Cuba fights public anger with reform in country's tense east

Cuba fights public anger with reform in country's tense east
BY MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
04/14/2015 5:33 PM 04/14/2015 5:33 PM

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, CUBA
Two and a half years after Hurricane Sandy trashed Cuba's second-largest
city, 35-year-old Melba Martinez is still out of work and struggling to
feed two children on her state ration book and a daily hustle for extra
rice or cooking oil.

"There's no work, no money," Martinez said, her voice rising in fury.
"How are you going to buy a pair of shoes that cost $20? If you buy
them, you don't eat. If you eat, you go barefoot."

Down the hill in the pastel-tinted colonial center of Santiago, Josefina
Arocha Saco pours thickening, sugary milk through a soft-serve ice cream
machine made of an old air-conditioner, a pan from a cafeteria steam
table and a handmade metal driveshaft. If enough schoolchildren spend 4
cents on ice-cream, she can cover the costs of her government license
and taxes, and make more in private business than she used to earn as a
teacher.

"There used to be very little here," Arocha said. "It's more open, more
free ... Now everyone can get a license."

Far from the tourist boom and foreign investment bounty of Havana,
residents of eastern Cuba are struggling with the country's sputtering
economy, some faring better than others in a region that is poorer and
more isolated than the bustling capital. While many from Santiago have
opened businesses under the economic reforms of the last four years, the
city is largely removed from the big-spending foreigners and wealthy
Cuban-Americans whose cash is cascading through private businesses, from
high-end restaurants to spas and spinning classes, for a growing class
of wealthy locals.

It's easier to get from Havana to Miami than to the island's
second-largest city, which has just two overbooked flights a day and
trains that are achingly slow and unpredictable. There are more
horse-drawn carts and bicycles than cars and gleaming Chinese-made
tourist buses on the tooth-rattling two-lane road from Havana to
Santiago. Far fewer people get remittances from family overseas.
Residents of eastern Cuba, more heavily Afro-Cuban than the west, keep
migrating in large numbers to find work in the capital.

In Santiago, cellphones remain a rare luxury. Internet is available to
the public in just a handful of locations in the metropolis of 500,000
people. Residents of Havana, a city only four times larger, have dozens
of places to get online, albeit at some of the world's slowest speeds
and highest prices.

Cubans across the country complain about low salaries and high prices,
but there's an uncommon anger in the voices of many like Martinez in
Santiago. There is a tension in the streets, despite a rebuilding and
reform program spearheaded by a Communist Party provincial official
widely lauded for his common touch. The island's largest dissident group
operates throughout the city, calling regular demonstrations and
distributing flyers and DVD's calling for democratic change.

Many in the Patriotic Union of Cuba cite eastern Cuba's role as the
historical birthplace of the country's uprisings, from the 19th century
wars of independence from Spain to the revolution that began with Fidel
Castro's attack on the Moncada military barracks on a hill overlooking
the city.

"Between the west and the east of Cuba, the west has always been
better-treated," said Carlos Arnel Oliva Torres, head of the youth wing
of the opposition group, which claims to have as many as 4,500 members,
most around Santiago.

"The so-called elite of the country has always lived in Havana and this
elite has always had more comforts, more economic possibilities," Oliva
said. "The east of the country has always had fewer of these sorts of
benefits and because of that, throughout history, things have always
started here."

Despite Santiago's history, there's no indication that the opposition
group's dreams of going national are close to reality. While they don't
dismiss local dissidents in the disdainful way many in the capital do,
few people in Santiago express interest in joining, even in private
conversations.

The government appears to be trying harder than usual to win public
approval in Santiago and even residents unhappy with life here say the
provincial government has responded to their dissatisfaction with a push
to improve conditions.

Lazaro Exposito, the first secretary of the party in Santiago Province,
has become famous for a hands-on style that includes inviting citizens
to deliver their complaints in public meetings and confronting
underperforming bureaucrats on local television.

The devastation wreaked on Santiago by Hurricane Sandy is barely
perceptible to the casual visitor thanks to the citywide rebuilding
program. Residents also say the government has dramatically eased the
difficulties of starting a small business, allowing thousands more
permits for businesses ranging from motorcycle taxis and street
performers to air-conditioner repair workshops.

The number of private business licenses in Santiago grew to 34,000 as of
February, according to government figures, slightly more per capita than
Havana, with 120,000 licensed entrepreneurs.

Thanks to money her son sent home from a government mission as an
optometrist in Venezuela, Arocha's family spent $1,000 to start their
business selling ice-cream from their front steps and hundreds more on a
newly licensed motorcycle taxi that brings in roughly $50 a week.

"We'll see what happens," Arocha said. "You've got to be optimistic."

Government officials in Santiago did not return repeated phone calls
from The Associated Press seeking comment on conditions in the city.
That wariness extends to the populace in a city where many are reluctant
to talk to the press and cast nervous looks to see who may be listening.

"There are problems, there are many problems that can't be resolved,"
secondary-school teacher Julieta Barrera said. Then, nervously glancing
at those waiting alongside her on line outside a bank, she added: "but
up 'til now I'm very happy with everything."

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Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mweissenstein

Source: Cuba fights public anger with reform in country's tense east |
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