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Cuba Raises Salaries of Teachers, Doctors
By Vanessa Arrington, Associated
Press Writer, June 23, 2005.
HAVANA (AP) -- Cuba increased the salaries
of its teachers, doctors and nurses, highlighting
the importance the nation's communist government
puts on its health and education sectors.
Workers in these fields will receive an
average of 40 to 50 additional Cuban pesos
a month, or the equivalent of about US$2
(euro1.7). The increase was to take affect
July 1.
"It's very modest, and can be improved
upon," President Fidel Castro said
in a live televised address to announce
the news Thursday.
The average Cuban worker earns 300 pesos
a month, or the equivalent of about US$12
(euro10). Salary figures can be misleading,
however, as most citizens pay no rent, education
and health care are free, and the government
offers heavily subsidized basic services
such as utilities and transportation.
Many of those to receive the new salaries
also benefited from an earlier increase
to the island's minimum wage, under which
the salaries of nearly 1.7 million low-wage
workers were doubled May 1.
The positive economic news has come on
the heels of new optimism based on oil prospects
off Cuba's northern coast and strengthened
economic ties with China and Venezuela.
Government ministers said they hoped the
latest increase would help energize workers
by recognizing their hard work.
Education and health care have been priorities
of the government ever since the Cuban revolution
thrust Castro into power more than four
decades ago.
Doctors and other highly trained professionals
have trouble getting permission to migrate
from Cuba as the government considers them
too important to the functioning of the
island's socialist society.
But contradictions began to arise when
Cuba was forced to open up to foreign tourism
in the early 1990s after the fall of the
Soviet bloc ended substantial aid to the
government. Practically overnight, a hotel
bellhop or taxi driver could make more money
than a doctor.
Virgin Atlantic Launches Flight to Havana
By Vanessa Arrington, Associated
Press Writer. Monday June 27, 2005.
HAVANA (AP) -- Virgin Atlantic flew its
first flight between London and Havana on
Monday and begins twice-a-week service next
month.
British billionaire and Virgin Express
Holdings PLC Chief Richard Branson stuck
Cuban and British flags out of a small hole
in the airplane as it rolled up on the Havana
runway.
"I think there are billions of people
who'd like to come to Cuba," he told
reporters at the airport. "I think
(our venture) will be enormously successful.
We'll make it so."
Weekly flights on Thursdays and Saturdays
between London and Havana were to begin
July 7.
Canadians currently top the list of tourists
coming to the communist-run island, followed
by the Italians and the French. British
tourists are currently No. 7 on the list,
but growing.
The last eight years have seen an average
annual growth of 19.5 percent among British
tourists, according to Cuba's Tourism Ministry.
Last year more than 160,000 British tourists
came to Cuba, up from 46,000 in 1997, the
ministry said.
Branson said he expected the new flights
to add some $55 million to Cuba's economy,
including jobs, new commerce and tourism.
Branson and some 150 guests he brought
with him were scheduled to fly to Nassau,
Bahamas, on Tuesday, where Virgin is also
launching new direct service from London's
Gatwick airport, beginning July 4.
Cubana Airlines flies from Havana and Holguin
to London twice weekly.
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