By IANS
Havana : An opposition group representing residents of Cuba’s rural areas has called for an end to the use of two parallel currencies in the communist-ruled island.
The organisation, known by the acronym Flamur, is collecting signatures on petitions to press for abolition of the Cuban convertible peso, or CUC, Spanish news agency EFE reported.
Cuba currently uses both the ordinary peso, worth less than 4 cents, and the CUC, which is equivalent to $1.08.
Flamur’s Belinda Salas Friday said the CUC “has created a social distinction that has had devastating affects on the population”.
The disappearance of the convertible peso, she said, “could eradicate the discrimination that it has created against people who don’t have access to this currency”.
Salas said that since beginning of the campaign in July 2006, Flamur has collected some 6,000 signatures on petitions demanding the scrapping of CUC. She said the group hopes to have 10,000 signatures to present to Cuba’s parliament before the end of the year.
Cuban families are forced to turn to the black market to supply their basic needs on a median monthly wage of just 387 pesos (about $18).
Acting President Raul Castro acknowledged last month that the average wage “is clearly insufficient to meet all the needs so that it has practically ceased to fulfil the socialist principle that each contribute according to his abilities and receive according to his work”.
The problem is aggravated, according to Cuban experts, by the use of two currencies on the island.
Raul, 76, has been in charge since July 2006 when older brother Fidel Castro “provisionally” handed over power due to a serious gastrointestinal illness.