Cuba: Life in Castro's worker's paradise

This:

Residents of La Demajagua, a town in the Isle of Youth, complain that the main thoroughfare in town has been unusable for the last 9 months, making access to the many homes along the road difficult and life in general inconvenient.

"Local officials say the potholes have not been repaired for lack of materials," said local resident Rosendo Mustelier.

And this:

Salaries for the 44 employees of the Revolución Co-op in the Isle of Youth have been as much as 15 days late in the last two months because, managers say, the company doesn't have the liquidity.

And, after almost two years, this

A construction brigade consisting of 53 tradesmen has been assigned to rebuild the housing damage from 2002 hurricanes Isidore and Lily in the Isle of Youth.

The brigade is expected to stay for one year and is presently building 50 housing units in Pueblo Nuevo, in the capital of Nueva Gerona.

The two hurricanes hit the Isle of Youth in September and October of 2002, causing extensive damage to the community's housing stock which has still not been repaired.

This

A new and apparently growing food shortage in Cuba is making it increasingly difficult for those who depend on Cuban pesos and the government's ration system to obtain basic staples, according to residents and experts.

Over the past three months, some items have become scarce even in usually well-stocked stores that accept U.S. dollars, raising concerns that the Caribbean nation could be headed toward a nutrition crisis similar to one in the early 1990s.

This

After a two-hour home search, police confiscated a satellite TV antenna, a VCR and some tapes, labeling them
"subversive," and fined their owner 500 pesos.

This

Cubans who use bottled gas, a rare privilege where many have to rely on charcoal, oil, or kerosene, are assigned a 100-pound tank at stated intervals. The tanks may last from one month to over two months.

Or used to. Now the 100-pound weight is achieved by partially filling the tanks with water, and customers don't realize their gas allotment has been partially pilfered until they run out prematurely.

And, this

I arrived for the appointment punctually, burdened with fear. The dentist was attending to an elegantly dressed man, who was prepared for the extraction. I saw him anchor himself to the chair and for a moment I thought he was going to leave his hands in the arms of the chair. My dentist friend struggled with the man's molar. A scream from the patient put an end to the martyrdom and my friend showed him the pulled tooth.

"You had an abscess, pal. Look at what a huge wisdom tooth. You must have suffered a great deal with that in there."

The man's pallor showed he had suffered. He left the room quickly and a middle-aged woman went in. She greeted my friend with a smile, which surprised me, since no one goes into the dentist's office smiling. The woman settled herself in the chair and my friend began his job of putting in a filling after anesthetizing her.

He finished his job and the woman left satisfied. At that moment I started to get nervous. It was my turn. My friend pointed for me to get into the chair. To my surprise, he took the hypodermic needle to anesthetize me. While he worked, he was explaining to me:

"That lady has family living abroad, that's why I gave her anesthesia to work on her."

With my mouth numbed by the effect of the anesthetic, I asked him: "But did you give her the anesthesia?"

"No way! She gave me the money, I have a friend who gets it."

He worked while talking and making jokes to keep me calm. But I was relaxed ever since I felt the anesthetic's effect on me.

The extraction was child's play, without even any pain. Then as I was leaving, my friend slapped me on the back saying goodbye.

"Now you know, anytime you need me, I'm here for you with anesthetic. Friends are there to help, aren't they?"

Let's hear it for the wonderful Cuban health-care system. Happily, for Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, Danny Glover, Charlie Rangel, and their fellow travelers, they don't have to put up with any of this when they go to check out their homie, Fidel.