Cuban entrepreneurs reeling over crackdown on 3D movie theaters

Cuban entrepreneurs reeling over crackdown on 3D movie theaters

BY ROSA TANIA VALDES

HAVANA Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:47am EST



(Reuters) - Cubans are upset over decrees by the communist government

shuttering private 3D movie theaters and banning the private sale of

imported clothing in a land where venues to screen films are scarce and

well-made, stylish clothing is hard to come by at affordable prices.



Discontent over the crackdown runs so deep that even Granma, the usually

conformist Communist Party daily, ran a long article last week

recognizing the "broad social debate" - an unmistakable sign of the

government's sensitivity to the issue.



The newspaper backed the government's measures on the grounds the

would-be entrepreneurs were unlicensed, and it insisted that the

"non-state" sector, authorized over the past few years, must abide by

the law.



Even so, urgent meetings to discuss the closures are being held at the

highest levels of government on the Caribbean island, according to

several cultural officials who asked not to be identified.



So far there is no indication the authorities will back down. Still, the

very acknowledgement of the controversy highlights the growing pressure

on the government for meaningful economic reform.



"The Cuban government misfired, not only by sidelining the interests of

consumers, but also in underestimating the growing political clout of

the emerging private entrepreneurs," said Richard Feinberg, a senior

fellow of the Washington-based Brookings Institution and author of a

recent study on "Emerging Entrepreneurs" in Cuba.



President Raul Castro, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel in 2008,

has introduced a series of free-market reforms aimed at reducing the

financially strapped state's enormous burden of running 80 percent of

the economy.



The debate within the regime over how to deal with the discontent over

the unlicensed businesses suggests deeper divisions still exist between

orthodox bureaucrats and pro-market reformers.



Some analysts say that raises questions about the government's

commitment to opening up the economy. At the same time, it suggests the

Cuban government can no longer turn a deaf ear to a restive public.



"We are now witnessing high drama in Havana, as the government struggles

to find its way," Feinberg said.



"TREMENDOUS SACRIFICE"



Taking advantage of a loosening of regulations on small businesses under

Raul Castro, hundreds of Cubans have borrowed money or invested their

savings in 3D projectors and screens, goggles and even popcorn makers to

open mainly home-based theaters.



One of them is Jardiel Gonzalez, a popular comedian who rented an

abandoned, 100-seat movie theater from the government, installed a 200

inch (5 meter)-wide screen and turned it into what he said was a

successful business.



"I didn't leave my house for three days after they shut it down," he

said. "Packing up here was a little depressing, because it took a

tremendous sacrifice to open," Gonzalez said, as he looked at his now

darkened and silent theater.



Cinema, as with most culture in Cuba, is controlled and heavily

subsidized by the government. The crisis that followed the demise in the

early 1990s of the Soviet Union, the island's former benefactor, led to

the closures of most theaters countrywide as austerity measures sapped

funding.



The state has loosened up on what can be seen, cognizant perhaps of the

unstoppable flow of black-market DVDs imported by tourists and Cuban

relatives living abroad.



The sale of clothing, as with all imported goods, is monopolized by the

state. Featuring poor-quality garments at a mark-up of more than 200

percent, state-operated shops are a source of cash that the government

can ill afford to lose.



"SELF-EMPLOYED"



Deregulation of small business in 2010 has led to a booming "non-state"

sector that numbers about 450,000 "self-employed," a euphemism in Cuba

for small businesses. The sector includes employees of the small

businesses and those in the building and other trades.



Cuba has authorized about 200 private economic activities, from running

cafeterias and bed and breakfasts to party-planning and shoe-shining.

Running movie theaters and selling clothing have remained off-limits.



Even so, entrepreneurs used licenses for operating "equipment for

childhood entertainment" to show films, while others used licenses to

work as a "seamstress" to open the clothing shops.



Hundreds of entrepreneurs saw an opportunity in the 3D theaters, paying,

for example, $2,000 for a 60-inch 3D television brought into the country

by family and friends from abroad.



The public flocked to the private film showings, the first 3D offerings

in the country, where they could watch movies like "Avatar" and "Shark".



Fascinated by the magic of the third dimension, children and teenagers

became the biggest fans.



What was a dream come true for Cuban film buffs came to a sudden end on

November 2 when the Council of Ministers ordered the theaters to close

on the grounds that they had never been officially authorized.



The 20,000-odd clothing vendors and their employees that have opened in

Cuba have been given until the end of the year to liquidate inventory

and shut down for the same reason.



"The superior interest of all citizens in preserving legality and order

ranks higher than any temporary impact that the adopted measures may

cause to one sector of the population," Granma opined in support of the

government crackdown.



SOCIAL IMPACT



Many Cubans don't see it that way.



"It is really too bad they shut them down," teenager Orlando Fernandez

said. "It was a healthy form of entertainment; I don't see anything

wrong with it."



Gonzalez is facing a big loss on his investment in the theater, located

in the Marianao district of Havana, though he declined to say how much.

He not only had to buy the 200-inch screen but had to repair the roof,

bathrooms, lighting and ventilation before opening for business.



"Now the five young people I hired are sitting at home, looking for

whatever to make ends meet when here they had legal employment," he said.



While the government insists it is not backtracking on reforms, even

Granma admitted many residents are not happy. Some Cubans are calling

for entertainment licenses to include showing films and a new license

category for the clothing shops.



Cuban authorities had criticized the 3D theaters even before they were

shuttered, using adjectives such as "frivolous," "mediocre" and

"trivial." Many intellectuals and artists publicly disagreed, a rare

sign of defiance.



"The extraordinary social impact these establishments have produced

should be a motive for reflection, not silence or oblivion," Gustavo

Arcos, a film professor at the University of Havana, wrote in an open

letter published by a local film blog.



"Imposition, without dialogue, will never save the national culture," he

added.



(Additional reporting and writing by Marc Frank in Havana and David

Adams in Miami; Editing by Frank McGurty and Grant McCool)



Source: "Cuban entrepreneurs reeling over crackdown on 3D movie theaters

| Reuters" -

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/22/us-cuba-reform-theaters-idUSBRE9AL0H020131122