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FROM
CUBA
School uniforms go on sale, Cuban style
HAVANA, Cuba - July 11 (Juan Carlos Linares
Balmaseda / www.cubanet.org) - Authorities
have placed school uniforms on sale in Havana
and in the process have generated long lines
and other peculiarities of the Cuban system.
The press announced sales would start at
selected stores July 10: two items of clothing
for students starting pre-school, one item
for students going into third, fifth, and
eight grades, and two items for those starting
secondary school.
Sales will be dutifully recorded in the
parents' ration booklet, provided they presented
the student's ID card, and the appropriate
documents attesting he or she attends a
particular school and grade.
But the lines, that's where the Cuban system
shines. In Diez de Octubre municipality,
at one of the four stores designated to
participate in the sale, a number of women,
professionals to the waiting in line business,
started their operation on the previous
Sunday. Displaying a talent for capitalist
free enterprise made possible by socialist
scarcity, they established a line and started
allocating places in it, reserving the best
for themselves to sell when the store opened
Monday at 10 in the morning for 20, 25 and
even 50 pesos.
Versión
original en español
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