$4700 for Coban bride

Press, 3 July 1985, Page 26

$4700 for Coban bride

Blonde or brunette, tall or short, white, black, or any other colour, a Cuban woman will cost a foreigner SUS22OO ($4711) if he wants to marry her. This bride price has been more or less made official by the founding 18 months ago of the “Sociedad Consultora International” (Interconsult) Association, which handles all administrative requests stemming from a foreigner’s wish to marry a local woman. “Interconsult” has a virtual monopoly of this market and has no need to advertise, because it cannot be ignored. The Justice Minister strongly recommends its services to the foreigner seeking the necessary permission to marry. Western men who have consulted the six lawyers employed by “Interconsult” report that the price of a

marriage in Havana is about SUSI2OO plus an extra SUSIOOO for the newlywed’s exit visa. Cuba has a reputation among Communist countries of being one of the easiest for its citizens to leave, but in fact an exit visa needs a minimum of two important moral references. They are given by the employer and by the powerful “Revolutionary Defence Committee,” which has an agent in every apartment block. Sometimes the references are unfavourable, the employer or R.D.C. insisting too strongly on past mistakes. One young Cuban woman who has been waiting several weeks for an exit visa explained, “There is too much jealousy of someone who is going to live abroad.”

When all the documents have been obtained for a marriage, “Interconsult” requests an advance payment of SUSIOOO, but this does not guarantee a successful outcome. On average, this payment does the trick. But if not, the money is never reimbursed. A Western lawyer who recently was given permission by the Government to compete with “Interconsult” and specialises in the international aspects of these marriages, admitted, “Some of the cases are indeed difficult.” One Western man said, “eventually a solution is found. But on one side there is SUS22OO, and on the other just two pieces of paper.” The authorities are suspicious of Cuban women’s motives for wanting to leave the country, do they

want to do so for love, or to flee Communism? They are particularly doubtful of those women who, before applying to marry a foreigner, had previously opted to emigrate. “Interconsult” claims to have scored far more successes than failures, and its clients undoubtedly appreciate its speed compared with usual Cuban bureaucracy. Its record is 15 days for a marriage certificate and an exit visa, but the average is more like two or three months. As for the fee of ?U52200, Western diplomats consider that it is far too high, considering that a marriage between two Cubans is a mere 25 pesos (SUS2S). The answer may lie in Cuba’s severe shortage of hard currency.