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Cubans Are Speaking Their Minds

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By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, The Associated Press

Published: February 7, 2008

HAVANA - Taking up Raul Castro's invitation to speak their minds without fear of reprisal, more Cubans have begun publicly complaining and challenging government policies on everything from limits on Internet access to travel restrictions.

This week some leading figures called for change: Culture Minister Abel Prieto said that he supports gay marriage, and famed folk singer Silvio Rodriguez said he thinks all Cubans should be free to travel abroad and stay in the hotels reserved for foreign tourists.
Open challenges of government authority remain rare in Cuba, where the Communist Party dominates all levels of power. Since replacing his older brother Fidel as acting president, though, Raul Castro has urged Cuban citizens to help shape their country's economic future.

Tentatively at first, then more audaciously, Cubans have responded.

University students, for example, were outspoken in a town-hall style meeting on Jan. 19 with Ricardo Alarcon, the president of Cuba's legislature. They asked Alarcon why many basic goods - including toiletries and clothes - are sold in convertible currency meant for tourists and foreigners, making some necessities virtually inaccessible to state employees paid in Cuban pesos worth much less.

They complained about laws prohibiting citizens from entering state-run hotels without official permission. They complained about limits on Internet access, and on rules that make getting a travel visa nearly impossible for most Cubans.

Alarcon ducked questions about the Internet and called travel a privilege, not a right. When he was their age, before the revolution, he told the students, he wasn't able to enter Cuba's luxury nightclubs or exclusive beaches.

"I never set foot in the Tropicana, nor Varadero," he said. "You know why? Because my father didn't have the money to pay for it!"

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