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HAVANA, April 16 (Amarilis Cortina Rey, Cuba- Verdad / www.cubanet.org) -
The strife generated among friends and neighbors here by the government's
allocation plan for Chinese-made Panda TV sets has given rise to a popular joke,
in which the Panda name is used as an acronym for the phrase, in Spanish, Highly
Toxic Product: Destroys Friendships.
The strife, however, is real. At the Yara Street Committee for the Defense
of the Revolution (CDR) in Arroyo Naranjo municipality, the president of the
committee simply declared: "I'm awarding the TV set to my step-father,
because I feel like it."
At a later meeting, the president apologized for the way he spoke, but let
the award stand.
The sets themselves are not awarded, however. The only item the CDRs have to
decide on is, based on proven "Revolutionary merit", who will have the
right to buy the scarce sets. Those awarded the right to buy one will pay 68
pesos a month until the full 4,000 peso price is amortized.
The problem is not exclusive to Havana. From Florida municipality, in Camagüey
province, a resident said: "People inform on and blackmail each other just
to be able to buy one of those TVs."
A CDR member in Arroyo Naranjo said that the CDRs are supposed to be an
expression of the solidarity and dignity of a neighborhood, but that "what
we are seeing at the Panda award meetings is neither solidarity nor dignity."
Versión
original en español
TV sets withdrawn from
dollar stores / Cuba Voz
Government removes UHF
tuner from Panda TVs bought to China / Juan Carlos Linares
Chinese TV sets to be
sold only to meritorious workers / Juan Carlos Linares
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