No more free lunch at Cuban cafeterias

Posted on Friday, 09.25.09
No more free lunch at Cuban cafeterias
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press Writer

HAVANA -- The Cuban government plans to close free cafeterias in state
ministries and instead give employees a stipend to buy food.

Under the program, designed to save money for Cuba's cash-strapped
government, workers who ate free or for little cost in their government
jobs instead will receive about 70 U.S. cents a day - a significant
amount in a country where the average monthly salary is $19.

The pilot program announced Friday will start Oct. 1 for the ministries
of Work, Finance, Commerce and Economy. If successful, it will be
extended nationwide, the Communist Party daily Granma said.

The move represents a change in philosophy for the communist-run
government, which dominates the island's economy and micromanages many
aspects of Cubans' lives - from rationing food to determining who can
own a car.

Cuba's always-fragile economy has been hit hard by the global financial
crisis. About 3 million state employees eat at government cafeterias
daily, according to the paper.

President Raul Castro, who took over from elder-brother Fidel in
February 2008, has said he wants to streamline the country's stifling
bureaucracy and put a measure of decision-making in the hands of citizens.

The newspaper insisted that the idea is not to take away a benefit, but
rather "to open the doors to rationality and to savings, and to free the
country from a weight that it cannot continue to bear."

A simple meal like a pork sandwich costs about 25 cents, while pasta
bought at a street vendor runs about 50 cents - meaning some workers
could save money, depending on what they eat.

No more free lunch at Cuban cafeterias - World AP - MiamiHerald.com (25
September 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1251986.html