October 6, 2011
Fernando Ravsberg
HAVANA TIMES, Oct. 6 — On Monday at a party, I ran into two friends who
were euphoric.
One of them, a culture promoter, can finally put the title of his
Russian Lada car in his name. The other, a university professor, can
now transfer the ownership of his car to his daughter "without having to
die," the only previous way to transfer a car to one's offspring.
It must be said that the Sale of Vehicles Law is another step by the
present government to free the society from prohibitions as absurd as
the banning of cell phones, hotels accommodation for nationals, buying
computers, etc., etc., etc.
Because of this, society is normalizing a little more. Now, tens of
thousands of clandestine car sales may be legalized and the real car
owners will have their "carritos" in their name and not in the name of
the first purchaser.
The truth is that the sales of vehicles never ceased, despite the
express prohibition by the government. Cars were traded from hand to
hand without officially registering the property; instead, handshakes
sealed the deals.
Because of this recent step, it will appear that a buying fever has
broken out, although in reality what will be happening is that notaries
will be called upon to put the house in order, meaning that they will
act to legalize all sales made over the past 50 years clandestinely.
Equality, more or less
The move is certainly a step in the direction demanded by Cubans for
many years. However, some aspects of the law were surprising because it
doesn't give equal rights to all citizens.
Cuban journalists asked the deputy minister of Transportation, Eduardo
Rodriguez, why some Cubans could buy new cars and not others. In short,
his response was that these were the guidelines established by the
Communist Party.
Beyond the issue of who "recommended" this restriction, the truth is
that it will exclude many citizens, even some with sufficient purchasing
power, such as those people returning from years working on medical
missions abroad, farmers and some self-employed workers – sectors whose
importance is growing daily.
It's difficult to understand why a painter or a musician would be
allowed to buy a new car while this would be prohibited for a farmer who
has earned their money with the sweat of their brow in the field so that
all Cubans can eat and the country can save on imports.
Viewing the legislation in the light of the priorities of the nation,
this seems short-circuited. Undoubtedly culture is important, but the
officials who drafted the law should know that people need food somewhat
more than illumination.
Second class citizens
The other marginalized group is made up of independent (non-government)
workers, whose number has tripled and who will one day be the majority
of the workforce. I don't know how to explain to the person laying
bricks that functionaries sitting in an office will have more rights
than they will.
But what's most surprising is that physicians who complete missions
abroad are prohibited from buying new cars. In fact they're the only
"earners of hard currency" who are expressly excluded in the fine print
of the new law.
This seems even more unfair when you realize that the work of health
care personnel abroad is the main source of the nation's foreign
exchange income. It's what's paying the national oil bill. No one
should have more rights than them.
Perhaps the Ministry of Justice is able to present the legal arguments
for excluding a part of the citizenry, especially when President Raul
Castro just recently said, "All Cubans, without exception, are equal
before the law."
Instead, this legislation favors some Cubans over others, even though
Chapter VI, Article 41 of the Constitution of the Republic states that
"all citizens enjoy equal rights" (3) and therefore no law should
violate this principle.
The color of money
It's also strange that people are required to demonstrate that their
incomes are in convertible pesos (CUCs) when the state pays wages in
Cuban pesos (CUPs). Much of the domestic trade is conducted in that
latter currency and there are money exchange houses.
The Central Bank of Cuba established the convertibility of the currency
at a rate of 24-1, so if a dealer sells a car in 10,000 CUCs, the
correct thing would be for a citizen to exchange 240,000 CUPs to buy it.
Experiences in Cuba show that absurd prohibitions have only served to
promote illegal speculation and the black market. People have never
obeyed these; they've simply sought the best way to get around them.
No law could prevent some Cubans from having cell phones, Internet,
staying in hotels or selling their cars and houses. Farmers
circumvented directives that came down from the offices of the Ministry
of Agriculture and self-employed workers existed before they were legal.
Since 2008 the government has been gradually correcting those idiotic
prohibitions, but the present law is moving in the wrong direction when
its solutions create first and second class citizens, thereby
establishing a legal precedent that is as potentially disastrous as it
is unnecessary.
While this terrain could involve a violation of the constitution, in
practice it's ideal for new illegalities. Politically it's
incomprehensible that they would exclude rights to three key sectors of
the new socioeconomic model: self-employed workers, farmers and doctors.
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