European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 19, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Cubans count Money at a Street Market in old Havana the Market is open Only on saturday mornings. Shortages alarm Dispirito cubans by Howard w. French the new York times in Havana a cily of crumbling Bounty and pressing hardship Many cubans say Hal Only he still inti middling police apparatus prevents them from openly expressing the Hope that their three decade Long experience with a communist system is drawing to an end. Even As Fie International network of cold War alliances hat supported him has dissolved president Fidel Castro he country s Leader for 32 years has warned his people that come what May Cuba will not veer from tie communist path. But in a we Klong visit on tourist s visa which allowed More open exchanges with strangers and rank discussions with cuban acquaintances almost ail expressed the Hopo or belief that with the Island s Economy stumbling badly and Faith in the leadership thinning Cuba was now heading toward change. Quot we have got to change Quot said one ticket agent boldly striking up a conversation with a rare american customer. Quot you can t imagine what it Levels like when you Are on the margins while the whole world is moving Forward. We All feel this Way now Quot the agent said. Quot change is coming. It has to lets Hope it comes soon Quot a tourist guide among the most carefully chosen and privileged workers in the country because of their frequent contacts with foreigners and dollars expressed similar sentiments. Asked which of several National tourist outfits she worked for the Young woman said Wilh a sneer Quot Don t you know everything Here is for the stale it s All the same. This is a really terrible system. We Are a Little luckier than others but even for 200 Miles Fla. A Atlantic Ocean % Bahamas # Santa Clara Caribbean sea Jamaica Guantanamo Haiti Apps amps us life has become Rotten  nothing has so eroded support Tor the government As the recent rampant spread of shortages of foods and consumer goods caused in Large part by the collapse of Cuba s Trade with its former allies in Eastern Europe and the soviet Union. The shortages have come Well before the full Impact of the soviet Union s recently announced disengagement from the Island could be Felt. And while there has never been abundance in Cuba since the 1959 revolution the new scarcities alarm Many citizens who had lived comfortable lives compared to Many in latin America. In the living room of the cramped apartment where he lives with his wife and two children a cuban writer described the dispiriting dietary regimen that is now More or less Standard. Quot we get one Chicken for four people every nine Days theoretically Quot said the writer who like most cubans expressed fear Over having his name appear in a foreign newspaper. Referring to the Small ration Book that tightly governs the monthly consumption of every household he added Quot often it does t work out the Way the Libretta suggests though. Sometimes we Only get a Chicken every 15 Days. Quot we get five eggs a week per person Quot the writer continued Over a Glass of White wine brewed at Home from Green Beans in a Flash of the sort of creative improvisation that has flourished Here in the absence of Many Ordinary goods. Quot we Are Given ish maybe once a month and the condensed milk we just bought was our allotment for  at the mention of pork a cuban favorite one woman said facetiously Quot is that Spanish you Are speaking Here we have forgotten what that word  others Tell of using chinese toothpaste which can still be readily found to Wash their clothes in the Long and  absences of laundry detergent. Soap and shampoo have become just As rare. The recipes that cuban women Swap these Days As often As not Are for homemade products for the care of their hair the growing Candor of Ordinary cubans is More remarkable since Cuba still maintains a vast Torce of police officers and soldiers both uniformed and plainclothes men who pervade the country s society. These police officers peer Stone faced from kiosks outside foreign embassies noting passport numbers of All who enter unsubtle mingle in hotel lobbies monitoring foreigners movements and keeping out cubans and Trail visitors and eavesdrop on Telephone conversations. Human rights advocates have Long faced attacks by Security agents posing As offended citizens whenever they have tried to mount demonstrations or hold Public meetings. Recently the government announced the formation of Quot rapid response teams Quot to be based in neighbourhoods and workplaces so they can quickly put Down any spontaneous manifestation of discontent before in spreads along with the decline in consumer goods morale has been further dampened by a growing grub Biness in the streets of the once neat and colourful capital. Notwithstanding a dash of Bright paint that was thrown on the facades