.bmp)
.bmp)
HAVANA-Reforms passed by new President Raul Castro to allow sales of computers, DVD players and cellular telephones and let Cubans stay at tourist hotels are a recognition of growing inequality in the communist country.The goods and services are available only to Cubans who have the hard currency to pay for them, in convertible pesos, or CUCs, that are worth 24 times more than the Cuban pesos that most salaries are paid in. Most of the items and services were previously available on the black market for those willing to break the law to buy them and risk the products being confiscated.By putting them on legal sale, it makes life easier for those Cubans with access to CUCs, which are pegged at $1.08, but it also highlights the inequalities in a country where the average wage is equivalent to about $17 a month.While professionals like doctors and teachers have very low state salaries, those Cubans who receive remittances from family overseas, tips from tourists, run small businesses, go on government missions abroad, receive CUC bonuses, or sell goods on the black market have much higher purchasing power.That could change soon, however, with a new labor code that for the first time does not put a limit on an individual's state wages as long as they are tied to productivity.Cubans were not shocked by the steps taken by Raul Castro within weeks of succeeding his ailing brother Fidel Castro as president, but some felt frustrated."I refuse to buy an electric moped for 98 CUCs. It is priced like a limousine in any other country, at more than four times my monthly salary," a doctor said after visiting a shop where new consumer items were on sale.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
