HAVANA, August 28 (Juan Carlos Linares) The government started offering
Chinese Panda-brand TV sets exclusively to those government workers who receive
official endorsement as to their employment and political merits.
The workers' assemblies which assign the right to buy the TV sets look for
the following qualifications: more than ten years of government employment, no
absences or tardiness, membership in the government-controlled union and
participation in the Territorial Militia as well as prompt payment of the fees
of both organizations, and the frequency with which the worker has performed
voluntary labor. Communist Party or Communist Youth membership is also helpful.
The Ministry of Public Health is one of the first government entities to
have access to the Pandas.
"A sign at the entrance of the Neurologic Hospital tells that 15 sets
have been assigned to be awarded among the institution's more than 400 workers,"
said one employee who didn't want his name used.
The Pandas will sell for 4,000 pesos, and can be paid 1,000 pesos down and
65 pesos a month under a salary deduction plan. The 4,000-peso price tag is the
equivalent of 182 dollars at the going exchange rate, but it also compares to
the average salary for a Cuban worker of 249 pesos a month.
The Pandas are 14- and 20-inch sets assembled in Cuba. The government has
ordered that the sets' UHF tuners not be installed so they can't receive U. S.
stations' signals, which enterprising Cubans pick up from satellites.
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