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Cuba Lifts Cellphone Restrictions

Posted on: Friday, 28 March 2008, 18:00 CDT

The cellular phone just joined the growing list of once-banned items in Cuba, where Raul Castro's month-old administration has begun lifting decades-old prohibitions on household goods like microwave ovens and computers.

And while most of that merchandise was already available on the black market -- and the Cuban government has not made moves toward political reform -- the moves could signal the first steps toward significant economic changes on the island.

They are among the first major initiatives undertaken by new president Raul Castro, who took over the nation's helm after serving nearly two years on a temporary basis. Castro assumed the post amid rising expectations and pressure from Cuba's 11.2 million people, who are growing more and more weary of stifling regulations that restrict their freedoms to make purchases and earn money.

The Cuban newspaper Granma reported Friday that new rules will be announced in the coming days detailing how Cubans can begin to sign up for their own cellphones, which are now restricted to high-level officials and foreigners. Many Cubans already have them -- but they had to get a foreigner to sign the contract for them.

The announcement that Cubans could soon sign cell prepay contracts themselves came on the wave of the recent decision to allow the purchase of household appliances and computers, which were long heavily controlled by the government and widely available illegally under the table.

The British news agency Reuters reported the Cuban government also plans an overhaul to its agriculture industry, not only by allowing farmers to buy their own supplies, but decentralizing a bureaucratic agency that curbed production. The government will also now eliminate the rule that forced Cubans to buy medicine only at a single designated pharmacy, the agency reported.

"As a symbol, yes, this is important," said dissident economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe. "You have to understand this is a reversal of policies that have been in place for years and years and years. Who would have thought that a Cuban was going to be able to get his own cellphone? Nobody imagined that.

"I'm sure some Cubans don't even know what a cellphone is."

To be sure -- he's right. United Nations indicators show Cuba has Internet and cellphone use levels on par with African countries.

The new rules are unlikely to cause a mass rush at island stores. A typical Cuban earns about $20 a month and a cellphone is out of reach. Most of the items are likely to be sold in the convertible peso, a dollar-based currency that, at 24 to 1, is too expensive for most Cubans.

But some people receive money from relatives in the United States, earn dollars at hotels or have legal or illegal businesses that increase their cash flow.

"Basically, the issue is whether Raul is willing to be more open and allow information to flow more freely by allowing cellphones," said Andy Gomez, a senior fellow at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies. "I think it's a fool's trick. It's another way for the government to monitor what people are talking about."

Microwave ovens, Gomez said, are hardly what Cubans need when the housing infrastructure is in shambles and power outages are common.

"Where are you going to connect the microwave if there is no electricity?" he said. "Please!" But for Espinosa, it's an important step.

"Now that they have allowed us to buy computers," he said, "let's see if they let us have Internet."

Source: The Miami Herald

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