Cuba A&M

"Majoring in farming."

To meet internal food security needs in the face of rising international grain prices, and in concert with proposed legislation to distribute fallow land, Cuba's universities are placing increased emphasis on training people in agricultural science and related technical fields.

Queuebanismo

If long bread lines are the derogatory stereotype of socialist societies, Cubans have made waiting in line an art form.

Queues are rarely physical files of humans; rather they are mental abstractions in which everyone knows behind whom they are positioned, no matter where they wait. You can be third in a line of twenty and sitting in the shade of a tree a block away.

The procedure for "formando cola" entails arriving at the bus stop/bank/social club and shouting an interrogative "¿último?" to find out who is last in line. When that person identifies themselves, you ask them whom they are behind. This is because people do not wait in their physical order, and if that person leaves the line you need to know behind whom you are then positioned.

This free form way of lining up lifts the weight of the wait for a lift, and is one of the many types of "lesser" freedoms that Cubans enjoy.

An infuriating wrinkle of this otherwise logical and flexible process for interminable waiting is that people physically present at the queue can be holding the place of multiple others who are basically waiting in absentia, around the block or even asleep in their homes. So if you arrive somewhere and see a short line of only 12 people, you could actually be 200th in line. Although that is an extreme example, it illustrates the concept and is not unheard of.

People sometimes offer to hold others' place in line for a small fee.

Even in Cuba, freedom isn't free.

Establishment Insiders Propose End of Statism

A former diplomat and regarded scholar, in collaboration with colleagues, has posted online a lengthy manifesto that calls for doing away with stifling state bureaucracy and unpopular antiquated restrictions as well as reforming the current political system to move towards more participatory democratic socialism.

While I normally shy away from posting on the explicitly political, this document makes mention of many obstacles that Cubans face in their day-to-day doings, many of which are the most voiced grievances of the day.

Cubans generally do not launch complaints against the entire socioeconomic and political system, but rather they focus on specific prohibitions and bureaucratic exigencies, deemed cumbersome and unnecessary, that inhibit the progress of socialism and dampen public enthusiasm.

To Love Your Country is to Love Humanity

Cuban press "controlled", copied by Spanish press

El Pais newspaper from Madrid calls the "official" Cuban press "controlled" by the state.

The Spanish journalist lists a litany of illegal and informal economic activities currently found in Cuba. Such as stealing gas, illegally manufacturing plastic bowls, stealing iron from telephone poles, and others previously covered here like selling plastic bags and "cannibalizing" garbage bins.

All of which the so-called reporter learned about directly from critical articles in Cuban newspapers.

If the Cuban press really were as controlled as El Pais insinuates, this journalist might not have anything to write about.

Few Phones for so many Mouthy Cubans

Many Cubans do not have a telephone in their homes, despite their penchant for talking all the time. There are 1.24 million landlines for a nation of 11.2 citizens. I imagine many of those lines belong to enterprises and offices.

Often times to call somebody at their home, one must call a neighbor's number. The instructions go like this: "Call 555-5555 and ask for Delia. When Delia gets on the phone ask to speak to me from Pedro's house down the block". Typically, Delia would dispatch her little daughter or another suitable courier to look for the call recipient. One then waits five to ten minutes for the person to come get on the phone.

Another variation is that one calls a number, and the person that answers says "Repeat the call" and hangs up. So one calls again and instead of the first person answering on the second ring, the intended party answers on the sixth. This way multiple households can share a single line.

So if you share a line with somebody, when you hear the phone ring twice, then another incoming call sounds seconds later, chances are its for you, answer it.

The shortage of telephone service is so severe and public discontent so chronic that there are entire episodes of the public commentary show, Libre Acceso, dedicated to addressing telephonic concerns. Often times the complaints or questions come via mail. Other times people borrow neighbor's telephones to call the show.

The panel receiving the questions is composed of journalists and officials such as representatives from the provincial parliament, institutional bureaucrats like those from the telephone company and, say, a member of the Communist party's municipal delegation.

The complaints voiced are all variations on a single theme: "We ordered a telephone line six years ago, and three years ago we were told it was to be installed, but we still dont have a line, and the local telephone company office just gives us the run around."

Invariably, the three hosts of the television program have no adequate response. Just as the complaint is always the same; so is the answer.

The underlying problem is based on access to technical equipment which cant be bought from the US due to the blockade, so must be purchased from farther afield at higher costs. But the hosts promise to look into the caller's particular problem.

Cuba has some very incisive sketch comedies on television (like Profe Mentepollo), but this is probably the funniest show on the air.

The lack of telephone lines makes it that much more hilarious that the Bush Administration took the bold step towards democratizing Cuba of allowing Americans to send cellphones to Cuba. The Bush Administration said something to the effect of cellphones allowing Cubans to speak freely in public.

If Bush really wanted to open up Cuba's communication, it would lift the blockade on materials required for telecommunications, including allowing Cuba expanded internet bandwidth. The US could even finance the installation of telephone lines in Cuba.

As it stands, Cubans will continue to shout and to debate loudly in person.

Everyone Moving to Havana

Of all the Cubans who relocated internally, 40.8% move to Havana.

For several reasons:

Young people dont want to work the land. Especially the educated youth, which is just about all of them.

Havana has much more cultural and entertainment attractions than other cities, let alone rural towns.

The tourist economy is concentrated in Havana, so those with eyes for dollars over hard "honorable" work find more opportunity in the capital.

Most goods, even those subsidized and distributed throughout the country, enter and disperse from Havana. Which means supplies might run short before the far flung towns are stocked. It also means these goods are more readily found on the Havana informal market than elsewhere.

Apparently Cuba is going to address this "deformation of social conduct" by intensifying regional development.