Cuban MDs Protest over Deteriorated State-Assigned Homes

Cuban MDs Protest over Deteriorated State-Assigned Homes
December 4, 2014
By Fabian Flores (Café Fuerte)

HAVANA TIMES — For the Cuban medical doctors who traveled to Venezuela
in the hopes of obtaining a home upon their return from their
internationalist mission, dreams have turned into nightmares –
nightmares in Las Tunas, to be more geographically precise.

A group of 36 medical doctors from the municipality of Puerto Padre, Las
Tunas, have approached Cuba's official press to publicly condemn the
disastrous condition of the apartments they were given upon their return
from Venezuela, a situation that has only worsened over time without any
response from local government authorities

The reaction of these physicians from Las Tunas was published by the
newspaper Trabajadores under the title of Institucionalizar el caos?
("Are We Institutionalizing Chaos?"), after the doctors received a
letter from the Provincial Housing Office in Las Tunas demanding
mortgage payments.

Unaddressed Complaints

"We have been complaining about the poor constructive quality of most
apartments through the national and local media for more than five
years," Dr. Maricela Grass Santiesteban states in the letter sent to the
newspaper on behalf of her colleagues.

According to Dr. Grass' complaints, the tenants have to deal with leaky
ceilings, unfinished water tanks, deteriorated walls, inadequate water
facilities and a lack of urban infrastructure in the area.

The tenants had already written Trabajadores on October 3, 2011,
explaining the structural problems of the apartments they'd been given.

In his article, journalist Jorge Perez Cruz acknowledges that these
medical doctors are justified in their anger and in demanding answers to
their questions.

"Where are the resources allocated to finishing our apartments? Why have
they been letting the assigned budget expire every year? Why are they
making us pay for our homes in a single year, in two installments, on
threat that, if we fail to do so, we will be forced to lease the
apartments, when all others have more than 15 years to do so?" the
letter asks.

Government Regulations

The problem surfaced after the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry
for Construction and Cuba's Central Bank issued a series of resolutions
aimed at granting title of these homes to health professionals who had
worked in Venezuela, and guaranteeing the payment of these homes in cash
or through bank transfers.

The resolutions were published on November 12 last year in a special
issue of Cuba's Official Gazette.

According to the banking provisions, the owners may pay for the homes
assigned to them through deductions from wages or other incomes, on the
basis of the exchange rate in effect in the country. The document
specifies that "should tenants fail to comply with the agreed payments,
the bank shall notify the pertinent Provincial Public Health Office so
that appropriate measures may be applied."

The measure has given rise to concerns not only in Las Tunas but among
all medical doctors who have been assigned homes because of their work
abroad. These are complaining about the high price of the properties,
which are poor in terms of their finishing, expansion or remodeling.

Shoddy Construction Work and Crime

The government program conceived of these homes as an incentive for
medical doctors sent to Venezuela, who were offered adjusted prices that
were to be covered using the money earned abroad.

More and more criticisms have been voiced, however, in response to the
poor quality of the construction work.

"Needless to say, enforcing that decision is a crude way of accepting
poor practices, shoddy work and who knows how many arbitrary practices
that border on the criminal. Five years has been more than enough time,
not only to respond to our complaints, but to find solutions to our
problems as well," the article in Trabajadores concluded.

The government, however, is intent on collecting unpaid installments
among the population.

Last week, the Council of Ministers stated it would adopt measures to
strengthen controls aimed at curbing misdemeanors, including false
income statements for household sales and rental services, and that it
would apply a more restrictive policy on the transfer of ownership over
housing assigned by the State or basic dwellings built using State
subsidies.

Source: Cuban MDs Protest over Deteriorated State-Assigned Homes -
Havana Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=107734