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Carta de Cuba, la escritura de la libertad |
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November 30, 2005 POLICE STATION UNDER ATTACK Havana – The attack to a police station in La Palma vicinity, in the Arroyo Naranjo district, at the beginning of last week, indicates the actual Cuban society’s dissatisfaction, especially among the young people. According to independent press sources in the Cuban capital, more than twenty youngsters, armed with stones, sticks and two Makarov pistols, assaulted the police station in protest for a teenager’s arrest, supposedly accused of armed robbery. The action, which lasted ten minutes, alarmed the area residents, who seemed to identify with the attackers. The neighbors commented to journalist Juan Uribe, from Carta de Cuba, that more than twenty patrol cars, heavily armed, arrived at the station and completely overran it. The unusual thing is that the attackers had already liberated the arrested teenager, running away without trace. Neither the official press nor the foreign correspondents in Havana commented on the event. REMITTANCES PENALIZED Matanzas – The hard currency exchange houses (in Spanish, CADECA) are more and more attended, every day, in the face of rumors that Fidel Castro is going to artificially increase the value of the Cuban peso. Presently, a convertible peso (equivalent to a dollar) can be exchanged for 24 Cuban pesos, but everything indicates that an also imminent government measure is going to reduce its value to only 20 pesos. This practically means that all dollars sent by Cuban residents abroad, to their relatives in the island, would have lesser acquisitive value. THE RATIONING CARD ABOUT TO DISAPPEAR Havana – Castro’s regime is decided to terminate the rationing card, imposed in 1962, by means of a mirage: basis staples like rice, grains, fish and others will be set free at much higher prices than the customary ones, according to popular rumor. The greatest concern, nevertheless, is that, as it always happens in Cuba, after the first weeks of the experiment, the products will totally disappear from the selling network and will only be obtained in the underground market, which Cubans call ¨the black market¨. NO FUEL FOR THE SUGAR CANE CROP Ciego de Avila – Sources related to the Sugar Ministry (in Spanish, MINAZ) administration, who asked not to be identified, acknowledged the lack of fuel affecting the sugar mills that were still functioning. The actual available reserves will hardly last till the end of the cane sowing, while other indispensable tasks like the cleaning, fertilization and personnel movement do not count with the necessary fuel. Of the new sugar mills existing in the province, only two are programmed to perform the 2005-2006 crop. OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE ¨NEW RICH¨ CONTINUES Camagüey – Cars, motorcycles and personal belongings were confiscated to young workers from the tourist complex ¨Jardines del Rey¨, on the southern part of this territory, as part of the fight against the ¨new rich¨ carried out by the Cuban government. The cars are an old 1953 Chevrolet and two Ladas from the old Soviet Union. The gold chains in their necks were also confiscated, and all the other goods in their households were taken into inventory, awaiting for a justification on how they were acquired As tourism workers they have been till now, the affected youngsters received part of their salaries in dollars, which represents a higher acquisitive power than the rest of the population, but this was not accepted as a valid argument by the requisitioned workers. IN CRITICAL CONDITION THE MORON RAILWAY SERVICE Morón – As the worst, residents of this area qualified the railway service, characterized by constant suspensions, due to lack of spare parts and deficient organization. Second-hand passenger cars, bought at low prices abroad, and known as ¨Sparrows¨, were paralyzed due to an inefficient adaptation work of their bearings to the Cuban lines distances, while the old ¨Buds¨, which guaranteed the service before, are lacking spare parts.
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