BIG BROTHER
1st April 2008, 23:02
http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2008/03/31/2008-03-31_cuba_lifts_ban_that_kept_its_citizens_fr.html
HAVANA (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Havana) - New President Raul Castro (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Raul+Castro)'s government has lifted a ban on Cubans staying at hotels previously reserved for foreigners, ending another restriction that had been especially irksome to ordinary citizens.
"They have informed us that with a national ID card, anyone can stay here," an employee at the Ambos Mundos Hotel (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Ambos+Mundos+Hotel) in Old Havana.
She insisted on anonymity because she is not authorized to speak to foreign reporters, but said non-guests who are Cuban nationals will also be allowed to pay to enjoy other hotel services, including gyms.
Front desk workers and managers at the Nacional, Valencia (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Valencia) and Santa Isabel (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Santa+Isabel+SA) hotels in Havana also said Ministry of Tourism officials told them Cubans were allowed to stay in hotels across the island as of midnight on Monday.
Like other guests, they will be charged in convertible pesos worth 24 times the regular pesos earned by state employees.
Catering to tourists and foreign executives, many of Havana's best-known hotels charge well over $100 per night.
The four-star Ambos Mundos, for example, charges $173 a night in high season — more than eight times the average monthly state salary of about $20.
Some hotels scheduled meetings with all staff members to discuss the changes, and officials said new rules will also allow Cubans to rent cars at state-run agencies for the first time.
"Access to hotels was a complaint a lot of people had, so this is positive," said Magaly, a Havana retiree who said she did not feel comfortable divulging her full name. "But the prices are so expensive. I can't pay for a hotel. Very few people can."
There was no official announcement in state-controlled media on the lifting of the ban on hotel rooms and other tourist services, and word spread slowly through the Cuban capital.
It was business as usual inside the luxurious but slightly dog-eared lobby of the Hotel Nacional, and receptionists at several other hotels reported no immediate spike in reservations.
Other tourism employees said they had not yet been officially informed of the change.
Magaly, 69, predicted a sudden surge in hotel occupancy that wouldn't last.
"There will be a boom. Everyone will stay in hotels even if it's only for one day," she said. "But then the novelty will wear off and everything will be the same again."
On Friday, Cuba (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Cuba) authorized its citizens to obtain mobile phones, which only foreigners and key officials in the communist government were previously allowed to have.
A resolution from the Interior Commerce Ministry (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Interior+Commerce+Ministry) also authorized the general sale beginning Tuesday of computers, microwaves and DVD players, items which had only been sold to companies and foreigners.
But much of the population has access to convertible pesos or other foreign currency, either through jobs in tourism or with foreign firms or cash sent by relatives living in the United States (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/United+States). They will suddenly have a host of new ways to spend their money.
Tourism generates more than $2 billion annually in this country, and official restrictions that banned all Cubans — even those who can afford it — from enjoying beach resorts and luxury hotels were an especially sore point for many on the island since the government began encouraging foreign tourism en masse in the early 1990s.
Critics of the government have for decades branded the bans "tourism apartheid."
Even if few Cubans can take advantage of the new rule, it eliminates a glaring historical contradiction within the Cuban revolution.
When rebels led by Fidel Castro (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Fidel+Castro) took power in 1959, they joyfully overran beach resorts and hotels that had been largely limited to foreigners, declaring them open to all Cubans.
Governmental restrictions were eventually restored, however, as a way of promoting social equality within the communist system and limiting ordinary Cubans' contact with foreigners.
Since taking power from his ailing, 81-year-old brother Fidel on Feb. 24, Raul Castro, 76, has pledged to make improving Cubans' everyday life a top priority and undo "excessive restrictions" on society and the economy.
So, I'm pretty sure all of you guys have heard about this. I personally didn't like the fact that the Cubans weren't allowed in the Hotels in fact I'll be honest I didn't know that the govement had restricted cubans from using the hotels until a while ago, and i found that pretty disgusting.
