Cuban workers discuss economic changes

HAVANA — Some worried aloud about the elimination of government subsidies that keep food on the table. Others blamed red tape for the island's crippling inefficiency. One man complained he simply could not make ends meet on wages of less than $20 a month.

Cuban workers laid bare their concerns about the state of their country in a meeting at a dimly lit auditorium on the outskirts of the capital, one of thousands of such gatherings taking place across the country ahead of a landmark economic summit scheduled for April.

The Associated Press was granted rare access to the workers' assembly at the Antillana Steelworks company by the Cuban government, which says such debates are evidence that it allows for greater input from its citizens than do traditional democracies.

It was impossible to know whether the workers were influenced by the presence of foreign journalists, but they appeared to speak bluntly about a wide range of concerns during the three-hour encounter with union and Communist Party leaders, as well as management representatives of the state-run enterprise.

Cuba is in the midst of the most significant economic change in a generation. The government has already announced it will eliminate 500,000 government jobs — or one-tenth of the work force — while allowing greater private enterprise. It also says it seeks to repay billions of dollars in foreign debt, modernize its aging infrastructure and eliminate a system that allows employees to get paid even if they don't actually do any work.

The government on Dec. 1 began a national debate ahead of April's Sixth Party Congress, urging all Cubans to raise concerns at meetings taking place in neighborhoods and workplaces across the island. It is the first such meeting in 13 years, and party leaders plan to use the session to plot the country's future for years to come.

The Antillana steel workers weren't shy, taking the microphone to raise many of the same issues Cubans have been complaining of for years.

One man, Camilo Mercado, rose in opposition to government plans to eventually do away with the food ration book, which provides all citizens with a basic basket of food at greatly subsidized prices. He said that as it is, he spends half of his salary of 350 pesos a month ($16.70) just to buy rice.

In addition to the ration book, Cubans receive free health care and education, and nearly free housing, utilities and transportation. But they earn an average salary of just $20 a month, which by most accounts is extremely difficult to live on even when taking into account the reduced prices.