Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
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Cubans unhappy with lack of freedom, poll shows

Friday, December 15, 2006

by: Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON, USA (Reuters): Cubans are divided on their country's Communist leadership and frustrated by the country's lack of freedom and economic opportunity, according to a rare outside poll released on Thursday.

The poll was conducted by Gallup, which returned for the first time in 12 years to a country where public attitudes can be hard to gauge thanks to a single-party government that tightly controls its news media.

The polling organisation, which has conducted similar public-opinion surveys in 100 countries, said it encountered no government interference from the Western Hemisphere's only Communist government.

The Cubans selected on a random, scientific basis were often very eager to share their views, poll organisers said. They said people's attitude to the government had not changed markedly since the 1994 survey.

Organisers said they avoided talking to neighborhood block captains responsible for enforcing revolutionary zeal, and had to stick to the island's two main cities because travel to rural areas was too difficult.

Only 25 percent of those interviewed said they were satisfied with the freedom they have to choose what to do with their lives, the lowest figure among 100 countries surveyed by the polling firm.

In urban Latin America as a whole, 80 percent said they were satisfied with their personal freedom.

The poll found that most Cubans are satisfied with their country's health care, public safety and education system, but are less likely than other Latin Americans to express satisfaction with the jobs they held as adults.

Only 42 percent said they believe that people in their country could get ahead by working hard. In Latin America as a whole that figure is 77 percent.

Roughly one-third said they were using their talents as much as they like, compared with 66 percent in Latin America as a whole.

The poll showed that Cuba's command economy often thwarts the ambitions of its residents, organisers said.

"It's a breakdown from what they're intending to build and what happens in adulthood," said Jesus Rios, regional director of research for Gallup.

Cubans were split on the merits of their current government. While 47 percent said they approved of the leadership of ailing leader Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, 40 percent said they disapproved.

The poll was conducted between September 1 and September 15, after Fidel Castro underwent emergency intestinal survey and temporarily handed over power to Raul Castro on July 31.

The public's attitude toward the government has not changed markedly since the 1994 survey, organisers said.

Most Cubans described themselves as fair and egalitarian, but fewer than half said Cubans could be described as democratic.

And despite Cuba's antagonistic relationship with its giant neighbor to the north, Cubans said the United States would make the best trading partner, ahead of Venezuela and China.

"The US is kind of their alter ego. It's present in every day of their lives," Rios said.

Gallup said it used the same questions for its survey that it has posed to residents in 100 other countries around the world.

The survey, conducted by Central American pollers, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

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