Cuban Newspaper Uncovers Widespread Corruption

A rare investigation by one of Cuba's communist newspapers has found that most state-run services are corrupt and preying on the population.

Employees are skimming clandestine profits by charging too much and cutting portions in an epidemic of theft and shoddy services, the Union of Young Communists newspaper, Rebel Youth, said this week.

Its undercover reporters found that most of the cafeterias, beauty salons, repair shops and other outlets they visited were "going through a bad moment". The investigation concluded: "A new analysis is needed to turn the situation around."

Such open criticism of the state sector was once discouraged but in the past year Fidel and Raul Castro have led the way by complaining that corruption was undermining their 47-year-old communist revolution.

The Rebel Youth headline: "The Old Big Swindle Part II", signalled this was not a new phenomenon.

The report said employees rationalised the skimming of plates in cafeterias and shampoo in beauty salons by saying they needed to buy their own supplies.

The newspaper did not propose any remedies but some government critics argue that part of the answer is to allow private businesses take over more functions from the state sector.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and its subsidies plunged the Caribbean island's economy into freefall in the early 90s. As an emergency measure the government loosened restrictions to allow some private enterprise. Thousands of small businesses, especially taxis, restaurants and shops, opened and thrived.

An economic recovery and discounted oil from Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez eased the pinch, allowing the government to revert to communist orthodoxy and extend state control over many private enterprises.

For Raul Castro, 75, who has been acting head of state since his 80-year-old brother needed medical treatment in July, the solution is to mobilise the population against theft of any kind.

In a closed-door speech to party members, earlier this year, he railed against corruption. "The deadly cancer has metastasised from our knees up to here," he said, pointing to his chest.

Some 6,000 cadres and 2,000 retired party members monitoring the state sector had discovered "the situation is far worse than we imagined".

In one case 2,000 tonnes of food was missing from a wholesaler near Havana but 14 visits by trade ministry officials and a company audit failed to discover it. A pair of monitors - elderly party members - blew the whistle.