Fidel: Happy Days Are Here Again

In Series Of Speeches, Castro Promises Cubans A Better Life

(CBS) 
Cubans depending on remittances to get them through the month already took a blow last November when a 10 percent commission was introduced on the U.S. dollar. Since then every CUC they buy costs them U.S. $1.10.

Cubans rushed to CADECA to exchange their dollars before the November deadline, changing an estimated $1.2 billion. But some Cubans wary of the chavitos and reluctant to put all their money in the bank have hung on to their U.S. dollars.

A retired veterinarian, who prefers not to be identified, says she has $3,000 squirreled away. Now with the threat of the further 8 percent devaluation of the dollar hovering over her head she will either have to put the money in the bank or find each dollar worth only .80 cents.

State-run Cuban TV broadcast an hour-an-a-half program the night after Castro last speech in which Soberón and other bank officials discussed the practical impact of the moves.

"We have nothing against citizens who have and receive dollars from abroad," said Soberón. "It's legal and it's normal that people living in other countries want to help their relatives in Cuba. But the possession of dollars," he insisted, "puts Cubans and foreigners in positions of advantage and the Revolution has the moral obligation to seek improvements for all the people."

Soberón claimed that personal income in the United States has gone up 48 percent, so Cuban Americans are able to absorb the 18 percent difference. "If they want their families here to maintain the same standard they can send them more money," he said as TV viewers listened astounded.

Even Andres Gomez, an extremely outspoken anti-embargo, pro-dialogue Cuban American was surprised by those remarks. "Only the rich in the U.S. have increased their personal income. Workers haven't experienced any increase in the last ten years. Cuban Americans are being squeezed," he said.