Cuba Allows Citizens to Stay in Hotels

HAVANA (AP) â?? New President Raul Castro's government has lifted a ban on Cubans staying at hotels previously reserved for foreigners, ending another restriction that had been especially irksome to citizens.

Employees at the Nacional, Valencia and Santa Isabel Hotels in Havana said Ministry of Tourism officials told them Cubans were allowed to stay in hotels across the island as of midnight on Monday. Like other guests, they will be charged in hard currency worth 24 times the Cuban pesos state employees are paid in.

"They have informed us that with a national ID card, anyone can stay here," an employee at the Ambos Mundos Hotel in Old Havana said Monday. Non-guests who are Cuban nationals will also be allowed to pay for other hotel services, including gyms, said the employee, who asked for anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to foreign reporters.

Some hotels scheduled morning meetings with staff members to discuss the changes. and officials said new rules will also allow Cubans to rent cars at state-run agencies for the first time.

On Friday, Cuba authorized its citizens to obtain mobile phones, which only foreigners and key officials in the Communist Government were previously allowed to have. A resolution signed by the Interior Commerce Ministry on March 21 also authorized the sale of computers, microwaves and DVD players, items which had only been sold to companies and foreigners.

Many Cubans are too poor to benefit the lifting of restrictions. The government controls well over 90 percent of the economy and the average monthly state salary is a little less than $20.

But much of the population has access to convertible pesos, either through jobs in tourism or with foreign firms or cash sent by relatives living in the United States. They will suddenly have a host of new ways to spend their money.

Official restrictions that banned all Cubans â?? even those who could afford it â?? from enjoying beach resorts and luxury hotels have been an especially sore point for many on the island since the government began encouraging foreign tourism en masse in the early 1990s. Critics of the government have branded the bans "tourism apartheid."

Tourism generates more than $2 billion annually in Cuba.

Since taking power from his ailing, 81-year-old brother Fidel on Feb. 24, Raul Castro, 76, has pledged to make improving everyday life for Cubans a top priority and undo "excessive restrictions" on society and the economy.
The Associated Press: Cuba Allows Citizens to Stay in Hotels

Crazy....and people bitch about their rights in this country.

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

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Tourism generates more than $2 billion annually in Cuba.

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wow who would want to visit cuba.

but it seems raul is lightning up on the cuban people just a little. i wonder if theyre aloud to watch porn in them hotel rooms? but they are aloud dvd, vcr , microwaves and sich now and they are also aloud cell phones. now if we could just get on better terms with them cause i would love to go down the street and buy me a cigar. rather than have to have them smuggled to me

Cuba used to be a great vacation place for Americans, before they went Communist. The unnecessary boycott of Cuba by the United States has hurt them, so they had to rely on tourism from Europe, and other places. The financial support of about 1 million a day from the former U.S.S.R. has stopped. They need business.

One day, if the boycott is ended, it may be possible to have a great tropical vacation that is only a short hop from the East Coast of the U.S.

If Castro had established an Islamic or some other theocratic empire, we probably wouldn't have boycotted them at all.

Now people want to boycott the Olympics, because of a stupid political situation between China and Tibet.

Commies are rational, compared to Islamics. The boycotts should be directed at Moslim societies that hate us, not the Reds.

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Originally Posted by Breukelen advocaat

If Castro had established an Islamic or some other theocratic empire, we probably wouldn't have boycotted them at all.

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Sad, but true. If that were the case, you'd have to really be wary of the practical jokes from the Cubans. Instead of sticking a firecracker inside their cigars, there'd be a stick of plutonium added for dramatic effect.

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Originally Posted by yokinazu

wow who would want to visit cuba.

but it seems raul is lightning up on the cuban people just a little. i wonder if theyre aloud to watch porn in them hotel rooms? but they are aloud dvd, vcr , microwaves and sich now and they are also aloud cell phones. now if we could just get on better terms with them cause i would love to go down the street and buy me a cigar. rather than have to have them smuggled to me

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Yes, they are allowed to watch porn, but like most of the cars in Cuba, it is all left over from before the revolution --- mostly vintage burlesque shows featuring women with tall hats stacked with fruit, dancing around in their panties with sparkly pasties on their nipples.

What about the Donkey Show? ;)

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

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Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud

What about the Donkey Show? ;)

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

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That's mostly in Tijuana, not Cuba. And if some guy in TJ ever asks you, "Hey, meester, wanna see the lady and the donkey?" don't fall for it! There's usually no donkey, and she's definitely no "lady."

i like the donkey show on clerks 2. i almost cried laughin when that dude started