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FROM
CUBA
Bureaucracy in Cuba trumps farmer's best
efforts
HAVANA, Cuba, December 16 (Reinaldo Cosano
Alén, Lux Info Press / www.cubanet.org)
- A man who in two years turned a weed-infested
lot in Nueva Gerona, the capital of the
Isle of Youth, into a model agricultural
tract has been fined 20,000 pesos by the
local zoning department and may have to
give up his crops.
Ramón Salazar was once awarded a
diploma in recognition of his achievements
in the plot, a barren city lot nobody wanted
across the La Gaviota hotel, the use of
which he was allowed two years ago. Salazar
cleared the lot, planted vegetables and
even some fruit trees.
"I donate part of my crop to an institution
for abandoned children and some to a home
for people with mental problems and an old
age home. The rest I sell at agricultural
markets at fair prices," said Salazar.
His success garnered him some attention
from the authorities.
"My work got everyone's attention.
On several occasions, higher-ups from the
Agriculture Ministry and the Communist Party
visited me; even the local TV people,"
said Salazar.
But Salazar's prominence also attracted
the attention of others in authority.
"I also received an unpleasant visit.
Liudmila Domínguez, a zoning inspector,
showed up, sent in by the director of the
department, Yamilé León, asking
about certain papers for a shed I had built
with left-over materials from a sawmill
to store implements and to shelter animals.
She told me the construction was not legal,"
said Salazar.
Salazar said he had never heard of such
a thing in Cuba, paperwork being needed
to build an equipment shed. He said he showed
the officials the papers he does have, authorizing
him to farm the lot and other documents
showing he lives in a house not far.
"I just wanted to show the shed was
for tools and not a house; I have a house
nearby."
Salazar said he was given the choice of
abandoning his crops or paying a fine, which
he calls exorbitant, of 20,000 pesos. He
said he has appealed the officials' decisions
to the municipal court.
Versión
original en español
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