Officials suddenly halted most of the dollar sales that Cubans have come to count on and warned of higher dollar prices for food and gasoline. They blamed new US measures meant to undermine the island's government.
Scores of agitated people lined up for last-minute purchases at late-night variety stores after the official declaration was read on Cuban state television shortly before 8pm Monday night.
PHOTO: AP
The measure could have dramatic effect on everyday life in Cuba, where hard-currency stores offer plentiful goods -- from soap to spark plugs -- that are available in scant quantities, if at all, at highly subsidized prices in Cuban pesos.
Except for food, gasoline and personal hygiene products, the announcement said, sales in dollars "are suspended until further no-tice." It was not clear if they would resume at some point.
It also said that dollar prices would be raised on food and gasoline -- and perhaps other products if the stores reopen. Prices in pesos, the government said, would remain stable.
Crucially, food and personal hygiene products were exempted.
Cuba blamed the measure on "the brutal and cruel" measures adopted last week by US President George W. Bush to strengthen the embargo of Cuba and to hasten the end of the country's communist government.
The announcement said the US proposals "are directly aimed at strangling our development and reducing to a minimum the resources in hard currency that are essential for the necessities of food, medical and educational services and other essentials."
Many analysts had seen the Bush measures as a relatively modest tweak to the broad US economic embargo that has been in place against Cuba since the early 1960s.
Bush said Cuban-Americans now can visit relatives on the island once every three years rather than once a year. They can spend US$50 a day rather than the earlier limit of US$164. Visits and money transfers are limited to immediate family members -- excluding uncles and cousins -- and officials and Communist Party members cannot receive funds. More money would be allotted for dissidents.
Cuban officials have warned the measures could be a possible prelude to stronger US attacks, possibly even an invasion.
A permanent closure of the dollar stores could be another step back from the liberal reforms enacted in the early 1990s to cope with the loss of aid and trade Cuba had enjoyed with the Soviet Union.
Possession of dollars was legalized in 1993 to draw dollars from growing tourism and family remittances into the state stores. The government has steadily offered more and more goods in the US currency while the Cuban ration book of items available in pesos has withered.
Many of those lined up Monday night at shops built into gas stations were buying cooking oil and soap before prices rise. Most expressed frustration at the measures.
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Monday met virtually with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) and raised concerns about “malicious cyber activity” carried out by Chinese state-sponsored actors, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement. The department last month reported that an unspecified number of its computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers in what it called a “major incident” following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides cybersecurity services. US Congressional aides said no date had been set yet for a requested briefing on the breach, the latest in a serious of cyberattacks
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RSS