Claudia Márquez Linares, Grupo Decoro
HAVANA, June – In Cuba, doing something, anything, by yourself and on your own behalf is so unique that it rates a special word in the lexicon of official Cubanspeak: cuentapropista.
Derived from the common Spanish phrase "por cuenta propia", meaning "on one’s own behalf" or "by one’s own means," cuentapropista refers to one who works for himself and on his own behalf. In a simpler world, one could say the word means "self-employed,"
but nothing in Cuba is quite that simple.
In the beginning of the 90’s, having lost the subsidies from the Soviet Union, the Cuban government legislated into existence, among a number of hesitant economic reforms, the cuentapropista. They were allowed, for example, to open privately-owned restaurants, called "paladares,"
seating no more than twelve at a time and employing no one outside the cuentapropista’s immediate family. Economic reforms were designed to keep the economy afloat while keeping the twin spectres of capitalism and exploitation at bay.
Some managed to make a go of it, doing reasonably well. Well enough, in fact, that they threatened to destabilize the prescribed socialist egalitarianism. Government inspectors, tax collectors and licensing authorities followed. Ramón, the owner of the paladar La Esperanza, says simply, "They
won’t let us prosper."
A few days ago, I bought a croquette sandwich at a small paladar on Ayestarán Street, near Havana’s bus terminal and handed the clerk a dollar bill. She blanched and told me to hide it. She said "Last week an inspector fined me 500 pesos for accepting 10 cents American."
She squeezed my hand, took the dollar bill, looked to the corner to make sure no one was watching, and gave me my change.
A young, extremely thin pedicab driver told me: "The license to hire for foreigners can be obtained only once; when it expires if they catch you with a tourist they fine you 1,200 pesos." Pedicab drivers would rather carry foreigners at one dollar or more for a short ride than Cubans.
The going rate is 20-21 pesos for a dollar.
He added "The State is not issuing any more licenses to carry Cubans, much less tourists."
Everything seems to indicate that soon there will be no more pedicabs in Havana. The objective is to steer the tourists toward the State-owned taxis. According to one worker trying to make it in this sector, this is due to the low influx of tourists at this time of year. Tourist-bus drivers have
been reassigned and are now driving taxis.
The economic aperture of a few years back now seems to be closing. Whereas there are increasing possibilities and incentives for foreign investment, Cubans who have shown a little initiative are being smothered.
Versión original en español
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