HAVANA: The Cuban government has launched a wide-reaching anti-corruption campaign that is aimed at curbing diversion of funds, theft and abuse of power in state-owned companies and businesses, but also threatens to clamp down even further on the already limited opportunities for private enterprise. “In this battle against vice, no one will be spared, and we will call things by their name,” announced Cuban President Fidel Castro during an address broadcast live on Cuban national television.

Castro noted that the small privately owned restaurants known as “paladares”, which emerged in the 1990s and were tolerated as a necessary concession in times of crisis, could eventually be eliminated. Also in the government’s sights are the privately owned cars used as collective taxis, which satisfy a significant share of the demand for public transportation in Havana. Most are large US-made cars dating from the 1950s that have been outfitted to seat eight passengers, which follow fixed routes and charge flat fares that have considerably increased in recent months.

“There are a lot of taxis operating without licences, the fares are sky-high, and everyone knows the owners usually buy their diesel fuel or gasoline on the black market. But they’re badly needed,” commented Raiza Pérez, a 47-year-old engineer. Like many people in Cuba, Pérez feels she “has no choice” but to use this semi-legal form of transportation several times a week, or to buy certain essential products on the black market, while knowing full well that they have been stolen from the state.

Specialists consulted concur that the shortage of products and services available through legal channels and the high prices for goods sold in both Cuban pesos and hard currency serve to encourage theft and illegal businesses.

In addition, wages are often extremely low. A survey conducted in Havana at the start of the decade found that an average family of four would require seven times the average salary — which is roughly 260 pesos, equivalent to 10 dollars a month — to meet their basic needs.

Castro made his televised speech at the end of a week of rampant media speculation over his health. Several days ago, a US official purportedly “leaked” a report from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) suggesting that the 79-year-old president is suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

The Cuban leader responded to these speculations during his address, joking about the number of times his enemies have spread rumours of his death, and stressing that if the time ever comes when he is physically or mentally incapable of doing his job, he will step down. On Thursday night, however, just over a year after falling and badly fracturing his arm and knee, Castro spoke for over six hours standing at a podium, and declared that he feels “better than ever” and is “more determined than ever.”

In his speech, he maintained that the Cuban revolution could never be destroyed from the outside, but that it could be destroyed by the Cuban population itself if certain vices are allowed to continue to fester. “Either we defeat the problem or we die,” he warned. The government “takeover” of the island’s gas stations (all of which are state-owned) a month ago, in which the regular employees were replaced by a contingent of some 28,000 social workers, could be repeated in other businesses, such as pharmacies, hard currency stores and hotels, to root out illegal activities.

Millions of dollars in theft were exposed in the gasoline distribution and sales network alone, indicating that the state could be losing out on almost half of the revenues in this sector.

“It was quickly discovered that the amount being stolen was as much as the amount of reported sales. Almost one half was being stolen, and sometimes more than half,” said Castro. He also noted that there are people earning 40 or 50 times more than a doctor by illegally selling gasoline and goods stolen from ports, as well as through theft and other illicit activities in hard currency stores and hotels. Moreover, the blame does not fall solely on the employees in these sectors, but also involves the administrators and even state officials who tolerate or directly benefit from the illegal operations.

The crackdown on the so-called “nouveau riche” has been mounting since last year, when Castro pointed out in the midst of a severe energy crisis that excessive amounts of electricity were being consumed in certain sectors of the population.

The government’s “anti-corruption battle” has taken aim at a wide range of wrongdoings, from illicit enrichment on the part of state officials to the theft of entire containers from the ports, whose contents are subsequently sold on the black market.—Dawn/IPS News Service