So, comments, opinions?
HAVANA (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Havana) - New President Raul Castro (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Raul+Castro)'s government has lifted a ban on Cubans staying at hotels previously reserved for foreigners, ending another restriction that had been especially irksome to ordinary citizens.
"They have informed us that with a national ID card, anyone can stay here," an employee at the Ambos Mundos Hotel (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Ambos+Mundos+Hotel) in Old Havana.
She insisted on anonymity because she is not authorized to speak to foreign reporters, but said non-guests who are Cuban nationals will also be allowed to pay to enjoy other hotel services, including gyms.
Front desk workers and managers at the Nacional, Valencia (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Valencia) and Santa Isabel (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Santa+Isabel+SA) hotels in Havana also said Ministry of Tourism officials told them Cubans were allowed to stay in hotels across the island as of midnight on Monday.
Like other guests, they will be charged in convertible pesos worth 24 times the regular pesos earned by state employees.
Catering to tourists and foreign executives, many of Havana's best-known hotels charge well over $100 per night.
The four-star Ambos Mundos, for example, charges $173 a night in high season — more than eight times the average monthly state salary of about $20.
Some hotels scheduled meetings with all staff members to discuss the changes, and officials said new rules will also allow Cubans to rent cars at state-run agencies for the first time.
"Access to hotels was a complaint a lot of people had, so this is positive," said Magaly, a Havana retiree who said she did not feel comfortable divulging her full name. "But the prices are so expensive. I can't pay for a hotel. Very few people can."
There was no official announcement in state-controlled media on the lifting of the ban on hotel rooms and other tourist services, and word spread slowly through the Cuban capital.
It was business as usual inside the luxurious but slightly dog-eared lobby of the Hotel Nacional, and receptionists at several other hotels reported no immediate spike in reservations.
Other tourism employees said they had not yet been officially informed of the change.
Magaly, 69, predicted a sudden surge in hotel occupancy that wouldn't last.
"There will be a boom. Everyone will stay in hotels even if it's only for one day," she said. "But then the novelty will wear off and everything will be the same again."
On Friday, Cuba (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Cuba) authorized its citizens to obtain mobile phones, which only foreigners and key officials in the communist government were previously allowed to have.
A resolution from the Interior Commerce Ministry (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Interior+Commerce+Ministry) also authorized the general sale beginning Tuesday of computers, microwaves and DVD players, items which had only been sold to companies and foreigners.
But much of the population has access to convertible pesos or other foreign currency, either through jobs in tourism or with foreign firms or cash sent by relatives living in the United States (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/United+States). They will suddenly have a host of new ways to spend their money.
Tourism generates more than $2 billion annually in this country, and official restrictions that banned all Cubans — even those who can afford it — from enjoying beach resorts and luxury hotels were an especially sore point for many on the island since the government began encouraging foreign tourism en masse in the early 1990s.
Critics of the government have for decades branded the bans "tourism apartheid."
Even if few Cubans can take advantage of the new rule, it eliminates a glaring historical contradiction within the Cuban revolution.
When rebels led by Fidel Castro (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Fidel+Castro) took power in 1959, they joyfully overran beach resorts and hotels that had been largely limited to foreigners, declaring them open to all Cubans.
Governmental restrictions were eventually restored, however, as a way of promoting social equality within the communist system and limiting ordinary Cubans' contact with foreigners.
Since taking power from his ailing, 81-year-old brother Fidel on Feb. 24, Raul Castro, 76, has pledged to make improving Cubans' everyday life a top priority and undo "excessive restrictions" on society and the economy.
So, I'm pretty sure all of you guys have heard about this. I personally didn't like the fact that the Cubans weren't allowed in the Hotels in fact I'll be honest I didn't know that the govement had restricted cubans from using the hotels until a while ago, and i found that pretty disgusting.
So, comments, opinions?