What Cubans Can Not Do Under Raul Castro

* Jaime Suchlicki

Cubans can not:

• Travel abroad without government permission.

• Change jobs without government permission.

• Change residence without government permission.

• Access the Internet without government permission (the Internet is closely monitored and 
controlled by the government. Less than 10% of the population has access to the Internet).

• Send their children to a private or religious school (all schools are government run; there are no religious or private schools in Cuba).

• Watch independent or private radio or TV stations (all TV and radio stations are owned and run by the government). Cubans illegally watch/listen to foreign broadcasts.

• Read books, magazines, or newspapers, unless approved/published by the government (all books, magazines and newspapers are published by the government).

• Receive publications from abroad or from visitors (punishable by jail terms under Law 88).

• Visit or stay in tourist hotels, and resorts.

• Seek employment with foreign companies on the island, unless approved by the government.

• Run for public office unless approved by Cuba’s Communist Party.

• Own businesses, unless they are very small and approved by the government and pay onerous taxes.

• Join an independent labor union (there is only one, government-controlled labor union and no individual or collective bargaining is allowed; neither are strikes or protests).

• Retain a lawyer, unless approved by the government.

• Choose a physician or hospital. Both are assigned by the government.

• Refuse to participate in mass rallies and demonstrations organized by the Cuban Communist Party.

• Criticize the Castro regime or the Cuban Communist Party, the only party allowed in Cuba.

* Jaime Suchlicki is Director and founder of the Cuban Studies Institute. He is the author of Cuba: From Columbus to Castro, now in its fifth edition; Mexico: From Montezuma to NAFTA, now in its second edition and the recently published Breve Historia de Cuba.  He is a highly regarded consultant to the public and private sectors.