HAVANA, (Reuters) – One of the Cuban revolution’s most hallowed social programs, the monthly food ration for all, is on the chopping block at a Communist Party congress this weekend, and pensioner Alina de Armas is not pleased.
The congress, the first since 1997 for Cuba’s only legal political party, looks likely to approve the phasing out of the ration, or “libreta,” as part of President Raul Castro’s overhaul of the island’s Soviet-style economic system.
It is one of nearly 300 reforms to be considered at the congress. But it is perhaps the one that will hit closest to home for most Cubans, who have grown used to a paternalistic social system in one of the last communist states of its kind in the world.
The aim is to save the cash-strapped government money and force people to work harder but de Armas, 76, predicts dire consequences for those on fixed incomes.
“We would die of hunger. That would be the sentence for old people and the physically disabled. This is a step the revolution will have to think about very hard,” she said, her face etched with worry.
The libreta system, which costs the state about $2 billion a year, is expected to remain for the elderly and others in need but de Armas’ concern reflects the insecurities Castro’s reforms are producing in Cuban society.
Government subsidies are being targeted as Castro tries to modernize an economy he says is on the brink of failure.
He wants to keep healthcare and education free for all but eliminate other benefits such as subsidized utilities and transportation that have helped Cubans survive despite monthly wages that average the equivalent of $20 a month.
“Social spending has to be in accordance with real possibilities and that means eliminating those (programs) that can be done without,” he said in an August 2009 speech.
The government already has begun, albeit haltingly, a program to slash more than a million workers it considers unproductive from state payrolls during the next few years.
“Museum piece”
The proposed changes are opposed by some and supported by others who say they are necessary to create a more prosperous country based on personal initiative and greater productivity, not government paternalism.
The idea is to pay workers more for greater output instead of giving handouts that allow people to get by without much effort.
The libreta was created in 1963 by former leader Fidel Castro, 84, who because of ill health handed over the Cuban presidency to his younger brother Raul, now 79, in 2008.
Its aim was to equally distribute food, which was in short supply due to the U.S. trade embargo and internal problems, and assure that no one went hungry.
