More Theft and More Corruption

More Theft and More Corruption / Gladys Linares

Posted on August 21, 2013



Havana, Cuba, August, www.cubanet.org — More than a month has passed

since the words of army general Raul Castro Ruz in the first ordinary

session of the eighth legislature of the National Assembly of Popular

Power in the Convention Hall, July 7, 2013. If some believed that after

that discourse things were going to improve, they were wrong. Time has

passed and still no measures have been taken to support the population.



To cite just some of the vicissitudes that confront the Cuban day after

day, we have the worst quality of bread, the price changes in the Hard

Currency Stores (TRD), as well as the lack of nylon bags in which to

pack purchases, that nevertheless are sold on corners by individuals;

the scarce and deficient repairs of leaks by Havana Water, the theft in

the farmers markets, the long lines of pensioners on the sidewalks, in

full sun and sometimes in the rain, to collect their pensions, and the

impediments imposed by many officials of state agencies — like the Civil

Registry and Housing — in hopes that the applicant will offer gifts or

money in order to streamline management.



Meanwhile, the administrators and public officials, the vast majority

militants of the Communist Party (PCC) — an essential requirement to

occupy management positions — remain insensitive before this situation.



The absence of directors or administrators when some client requires his

presence to express a complaint is common, and in the face of the

frustration, it is frequently heard: "There is no one here to fix it."

Others allege that the indolence of these is supported by the corruption

of many inspectors.



Tita also heard the words of Raul and thought that things soon would

change. Therefore, when she bought 10 pounds of yams at the farmers

market and ascertained that they had shorted her on the weight, she went

to see the administrator. This one listened to her without saying a

word, and left walking with her to the platform where the offender was

selling, and ordered him to fulfill the weight for the woman without

even verifying if she was right. Then he did nothing else except turn

and return to the office as if it was nothing.



My neighbor Robertico keeps buying breakfast bread quite early in the

morning. On asking him why he does not buy it the day before, in order

not to get up early, he answers me that if he does so, the next day the

bread has mold. Several consumers have complained, but the administrator

ignores them time and again.



Many bothered consumers ask themselves if among the Physical Planning

regulatory violations which Raul spoke about, they will include the

dwellings that, in order to facilitate certain blocks of commerce, they

are constructed in spaces seized from butchers, bodegas, dairies and

vegetables stands.



More than words are needed to end theft and corruption, two of the

greatest causes of moral and material damage that our society suffers.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gladys Linares. Born Cienfuegos, 1942. Primary teacher. She worked as a

geography teacher in different schools, and as the director of some of

them, for 32 years. She joined the Human Rights Movement at the end of

the 1990s through the Humanitarian Feminine Front organization. She

actively participated in the Cuban Council and the Varela Project. Her

reports reflect the daily life of the population.



20 August 2013



Source: "More Theft and More Corruption / Gladys Linares | Translating

Cuba" -

http://translatingcuba.com/more-theft-and-more-corruption-gladys-linares/