

If the reader does not feel satisfied with this genuine vision of a
Cuban who defines himself as revolutionary, I will translate in this
manner: We are living a process of change which takes off within the
structures of power and starts by the reorganizing of institutional
life. It is from here that in the short term will be realized certain
changes within the socialist house. To what extent will the changes be?
In what direction and with what profundity? One thing is certain, for
many like Guillermo: changes which are necessary may be part of the
succession, of the logical passing off as part of the Cuban
Constitution, but never of the btransitionb being asked for by the Bush
administration.

[Manuel Alberto Ramy is head of the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana
Bureau and editor of the spanish version of Progreso Weekly, Progreso
Semanal.]
       
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