Castro denounces those ripping off the system

Press, 22 April 1986, Page 10

Castro denounces those ripping off the system

NZPA-AFP Havana Twenty-five years after United States-armed antiCastrists landed at the Bay of Pigs, new “mercenaries” are sabotaging Cuba’s economy. Their existence was revealed officially for the first time yesterday by the President, Dr Fidel Castro, in a tough speech marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of his proclamation that the Cuban revolution was of "a Socialist nature.” “There are people in Cuba playing the role of mercenaries, seeking easy money and privileges, which do not come from work but from speculation, fraud, illegal trade and embezzlement,” he

said. He was denouncing what everybody in Cuba knew, but nobody dared say in public: that rings of black marketers have grown thanks to the complicity or passivity of certain civil servants. These rackets thrive because of the shortages resulting from the United States embargo and aggravated by the stifling bureaucracy recently denounced by Dr Castro at the third congress of the Cuban Communist Party. One sharp dealer had misappropriated a crane, truck, cement mixer and materials to build himself a house, Dr Castro said. A State enterprise had made Ameijeiras Hospital,

in Havana, pay 10,000 pesos to place a steel plaque in a lift — BUS9OOO ($16,179) at the official exchange rate. Some artists earned the equivalent of SUSIBO,OOO ($323,573) a year selling paintings to the State — 40 times the salary of a physician. Dr Castro did not give details about small rackets, which are the rhythm of daily life in Cuba, or at least in Havana. For instance, youths accost foreigners near the big hotels to change dollars at black market rates. Others run errands in exchange for a tourist’s pair of blue jeans that can be sold on the black mar-

ket for 150 pesos, or for a watch or bathing suit. Some Cubans who have access to stores reserved for foreigners procure meat, liquor and canned goods to resell for a fat profit. These abuses apparently are very worrisome, because the President said in substance that he hoped to end them without resorting to a Chinesestyle Cultural Revolution or other extreme methods. He did not indicate what methods he intended to use. These “mercenaries” were only a minority. But that minority had grown “because the majority is passive.” ?