BBC记者尼克•卡伊斯托尔Nick Caistor 2011年 4月 1日2 i0 F! y/ v( D1 F. j5 r, V
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1 Z$ ?2 Z* ~) S+ C8 M/ O古巴要拿效率低下开刀，推出国企裁员、征收所得税等新举措。但是，哈瓦那的官僚作风根深蒂固，办点小事难如登天。' o8 y; F5 |! w$ j- O; e
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最近在哈瓦那，我犯了一个大错：想换酒店。9 }- B; I" f3 k8 g
. F( U; U, R9 V" V- q9 r我去咨询，接待我的那位女郎人很妩媚。她给办公室打了个电话，另一端的人说，管事儿的人去吃午饭了。女郎告诉我，一个小时以后再回来。 3 U/ o+ [% B* M" `. p# K5 a1 K2 S! U
一小时后，我准时回来了，发现当班的是另外一位女郎，人也很妩媚。她告诉我，刚才接待我的那位同事去吃午饭了，没有给她留话。* d5 L P( D' u o2 I
3 I* f2 o$ Z3 p; S) L) j: I1 W% U我等了半个小时，然后悻悻地返回了自己酒店的房间。 2 \; w8 ]* e; T. v4 b. f' Z$ N W9 u5 z6 Q4 H3 z& H9 j
“这是我的私人电话” 7 g6 j9 A" G) J$ e& A0 f3 l6 T& o3 L: m0 a" [
过了大约两个小时，我在房间内接到前台打来的电话。 0 j5 x0 |$ E6 ]8 K4 W/ e$ f. z ! q1 l. f# k7 j9 F5 ]这一回，帮忙的可不是一个女郎了。两位同样妩媚的女郎在楼下等着我。 2 A9 W, J4 K% _1 Y! q/ d ( C# v6 N/ [9 I. e1 e第一位女郎说，我需要交给她几百欧元，她会给我开一张换住新酒店的定单。我必须先交钱，这是古巴国营旅行社的规则。 ! {) C1 U& d+ W2 T# T# u) b* i( F 1 E* C, S0 |# |- O我说，我从来没有见过你，你随口一说，我怎么能保证你说的全是真话呢？看着她那款镶着水钻的手机，我问道，你能不能给办公室打个电话，让我问一声？1 Q g. r2 H6 Q+ ?
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她立马儿回答，“不行不行。这是我的私人电话，从来不用来办公事，那得花我自己的钱”。 9 O/ }* S l9 g/ X \! s7 q9 ~8 M 4 F* U. z, S: V我说，那你能不能一小时之后回来，带张介绍信什么的，证明自己确实在旅行社工作？ z, ^# O; B! q5 W
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她说当然可以了。然后，两位女郎一起离开了。 0 L* M% [1 J, G. R& ~7 t4 \. {- W; W8 X0 {( N- o; c6 k
两个小时过去了，两位女郎谁也没影，我决定自己到旅行社办公室去看看。5 o8 i& k" t+ v, E
/ [7 N; y& P6 A- p) t7 T6 Q* |8 C办公室内，两位同样妩媚的女郎说，根本不知道我曾要求换酒店。 2 e2 j, C: J9 I8 l! L" [9 o+ m% q, p
这二位用了大约半个小时的时间给新酒店打电话，总算找到了当班的经理，他保证能给我留一个房间。 v" H; @' U: ?* F/ t* ?+ {* i# j& f& n+ J' X1 u
高兴得太早了！5 I0 I' C' ?& O8 d
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心满意足，我回到了自己仍然下榻的第一家酒店。此时，天已接近黄昏了，我心想，这事儿总算办完了。3 M9 R" V8 l4 Y6 y1 Z4 @8 Q
5 G8 C; z3 _4 y3 U' ?; b9 Z7 cCuba is not only for the hot salsa worth of a trip; J; S( a4 H8 g$ ?, l: l b
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Red tape in Cuba: A struggle to change hotels in Havana 1 I, [4 C' L s3 \5 [7 S6 O
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Cuba has declared war on inefficiency. The state is preparing lay off half a million people, and novelties such as income tax are on the way in. But inefficiency has put down deep roots.: [ J; m, J+ s$ D# d" ]
+ {. k2 A5 r5 S% NI made the mistake in Havana recently of trying to change hotels.( h: Q$ F/ J/ ?: [) C
6 q! ]5 n9 z6 p) ? Q4 u* c- {+ GThe first young woman I asked about this was very charming. She telephoned her main office, was told the person responsible was at lunch, and said I should come back in an hour. * G$ Z& V& o; G! u2 {% h1 j$ K 5 x# W7 f1 b+ M* F& }, gWhen I returned, another charming young woman was sitting at her desk. She told me that her colleague had now gone off to lunch herself, and had left no instructions.- q. C% O* {! @; o
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I waited for half an hour, then went back to my hotel.; Q' |/ P, o3 G' w* A6 c' ^. y
, L$ j% }- r; r$ z" p' ZA couple of hours later, I received a phone call in my room from reception. 1 O9 \! w7 z' S0 L% D4 C* j) ^ 3 y. ]0 Z: W9 g8 MThis time there was not one but two equally charming young Cuban girls waiting for me downstairs. # I0 y" u; y9 L" t) x- f7 [% r
The first of these said I was to hand over several hundred euros and she would give me a voucher for the new hotel. / j- B: B; G/ H8 ~- k9 w/ t, W1 H7 e " X4 }5 d3 p4 ^9 ]4 l. GI had to pay up-front, because that was how it was done in the state tourist firm. 2 i# I9 Y! i) n: o: L* C# f! u7 | p; o+ E; |, `8 ?, f0 D
I pointed out I had never seen her before, and so had no guarantee she was who she said she was. Would she mind using her large rhinestone-decorated mobile phone to call her office and let me speak to them?3 w3 h7 e2 k: V, r4 u
3 g5 y, x+ }- w7 y6 t"Ay, no mi amor," was her instant reply. "This is my private cell phone. I would never use it for work. That costs money".5 o! [0 I- S& d
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I said could she please come back in an hour with some sort of official document proving she worked for the travel firm? 5 R$ K5 h5 i' p5 [9 f8 [& Z7 y& v! R) G
