Florida Today
Wires. Nov. 12, 2001.
HAVANA - Ruslan Karell sits in a city park in Old Havana, watching Europeans
follow tour guides through cobblestone streets, past upscale boutiques and into
colonial mansions-turned-hotels.
A Havana native, he complains the tourists are elitist, ignoring Cubans as
they lavishly spend money on large meals and expensive souvenirs. Still, this is
where Karell wants to be, for one reason: U.S. dollars.
Karell's family - including his mother, a doctor - earns Cuban pesos, the
national currency with much less purchasing power than the widely used dollar.
However, more Cubans now have access to the dollar, either through jobs in
the growing tourism industry, where even visiting Europeans pay in U.S.
currency, or through family members in the United States who pay messengers to
fly to the island with cash.
The dollar's growing availability has created a two-tiered economy in
communist Cuba: those with dollars, and those without. The Cuban government,
aware of the growing disparity, has said it is trying to pay at least part of
many salaries in dollars.
The Labor Ministry says that of the 4.3 million workers across the island,
about 1.1 million receive a portion of their salary in American dollars.
Those without access to the U.S. currency point out what they do have: free
housing, health care and education, as well as subsidized beans, rice and other
basic foods. Nearly everyone can read, and the streets are among the safest in
Latin America.
Still, those with dollars and jobs in the better-paid tourism industry are
more likely to be able to afford expensive items like shampoo, soap, medicine
and diapers. Because of high prices, many such items are also sold on the black
market, and nearly every tourist who visits the island packs at least an extra
bottle of shampoo to give away.
The growing economic gap prompted Havana's archbishop to warn recently that
Cuba may soon see more thefts.
"Lacking what you need can alter the domestic peace and lead to the
temptation of crime," Cardinal Jaime Ortega said during a Mass in early
September.
The current world recession, and a plunge in tourism to Cuba and elsewhere
because of travel fears after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States,
appears to be having a somewhat equalizing effect among Cuba's dollar haves and
dollar have-nots.
Many who depend on tourism for their livieihoods are seeing a drop in the
amount of dollars they get. And although no official figures exist, Vice
President Carlos Lage said recently that the amount of cash that relatives
regularly send to loved ones on the island also has fallen.
Cuba lost a huge source of trade and aid when the Soviet Union collapsed,
and subsequent years were plagued by food shortages and 12-hour daily blackouts.
Looking for other income sources, Cuba promoted tourism and has allowed
limited private enterprise, forming partnerships with foreign firms to build
hotels and other businesses.
Still, most independent business ventures are not allowed. In September,
state-run television featured a story about a family making and selling shoes
without government permission. It included mug shots of the criminals and
footage of the illegal footwear.
In 1993, the Cuban government lifted the island's ban on dollars, and the
currency is widely used throughout the island, especially by the hordes of
tourists who flock to Cuban beach resorts and Havana hot spots.
For those without dollars, there are so-called "convertible" pesos
- one peso equals one dollar - and there are Cuban pesos, which until recent
weeks had an exchange rate of 22 to the dollar but has now weakened to 26 to the
dollar.
A person can live in Cuba without dollars, Karell says. But life is much
easier with them. That's why he is studying to become a tour guide at the
country's tobacco museum.
He considers the behavior of some tourists "contemptible," but
says he'll tolerate them "because they have a lot of money." Right
now, he spends his free time looking for anyone willing to pay an informal
guide.
As an official tour guide, Karell will still receive his salary in pesos.
But his job in the tourism industry will make him eligible for "estimulaciones,"
or bonuses - tips in dollars.
There are also other perks.
Hotel workers have access to left-over soap and shampoo, an item that can
cost $6 a bottle here. They also have more access to life off the island,
including the opportunity to watch CNN in Spanish or subtitled versions of the
sitcom "Friends" while they change sheets or clear restaurant tables.
Tourism employees also generally make more than Cuba's average monthly wage
of 250 pesos, which is about $9.60. Because of this, former lawyers or engineers
can be found behind hotel desks or selling crafts.
Still, the tourism industry has put parts of Cuba out of reach. Restaurants
and stores often now cater to tourists and are too expensive for Cubans or don't
accept the national currency.
In a dim apartment of peeling paint, a few blocks from the brightly
renovated tourist section of Old Havana, Luis Miguel Ribero used to eat a plate
of sausages at nearby La Bodeguita del Medio for 5 pesos, or less than a fifth
of a cent.
But the popular bar and favorite haunt of the late writer Ernest Hemingway
has raised prices to the equivalent of $1.50 a plate.
Still, he laughs at the tourists, knowing they pay $2 for a beer while he
frequents a little-known place that serves it for 50 cents.
"The tourists don't know," he said, and shrugged.
Ribero is among the lucky. Living alone, he said he earns 500 pesos ($19) a
month and often receives a bonus of up to $300 working on freight ships.
Around the corner, Caridad Hill and her husband, both of whom work in
insurance, are still waiting for at least part of their paychecks in dollars -
as officials have promised.
The need for dollars has forced some to peddle everything from counterfeit
cigars to prostitution.
"I get offered chicks six times a day," said Dave Hawton, a
tourist from Toronto. "You step out of the hotel, and it's like, 'My
friend, my friend. You want a really good cigar?' "
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