May 02, 2008

Fearing the backward step

Quick and dirty translation of Yoani Sanchez' latest glimpse into the Cuban mind:

Elsa bought a new DVD player and an electric pressure cooker, but her husband warns her that she should wait a little to get a mobile phone account. He, who has seen things that make the earth shudder, still recalls the last "operation flower pot" in nineties. On that occasion, his sister was accused of unlawful enrichment and they confiscated two air conditioners, a car and some appliances. Therefore, he advised his wife not to get carried away by the consumer enthusiasm generated by the latest measures approved by the government.

In their paranoia, the couple speculates about alleged lists with the names of those who buy the new items that appear on the market. Just in case, Elsa has put each new object in the name of a different member of the family. So the seven-year old girl is legally the owner of the pressure cooker, while the male twelve-year old holds the title of owner of the DVD player. The grandfather, who can barely hear, is the one whose name will appear on the cellular phone contract, if they decide to take it. None of them should appear to have begun to accumulate more products than their wages allows.

This caution is not unique to Elsa and her suspicious husband, but extends to farmers fearing that parcels of land that today given on loan, will be -when they are productive and free of marabú [thorny bushes common on untilled land in Cuba]- again nationalized by the state. Also those who have not been able to jump on the a hotel mattress, are wary that the new [right of] entry for nationals to those sites can reversed at anytime.

The understandable fear of setback keeps us in suspense in the face of each new announcement. Anyone would think that this is excessive carefulness on our part, but the history speaks for itself. The more prudent among us wait for the dreaded process of rectification, while the unwary are swept up in the rapture of the changes.

Posted by Henry Louis Gomez at May 2, 2008 10:40 AM



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Comments

Mao had a way of doing this same thing, but with ideas instead of material goods. He would encourage the people to come up with new ideas and be critical of the government. This was so he could smoke out the "counter-revolutionaries" and "enemies of the state".

Hold back on those purchases, Cuba -- there could be a hook in that bait!

Posted by: Zhangliqun [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 2, 2008 12:28 PM

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