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10/28/09 - Associated Press - Cubans fear more gov't control of farmers
markets

By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press Writer

The habanero peppers, oranges and peanuts cost more at Cuba's free-market
"agros" - farmers markets where vendors, not the government, set prices. But
food stalls overflow with abundance not seen elsewhere on the
shortage-plagued island.

So when the Communist Party served notice that it plans to impose price
controls at those agros - ending one of Cuba's few capitalist experiments -
angry shoppers fearing yet more shortages turned on state inspectors in an
unprecedented public rage.

Police were called to one farmers market this month when customers shouted
and chanted at state workers conducting a routine inspection. Two Associated
Press reporters were escorted out of the same market Tuesday after their
questions about the changes caused another shouting match.

"It's going to be a mess. There will be less merchandise," said Antonio
Gutierrez, whose farm cooperative outside the capital sells vegetables to
vendors at Havana's 42nd Avenue and 19th Street agro, where the disturbances
occurred.

Price controls would end one of the country's few private business
initiatives just as Cubans hoped the economy would loosen up under Raul
Castro, who took power from his ailing brother, Fidel, in February 2008.

"Control is now what the Cuban government is trying to lock up more than
ever," said Bill Messina, an agricultural economist at the University of
Florida in Gainesville.

The free-market agros, where the state allows vendors to set prices based on
supply and demand, have been very successful in getting food into people's
hands, Messina said.

"But it does reduce government control of food," he added.

With the proposed change, shoppers accustomed to tables piled high with
lettuce, spinach, grapes and green peppers fear either the empty shelves or
unbearable lines that are routine at government-controlled produce markets.

At one such market this week, a chalkboard read "there are potatoes,"
meaning spuds could be purchased with Cubans' monthly ration cards. Besides
that, a single produce stand sold only plantains, taro root and onions.

"They want to make all the markets like this. Sad," the lone vendor said.

Producers, sellers and customers said they heard from party officials that
new price controls were set to begin Nov. 1 - but were postponed until
January after a public outcry unheard of under the totalitarian government.

The government has not commented. But a member of Havana's municipal
parliament confirmed the change had been scheduled to take effect next week.
The official requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to
international media. He said authorities did not take enough steps to
implement the changes by Nov. 1.

The would-be takeover is part of President Raul Castro's overall crackdown
on corruption - in this case on farmers who are required to meet government
quotas but instead sell to free-market vendors through unlicensed truckers
because they make more money. By law, small producers and cooperatives can
sell leftover fruits and vegetables at their own prices after they meet
production quotas - usually around 70 percent of everything they grow.

But the state often takes more than six months to pay farmers, while the
truckers offer cash on the spot, said Ismael, a cabbage vendor who only gave
his first name because he admitted flouting the law.

"We are bandits," he said. "But without us, none of this works."

Bringing trucks loaded with fruits and vegetables into Havana without
permission is illegal, but Ismael said, "we've got the police more or less
paid off."

The agros first appeared in the 1980, when food shortages forced a reluctant
Fidel Castro to allow farmers to sell produce at prices driven, at least in
part, by the free market. Castro shuttered them six years later to improve
foundering state agricultural production.

"They closed them for some of the same things we are talking about now: the
black market, middle men making all kinds of money, the government unable to
control the market, the food supply," Messina said.

But the small dose of capitalism returned in 1994, when Cuba was again
forced to allow more free-market enterprise to keep its people from starving
after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which gave Cuba billions in annual
subsidies.

More than 300 farmers markets now operate nationwide. But over the years,
most have shifted from market-based pricing back to state hands as the
government worked to prevent prices from climbing too high and sellers from
becoming too rich.

After Hurricanes Gustav and Ike ravaged the island last year, the state
froze prices on produce at all farmers markets and restricted sales to
prevent hoarding. Free-market agros virtually shutdown because vendors
preferred to stay home rather than operate at a loss.

Permanent price controls could ruin fruit and vegetable vendors such as
Pablo Miguel Saldivar, a 12-year veteran of the 42nd and 19th market who
stacked green bunches of small bananas on a rusty metal tray.

Fellow vendor Maria Elena, who didn't want to give her last name and be
identified criticizing the government, is an agricultural engineer who makes
more money selling papaya.

"I'm 51 years old. Where will I go?" she said.

When state officials arrived three weeks ago to close this market for
inspection, rumors swirled that they were imposing new prices. Shoppers
mutinied, yelling until the police arrived.

"There was a misunderstanding, and the people reacted," Saldivar said.

But the air at the markets remains tense. Retired beer factory worker Nancy
Alfonso triggered bedlam Tuesday when she defended the proposed changes,
saying, "the state doesn't rob, it's all of these people who do."

Screaming on both sides got so intense, officials removed reporters asking
questions.

"Don't you know this is foreign press!" a market administrator angrily
admonished Alfonso and other shouting customers as he ushered the AP out of
the market.