HAVANA, April 12 (Amarilis Cortina Rey, Cuba-Verdad) - The Cuban government has been forcing residents to remove home-made TV antennas from the roofs of their houses since the middle of last year. Now the government explains why the removal is necessary.
Communist Party militants, in visits to residents using the antennas, supposedly under orders of the Ministry of the Interior, explained that the antennas should be removed voluntarily because the U. S. government had complained to the Cuban interests section in Washington about the theft of the
TV signals. The Americans, the militants added, were demanding to be paid for the consumption of the broadcasts produced in American territory, in dollars. The militants finally told residents that they could remove the antennas voluntarily or face 1,500 peso fines and the confiscation of the
antennas.
In fact, crews of police and Cuban Telecommunications employees have been taking down the antennas and confiscating them all over Cuba, but Cuba-Verdad could not talk to anyone who had been fined.
The antennas are home-built by enterprising Cubans with a knowledge of electronics and a little entrepreneurial spirit. They are typically sold for U.S. $60 (1,200 pesos) including installation and adjustment. With the antennas and a modern TV set, bought in the dollar stores, Cubans can pick up
a range of foreign channels. Even with the old Soviet TV sets, some say, one can pick up channels 23 and 51, the Spanish broadcast stations in South Florida.
Juan Felipe Peraza, 66, lives in Arroyo Naranjo, just outside Havana and was visited by the Party militants. Visibly upset, he explained: "I'm an electronics technician, and I built my antenna using parts I bought in the dollar stores. This reminds me when, back in the 50's, Batista's
police forbid listening to Radio Rebelde (Rebel Radio) from the Sierra Maestra."
José Benítez, 36, also of Arroyo Naranjo, said: "I asked them why one couldn't watch foreign channels. They answered that it was a law of the revolutionary government, which among other faculties, had the power to determine what people in Cuba should and should not watch."
"The one that looked like the head of the group told me: 'We reserve the right to decide what may or may not be seen here, because this country belongs to the revolutionaries.' That was the explanation given to me by the comrades of the Communist Party of Cuba," concluded Benítez.
One of the men in the removal crews said: "Actually most people have taken the antennas down to evade the fines and other measures that may be taken against them, but in no case have they taken down the antennas because they have understood our explanations."
Versión original en español
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