Of course, she said, then she and her friend disappeared.$ A A( K8 Q& B5 I% ~
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Two hours later, when they had still not re-appeared, I decided to go down to the tourist office myself. - r- ^2 ?6 z9 \" y
0 u/ `- m4 f9 p5 ~; _+ D) eHere, another two charming women professed no knowledge of my request at all./ ?7 Y, p- Q4 ^- p! w& q
/ C+ y6 s3 w# @, P+ zIt took the pair of them another half an hour to ring the new hotel, locate the manager, and extract a promise from him that there was a free room for me.7 Z4 `$ [( B4 l! n8 Y' k
8 F# T: P( x* ?Satisfied with this, I went back to my first hotel.5 S5 {9 j0 i1 l6 _3 ?, k( Y& g5 T$ ]
1 b- u: C6 f3 T: K0 _By now it was early evening, and I thought the matter was closed. 3 O' s/ o2 @2 Z# D/ k- l9 ~* H9 J" P/ B: d1 j" O- q% A( _( i. w
But no, another hour later the two charming young ladies rang up to my room again. They said they had come back earlier, but had been unable to find me, did I not want to change hotels after all? ! B2 z% m: ?0 z2 P$ L5 t0 t8 ?2 N. q! K. V2 _, {4 [- w
I went down to the lobby to confront them with my signed voucher from head office. ; m9 A9 o* L& g7 ]! r, z* Z9 s 5 Z0 ^7 W1 E! g5 H) O( J$ p+ XFar from appeasing them, this seemed to cause even further problems.5 h- M$ R, p Y q/ l# Z
+ R/ g5 }7 r6 N9 mThey knew nothing of the visit I had made to what was supposed to be their main agency, and again would not phone there. They have all gone home at this time of night, they said./ ^4 K& G; f1 ?$ K2 k P
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I still had to hand over euros for the exchange, but had lost the chance just to give it to them, they insisted.) T! E5 Q8 Q. V
& x0 n. c7 z& I' H6 }) ^6 M+ P- GThe next morning I would have to go personally to their office - which it turned out was not where I had been, but another one dealing with money transactions 7 M& M4 E; V, c9 x6 V ) x) z3 e5 ]" Z3 C4 ^" C# R1 uI set out bright and early for this second office to pay for my voucher. , p; _3 V3 [ k! V* J" E( j8 v( G" a, I! Z4 I9 W2 `. e; h+ M3 c
Once again, the two charming young women were there.0 X8 J. A% i# ?* P& _: d
' l. B' c( H Z" d: K& AThis time, things went more smoothly, and I was able to hand over the euros and get my receipt - except that it took them half an hour to write all this down longhand, then get the receipt stamped in yet another office. & a8 K& V( ]) Y' l2 b" U1 a 1 |) z/ W2 ^. N" `6 wI calculated that by going through the state tourist agency, six people had taken up to eight hours to change a single booking.: W; M7 l# g N: `. Q$ b) R: C2 }; L9 X
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Broken model% Y& d2 F; f( V/ m
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It is this kind of bureaucratic inefficiency that President Raul Castro is trying to stamp out by announcing that at least half a million jobs in Cuba's state sector will have to go over the coming months.* P6 W: K; O k& I
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Those who no longer have a job will be expected to register as self-employed, and be taxed on their earnings.3 {* W1 x0 K% j
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Both paying tax and not having a job are complete novelties for Cubans. Two of the gains of the revolution were meant to be that there would be work for everyone, and that the state would generate enough revenue for workers not to have to pay tax., Z) g' N( y+ x j. r7 k) c; m6 P
2 j# Y: q" q$ ENow, as Raul Castro himself has admitted, that model has completely broken down. % l& F. b" O' p 7 D: p( W/ j2 H% u. b0 a5 ECuba now faces the challenge of what will happen when its citizens have to try to earn a living on their own.9 q% M6 ]) N0 E3 @/ M6 y" }0 F( n: p( r* l
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It seemed to me that just one competent person could have dealt with my transfer in a couple of minutes - but when I asked one of the tourist women if she was concerned about the coming redundancies, she proudly announced that no, tourism was a productive sector, and that if anything, they would need to take on more staff.
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