A woman watches a foreign TV broadcast in Havana. AFP PHOTO

"I love to see those fancy women, all done up in hairdos and makeup, and those studs," said the 35-year-old, who asked not to be identified, confessing to AFP she sits in front of her television set close to eight hours a day.

Her daily fare of pirated programs includes an assortment of Latin American soap operas and variety shows.

If the programming runs to the banal, she has no complaints.

"I spend the whole day watching how the rich marry the poor," she added, complaining, however, that legal cable TV in Cuba is only for foreigners, pumped into hotels, tourist resorts and some government-run facilities.

Communist Cuban authorities last week launched a new crackdown on television "pirates" who offer illegal cable TV service, carrying what is officially considered subversive programming.

It is a huge luxury that not everyone can afford. But Cubans still pay up to 12 dollars (nine euros) per month, nearly half the average monthly salary.

Many, like economy graduate Concepcion Sanchez, 44, reject the pirate programming for its poor quality. She tunes in to official Cubavision or Telerebelde with their educational programs she wants her 17-year-old son to watch.

Some of the officially approved shows such as "The Critical Spectator" and "The Seventh Door," provide classic movies.

On Thursday Cubans were treated to former US vice president Al Gore's acclaimed documentary on global warming.

But for all the government's concern over subversive US-sponsored programs transmitted from Miami by Radio and Television Marti, many Cubans say they are not in the least interested in politics when they tune in their illegal programming. They just want to escape from everyday worries, and tune out.

And those who are interested in foreign news are often not as gullible as their government might assume.

Another homemaker who openly admits to only stepping away from her television to eat and sleep, said that mixed in with her soap operas she also likes to watch news programs from Miami that often focus on Cuba.

"I like to watch it all, but I don't believe everything they say," she said privately.

Behind the pirate cable service industry looms a business structure that usually includes the owner of the illegal satellite dish; a technician in charge of the initial customer installation and of collecting weekly fees, and somebody who chooses which of pirated programs the neighborhood gets to see.

A couple who owns a satellite dish they said was "well hidden" in the rooftops, said they have about 100 customers providing them with a handsome monthly income of 1,000 dollars.

Of course, the system has its glitches.

During a recent poignant moment in the popular soap opera "La Fea Mas Bella" (The Ugliest Beauty), the signal in some houses suddenly switched to official programing as authorities were in the neighborhood hunting for pirate dishes.

When the danger subsided, everybody drew a sigh of relief.

"State television is so unbearable," gasped Ivette. With my cable "at least I can tune out for a while."