Cuban celebs capitalizing

Published: July 22, 2013 3:00 a.m.



Cuban celebs capitalizing

Enjoying ability on island to own private business

ANNE-MARIE GARCIA | Associated Press



HAVANA – Cuban track and field legend Javier Sotomayor has launched a

sports bar named for the height of his world record high jump. An

Olympic volleyball champion has opened a swanky new Italian restaurant,

and salsa star Hugo Morejon has a first-rate automotive repair shop.



Armed with money and name recognition, Cuban athletes and artists who

have long enjoyed a far more luxurious lifestyle than their compatriots

on the Communist-run island are embracing the new world of private

enterprise. In doing so, the celebrities have exposed themselves to more

than a little envy from a population already weary of the perks they've

long had.



At least a dozen athletes and artists have started private businesses

since President Raul Castro began opening Cuba's economy to limited

capitalism in 2010, and others have quietly invested in such

establishments. Many of the spots have opened in recent months.



At Sport-Bar 2.45, patrons sip icy-cold Cuban beer and eat pizzas while

perusing memorabilia from Sotomayor's career, such as a white athletic

shoe he used in competition. The bar is named after the height in meters

(equivalent to 8 feet, one-half inch) of Sotomayor's world record high

jump, set in 1993.



The record stands 20 years later, but the 45-year-old Sotomayor has

moved on from his past as one of the Communist world's great athletes,

and now considers himself a businessman. He opened the bar in the front

garden of his home, with his ex-wife as a co-investor, and it is often

filled with young Cubans and tourists.



"I feel good about what I am doing now; for me it is a challenge,"

Sotomayor said. "I had success in competition in the high jump. Now, we

will see if the bar reaches these same heights."



Salim Lamrani, a professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris who

writes extensively about Cuba, said the embrace of the reforms by such

stars sends a strong message to other islanders that change is here to stay.



"These celebrity businesses are powerful publicity for the new policies

of the Cuban government," Lamrani said, which "in the future will be

increasingly based on the private sector."



At the Van Van Garage, gleaming Fiats, Mercedes and Peugeots overflow

into the street outside, and uniform-wearing mechanics use a desktop

computer to show clients which parts need repair. The garage, owned by

trombone player Hugo Morejon, is a striking departure from most Cuban

repair shops, which labor to keep hulking 1950s Chevys on the road using

homemade parts fashioned from scrap metal.



Morejon, a member of Cuba's most famous contemporary salsa group, Los

Van Van, doesn't need the money. But he says he's always loved cars and

opened the shop after the Cuban government legalized some forms of

private enterprise in 2010, hiring several young mechanics to handle the

workload.



"We work like a cooperative," Morejon explained. "I am the owner but I

don't earn any more than them."



He acknowledged his recognizable name helps draw clients, but said more

has been needed to make them regulars.



"Musical fame has helped me, but only the first time," said Morejon, who

recently returned from a European tour, his suitcases filled with spare

auto parts unavailable in Cuba. "After that, one must give quality

service or the clients won't return."



Other Cuban stars have joined the party: Singer Kelvis Ochoa has a

restaurant, and comic Robertico has opened a cafe. Even former Foreign

Minister Roberto Robaina, who was fired by Fidel Castro in 1999, has

opened a popular restaurant called Chaplin.



Cubans love their music and sports stars, but they also envy their new

cars and grand homes, their international travel and the imported

goodies they bring back.



Musical stars can sign record contracts abroad, but they must pay the

state part of their earnings. Even athletes, who earn tiny salaries by

global standards, often get perks such as cars and travel stipends that

are out of most Cubans' reach.



The perception of artists as part of a jet set elite was captured in the

2011 Cuban comedy "Habana Station," a prince-and-the-pauper tale that

compares the son of a poor family and the child of a Cuban musician

living a life of relative luxury in a country where the average worker

earns $20 a month.



"Most people couldn't even dream of opening a bar like Sotomayor's,"

said Roberto Blanco, a 29-year-old used books seller. "In fact, most

people on a salary don't even have the money to buy a drink or a pizza

at these places."



The celebrities shrug off the criticism, saying they are doing what the

Communist government wants: investing money at home and creating

much-needed jobs.



"I am contributing to my country," Morejon said. "I am giving work to

three young men and offering a useful service."



Triple Olympic volleyball champion Mireya Luis has hired five people at

her Italian restaurant in Havana's upscale Miramar neighborhood. Chef

Orlando Montoya said that with tips he earns many times the $14 a month

he got at his last state job.



"I came to ask for a job here when all I had was a pair of tennis

shoes," he said. "I work from midday until early in the morning, but now

I have six pairs of tennis shoes and a little girl who doesn't want for

anything."



Source: "Cuban celebs capitalizing | The Journal Gazette" -

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130722/BIZ/307229991/1031