Cubans finally become upwardly mobile (Cuba)THE President of Cuba, Raul Castro, has lifted restrictions on personal mobile phone ownership, a move that could increase the flow of political ideas and news in the country.
The decision, announced on Friday in an understated manner in the Communist Party daily Granma, adds to a range of developments indicating that Mr Castro, 76, after decades of working in the shadow of his older brother, Fidel, is beginning to reshape daily life in Cuba.
Since succeeding his brother on February 24, Raul Castro has set about legalising products and services that Cubans have been forced to acquire through stealth and guile on the black market. Besides lifting the mobile phone restrictions, he has quietly ended a ban on personal purchases of some electronic items, including computers, video players, all sizes of televisions, pressure cookers, electric rice cookers, electric bicycles and car alarms.
The ban will be lifted tomorrow. There are unconfirmed reports that Mr Castro has also lifted rules that forced farmers to buy materials at state-run stores and required patients to pick up prescriptions at inconveniently located pharmacies.
Cubans formed long lines on Friday outside mobile phone shops. Until now only top government officials and foreigners had been allowed to own them. But thousands of Cubans have long got around the rule by persuading foreigners or corrupt government officials to sign mobile phone contracts on their behalf.
This was tolerated by the Government and it was common for Cubans to chat openly on phones acquired on the black market. Even police seemed to turn a blind eye.
“This could have a massive impact,” Manuel Cuesta, a dissident, said in Havana. “It opens the possibility for more contact with foreigners, for more text messaging, for a culture of mass communication. You can almost publish a newspaper with messages sent over cell phones.”
But Mr Cuesta cautioned against interpreting the decision too broadly. He said it did nothing to deal with limits on free speech and foreign travel, prohibitions on the ownership and sale of private property, or bans on most forms of private enterprise.
“This is not going to affect in any way the total control that the Government has,” he said. “This is a small step toward liberalisation.”
Cubans have been tantalised in recent days by the prospects for change. The Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, said last week that the Government was considering ending restrictions on foreign travel.
The Government denies most Cubans permission to leave, and discourages travel by charging high fees for exit visas.
Mr Castro’s daughter, Mariela Castro Espin, said in Rome last week that Cuba should abolish travel restrictions, end a ban on Cuban citizens staying at the island’s best tourist hotels, and guarantee access to computers.
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