Castro Tackles Corruption

Fidel Enlists Army Of Young People To Fight Theft

(CBS) 
In December, Castro told the closing session of parliament "there will be nothing that is not brought under control" as a result of the current campaign to wipe out waste, pilfering and theft.

That campaign has been extended to all aspects of life.

Classes for second, third and fourth year students at CUJAE were cancelled just before the end of the year and students were organized into "Brigades against Wastefulness, Extravagance and Corruption." They were sent to go door to door taking a census of home appliances. Students at other branches of the University of Havana were also involved.

"We were pulled out of a final exam and sent to the auditorium where they gave us a pep talk," said fourth year computer science student Ernesto. "We were told that there are warehouses filled with home appliances, and that they had to be moved to make room for all the items being purchased at the beginning of the New Year."

The idea, he said, is to see what appliances people need most and to get those items onto store shelves.

Medical students participating in the census in the Playa neighborhood of Havana said they had been told something different. "We’re looking for appliances that are broken or using out of date technology like old (pre-1959) American refrigerators or their energy guzzling Russian counterparts," said one census taker.

Homeowners were asked if they own an iron, hot water heater and/or electric hot plate and what kind of refrigerator they own. "We’re not checking to see if folks own DVD or video players. We’re looking for fans and rice cookers fashioned out of discarded parts which are tremendous electricity consumers or for old fridges that waste electricity."

The State, say these students, is making it possible for people to trade in these ancient or rustic appliances for new energy efficient ones as 2006, dubbed the "Year of the Energy Revolution" gets under way.

The first appliance to go on sale in the Cuban capital since the census was taken is the electric rice cooker, a coveted item is a country where white rice is a staple of every meal but breakfast, and where many people have only two burner stove tops on which to cook everything.

As an anti-corruption army, the social workers, according to Castro in a speech last November, could save Cuba up to $20 billion over ten years. But observers believe he is hoping even more on being able to imbue them and other young people with revolutionary zeal to carry on his vision when he is no longer around.