The clincher is the level of social security with no differences being made out between cities and villages though the levels of comforts could have some hiatus and there is a marked tendency of the village folk travelling to the cities for better facilities. But it is not as if the government is not alive to this problem with a law having been made to check this. Cuba has 14 provinces which have been divided into municipalities which we know as districts here. The municipality representatives are elected every two-and-a-half years with Parliament or the National Assembly of People’s Power being the final arbiter, elections being held every five years as in our country.

The total population count is 1.1 crores with Havana itself accounting for 22 lakhs with the pressure mounting by the day. Even then, the rush as we see in Calcutta is absent in Havana and there is no maddening chase on the roads.

US the enemy, not its people

Havana ids peaceful but it can rise in protest if an issue like Elian surfaces; upon reaching Cuba, we at once realised that this little boy who America had almost held hostage was the prime topic discussion in the entire country. Hoardings carry his picture and television talkshows feature him. Protests are taken out daily; even pregnant women take part. The world has to know that Cuba wants its son free.

There is a heightened political consciousness. Ask anyone and he will say,``America is enemy number one but we have no fight with the Americans.'’ The presence of Che is everywhere though in private conversations we are told that not everybody now agrees with what he had done and how he had achieved that. ``But he is our leader and he has pride of place,’’ they say. There is Fidel too; Fidel the secretary, Fidel the President, Fidel the Commander-in-chief.

There is this interesting story about Fidel who moves around in fatigues and even meets the Pope in guerilla outfits. A correspondent once asked him why he does so now that the guerilla war was over long back. Pat came the reply,``Why don’t you ask the Pope why he wears what he does?’’

Almost 40 per cent of the population are Roman Catholics with four per cent Protestants There are no curbs on religion though it is not encouraged either.

The arts are encouraged and we saw for ourselves the tremendous hype created around unknown artists and singers who are given encouragement from every quarters. The nooks and corners of Cuba reverberate with poetry, art and song.

There are two government television channels in Cuba with no private channels.CNN and BBC are visible only in select outlets like elite hotels. Politics hogs the television channels with Elian taking up amore than three hours on one particular day.It was slightly disconcerting; the absence of cultural programmes on TV. Also, we saw that while TV and radio were common, telephones had not yet entered all households.

Target 2010

On the whole, Cuba presents a picture of peace, land at peace with itself. The open fields, the greenery are refreshing and the absence of heavy industry and a mechanical world add to that. What, however, is needed is more technological advancement.Cuba wants support from outside but after the Soviet experience, it has been wisely decided not to depend only on one nation like China. The target is 2010 by which Cuba hopes to develop a better lifestyle with optimum comforts and almost all households are asking for these basics like TV, telephones and VCRs. Foreign investments have been made welcome and in the next 10 years, it is being hoped that half o the population will be brought under the optimum comfort level. But Cuba does not want population control now; the logic being simple. With more people will come greater skills. That is the watchword now as Cuba marches on to the future.

The Old Man is Alive