Price Of Inner Tubes A Leading Economic Indicator In Cuba
CIEGO DE AVILA, April 25 (Pedro Duque Nistal, FAPDH) - The average Cuban is not much concerned with changes in the Dow or swings in the NASDAQ, but there is an indicator that accurately reflects Cubans' expectation of a political change: the price of inner tubes.
The price of tractor inner tubes has climbed to 200 pesos (U.S. $10) or the equivalent of a month's salary, on speculation that border guards may stop seizing rafters trying to leave the island.
Many here are reading between the lines in the editorials of the official daily Granma a veiled threat to the U. S. government of allowing a mass exodus as a result of the tense diplomatic situation surrounding rafter boy Elián González.
A similar situation in 1994 resulted in Cuban border guards allowing rafters to embark freely and ended with thousands of them confined in make-shift camps at the U.S. Naval base in Guantánamo Bay. Eventually, most of them were absorbed into the U.S.
Some think the ordeal would be worth it. One man who did not want his name used said: "I'm waiting; summer's not here yet."
Versión original en español
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