By John Rice. .c The Associated Press
HAVANA, 17 (AP) - Most Cubans can't even think of buying a car in a country where a tank of gas can cost months of wages. Yet the streets of Havana are clogged these days with smoke-belching traffic: a testament to Cuban inventiveness and economic improvement.
Only five years ago Havana was an automotive ghost town; armies of bicyclists and pedestrians ruled the streets. Now cars have joined the maze of bicycles, pedalcabs, motorcycles, motorized bicycles and horse carts dodging cavernous potholes in the capital's streets.
Clouds of black smoke spew from the diesel engines of old Russian Kama trucks and from ancient American cars modified to run on diesel engines.
The crowded streets are evidence of the U.S. dollars circulating in the economy since Cuba legalized the possession of dollars in 1993 and then began selling gas for dollars at special service stations.
The cost can be heavy: a gallon of regular costs almost $4, while many Cubans make only about $10 a month.
Still, enterprising Cubans are buying. Some have relatives or friends abroad who send dollars. Others get dollar tips from tourists. Some finance their cars by using them as taxis - often without government permits.
Gasoline or spare parts stolen from the state can also be found on the black market.
Old-style gas stations with their rabbit logo and ``Rapido'' signs still dot Havana, but they're largely dedicated to patching and filling tires. State rations of cheap gasoline have been slashed to a few gallons a year.
Havana's streets are a moving museum of automotive history: sleek new Mercedes and Peugeots fight for position with three-wheel Vespa scooters, precariously maintained Hudsons and Russian Ladas and Volgas - even the odd Model A.
There are cars that most Americans have never seen: Jeep-like AROs from Romania, UAZs from the Soviet Union and Ssangyongs from South Korea, along with Skodas, Moskviches, Polish Fiats and peculiar three-wheeled jitneys shaped and painted like oranges.
And there are cars Americans might have forgotten: Simcas, Hillmans and Morris Minors.
What rumbles under the hood is often surprising.
Many Cubans have removed the gas-guzzling engines from the 1950s-era American cars, replacing them with Romanian or Russian diesels.
Pistons from Alfa Romeos have found their way into Harley-Davidson motorcycles. And Cuba's creative mechanics have twisted and milled odd scraps of metal to keep motors, bodies and suspensions together, more or less.
``We repair everything here,'' said William Escalante, a burly mechanic sitting on the curb of Del Valle Street, a center for street-corner repairs. ``We have to invent a lot.''
A few feet away, a fellow mechanic was fiddling with wires holding tubes to the brake master cylinder on a decaying state-owned Moskvich. The car's windshield bore a seal certifying it had passed a government inspection.
Worried about pollution and the safety of precariously maintained cars, the government started mandatory inspections in 1999.
Miguel Cabrera Reyes, the vice minister of transportation, said about 25 percent of cars fail their first test and 10 percent fail a second time.
``It's not an alarming failure rate,'' he said, though a spot check of windshields for inspection stickers indicates many drivers of old cars have yet to put them to the test.
The challenge frustrates some.
``If they don't give me gasoline, how are they going to make me pass an inspection?'' complained a driver waiting on Del Valle Street while a mechanic fixed the brakes on his 1989 Lada. Saying he didn't want to get into trouble, he declined to give his name - though he offered his services as a
driver.
Even some repairs can be risky. With parts hard to find, some Cubans have found or bought parts diverted from state stocks. Each car's registration book shows the legal source of its engine and other main pieces. If the numbers don't match, the car can be seized.
Felix Perez displayed the book showing that his 1959 Simca had legally been modified with steering gear from a junked Moskvich.
``The only thing original is the motor,'' he said.
He drove to Del Valle Street with a friend holding a plastic bottle of gasoline out the window so fuel could pour through a tube into the carburetor. Mechanics were trying to fix his gasoline pump.
Just getting a car can be a challenge. Owners of aging pre-revolutionary cars can sell them to anybody with money.
Some professionals have been given permission to buy cars cheaply from the state over the years - mostly Ladas or Moskviches. Those cars can only be resold back to the state, which pays far below the market value. Cars sold illegally can be seized.
Those who work for foreign companies also can sometimes get new cars - but may have to give them up if they lose their jobs.
A few people, such as sports stars, have been allowed cars they can freely sell. But buying such a car can require a signed permit from a vice president or even from President Fidel Castro himself.
AP-NY-02-17-00 1335EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press |