[国际新闻] 古巴官僚多多哈瓦那办事如登天

BBC记者尼克•卡伊斯托尔Nick Caistor  2011年 4月 1日

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。3 o+ J1 g  X1 G$ Y

最近在哈瓦那，我犯了一个大错：想换酒店。$ i3 r4 _+ J! J+ Q
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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。) W4 y  m5 Y/ M9 \9 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。人在德国社区: B% k/ |) O2 d- i1 j

我等了半个小时，然后悻悻地返回了自己酒店的房间。
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“这是我的私人电话”
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过了大约两个小时，我在房间内接到前台打来的电话。

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。

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。

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？rs238848.rs.hosteurope.de' h/ H3 m  K- v1 L+ r

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”。; i/ D1 Y) A% o  B  d  c: @6 Y

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？' E( Z# _0 N  R! E
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她说当然可以了。然后，两位女郎一起离开了。0 u1 _1 `5 v; N" E
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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。
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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。7 k# S* }* A* x- [! k. K. A

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。0 [1 Z6 e2 l, o2 C' k

高兴得太早了！

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。* t* V5 q: ?& F. ^2 b5 f5 {3 @
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我高兴得太早了。

又过了一个小时，曾到酒店来过的那两位妩媚的女郎再次给我房间打电话。她们说，下午确实回来过，但没有找到我。“您到底还想换酒店吗”？
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我拿着旅行社总部办公室开出的定单到楼下来给她们看。

这不仅没能让她们闭嘴，反倒引出了一堆新问题。4 I0 e# T- v% R- ~6 F. _

她们根本不知道我到总部去过，也拒绝给办公室打电话确认。她们说，现在下班了，人都回家了。

想换酒店，我还是需要先交几百欧元，但是，她们坚持说，我已经错过了直接把钱交给她们的机会。我必须在第二天一大早亲自到办公室去一趟。人在德国社区* g7 o! u) t2 a$ E8 q% P5 g

这个办公室可不是我下午去过的那一个，而是另外一个专管收款的办公室。
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转天一大早，我出门去这个办公室交钱。这一回，接待我的还是两位妩媚的女郎。事情的进展好像也更顺利。
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我交出了手中的欧元，拿到了收据。但是，手写收据，这两位女郎用了半个多小时，然后还要拿到另外一个办公室去盖章。

我算了一下，通过国营旅行社换酒店，先后共有六个人用了八个小时的时间！) E( C. Y' V( X6 |  L; W

还要多请人？
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古巴总统劳尔•卡斯特罗想要铲除的正是这种官僚作风、效率低下。他宣布，今后几个月内，古巴国营部门至少要裁减50万人。下岗的人必须注册为“自雇”，根据收入上税。# H2 C. W% g  Y9 T2 k
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对于古巴人来说，上税、没有工作都是新鲜事。古巴革命保证给人民带来的两大“收获”原本是人人有工作、国家的创收能确保工人永远不付税。

现在，劳尔•卡斯特罗本人都承认，这种模式已经崩溃了。

古巴现在必须面对的挑战是，国人被迫自谋出路，将带来怎样的后果？
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在我看来，一个能干的人、用一两分钟的时间，足以给我换家酒店。我去问旅行社的一位女郎，她是否担心下岗呢？1 Z# X3 o4 `7 M+ L0 h' F, k5 u, M

她骄傲地说，根本不担心。旅游业是创收产业。真要改革，恐怕只能是多请人。人在德国社区) N% i$ R( B/ K7 J& G7 r

Cuba is not only for the hot salsa worth of a trip1 e& p( G) B. @7 C, F% r9 s

Red tape in Cuba: A struggle to change hotels in Havana : z* s2 r9 O& d& X

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.9 e+ \/ m  b1 ?4 L. t- W' W1 c
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I made the mistake in Havana recently of trying to change hotels.

The 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.0 ]; [) I5 g6 k. G) Z; t) i8 e
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When 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.

I waited for half an hour, then went back to my hotel.人在德国社区! Z: Z) w" `( }8 Q+ o
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A couple of hours later, I received a phone call in my room from reception.
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This time there was not one but two equally charming young Cuban girls waiting for me downstairs.

The first of these said I was to hand over several hundred euros and she would give me a voucher for the new hotel.
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I had to pay up-front, because that was how it was done in the state tourist firm.' W! X8 V7 C+ o+ q; N- A

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?
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"Ay, no mi amor," was her instant reply. "This is my private cell phone. I would never use it for work. That costs money".( i3 R7 G) }  i2 Q- _9 x3 g

I said could she please come back in an hour with some sort of official document proving she worked for the travel firm?rs238848.rs.hosteurope.de+ c$ a) n5 A& c8 a8 q2 L% M8 c
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Of course, she said, then she and her friend disappeared.
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Two hours later, when they had still not re-appeared, I decided to go down to the tourist office myself. " G; j% e3 b( U" D' u

Here, another two charming women professed no knowledge of my request at all.( X9 J3 `7 h9 g: N3 I
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It 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.6 b0 ?1 E3 `3 p
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Satisfied with this, I went back to my first hotel.人在德国社区, S( l/ o$ l0 R$ C" C5 _
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By now it was early evening, and I thought the matter was closed.人在德国社区# E! s' u* [0 R' H' |: G
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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?+ F5 c9 T/ k+ e, t7 k, v

I went down to the lobby to confront them with my signed voucher from head office.1 w5 \" [4 e6 g% X# C' M5 j" L; ^/ {9 L
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Far from appeasing them, this seemed to cause even further problems.
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They 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.
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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.

The 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 transactions3 p2 R! R4 o6 ^1 Y

I set out bright and early for this second office to pay for my voucher.2 h8 @3 |# E  L- G# }
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Once again, the two charming young women were there.

This 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.rs238848.rs.hosteurope.de' I1 p% N) w" h# F7 O4 z
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I calculated that by going through the state tourist agency, six people had taken up to eight hours to change a single booking.; ~  ]& ], z) Y  _0 x( l/ d3 D

Broken model

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.
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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.7 M% h. N5 q$ `( l+ R

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.
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Now, as Raul Castro himself has admitted, that model has completely broken down.8 z3 [2 P7 u% Z4 v3 a6 _4 C$ R) ]
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Cuba now faces the challenge of what will happen when its citizens have to try to earn a living on their own.1 I" R1 G+ M' z; j0 E3 K) M) G& F& X
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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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