of the sweeping waterfront for the recent pan american games Many cubans say Ordinary City services have fallen off badly. In the narrow Canyon like streets of Central Havana with their stately but decayed buildings and tattered apartments uncollected trash lies in rotting Mounds gathering flies. For Lack of spare parts or gasoline the rounds of the capital s hulking red hungarian made buses have become fewer causing Small panics of anxious commuters whenever one suddenly appears. While cubans partly Monitor the fall of their living standards readjusting their sights on everything from the family diet to career prospects for their children everyone raises questions about the intentions of the world s Only remaining superpower the United states and its erstwhile rival the soviet Union from thin cuban newspapers which for Lack of paper have become increasingly hard to find cubans still Are fed unremittingly negative images of the United states. Grandma the communist party daily still devotes about a Hall a Page to reporting every Rise in american unemployment bankruptcy or drug abuse. Murders and other crime stones from new York City Are an especially favored Staple. Lately readers have been treated to a detailed chronicle of the origins of the . Trade embargo against Cuba with the articles arguing that american hostility to the number of cuban boat and raft refugees Rescue Fey the . Coast guard has increased More than fourfold already this year. The most recent figures show that 1,907 refugees have been taken in so far this year compared with 467 for All of 1990. The Island had nothing to do with its budding socialism but rather was an expression of contempt for Cuba s Independence. Some cubans with Little Access to outside information still seem persuaded that . Policy toward them is malign. They remain unconvinced by the sparse competing images they receive of the United states As a country that values human rights. Quot Are the americans going to invade us again Quot several people asked an american visitor Asil they feared some imminent military action had already been prepared. Why Don t they lift the blockade and let us we Quot others asked. If cuban news about the United Stales has Long been skewed and sketchy recent information about the soviet Union the country s closest ally for More than 30 years has become equally selective alter the failed attempt by communist party hardliners to overthrow president Mikhail Gorbachev. A for More than a year Castro has Given ominous warnings about the consequences for Cuba should the soviet Union somehow disintegrate. For a time he spoke of a Quot Zero option Quot or a painful if temporary shift to an austere horse and Chen powered Economy in order to save socialism hundreds of cubans frightened by the Pocai optic sounding scenario spelled out by their Leader and Given flesh by the growing shortages have fled the Island a by boats and rafts in the Case of commoners or by selecting abroad As Many More privileged children of the revolution have recently done. The number of cuban boat and raft refugees rescued by the . Coast guard has increased More than fourfold already this year. The most recent figures show that 1,907 refugees have been taken in so far this year compared with 467 for Al of 1990. Since Castro s warnings on the soviet Union have mostly come True discussion in the cuban Media of the consequences or the Island have been minimal. Quot i heard they were pulling out their soldiers but that All of the commercial agreements would be maintained Quot said one cuban intellectual who like most of his countrymen seemed unaware of the extent to which soviet subsidies to the Island have already been Cut and the likelihood that any remaining preferential arrangements would soon be phased out. With a More Street Levet appraisal of cubans circumstances however a taxi Driver saw the replacement of the country a Fleet of soviet made Lada cabs Wilh shiny new Sli sans As a More Blunt expression of the new economic realities. Quot the Days of great Friendship Are Over and the russians Are asking for dollars like everyone else now Quot said the taxi Driver also a state employee. Til be glad when i get a japanese car because the ladas were never really any Good anyway. Quot the Only problem is that we have to find some Way to earn dollars Quot the Man said Quot nobody likes to work Here anymore and who can blame them there is nothing to buy and we have been spoiled by years of gifts from  4 Street musician calling himself a Tel Trino Fatuado Quot or the tattooed singing Bird a Waits for tourists near Havana Cathedral. Fidel Castro has ruled Cuba for three decades. Shortages Are severe in Cuba where the government has ordered Farmers to use 100,000 oxen to save on tractor fuel. The soviet Union Hae drastically curtailed fuel deliveries. Page 14 the stars and stripes saturday october 19, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 15