Re: Hotel chambermaid fired for criticizing Fidel Castro

[Gambitt]

Not sure how true the story is, as I haven't found any "independant confirmation", other than sites quoting the story from Cubanet,  but we might want to take notice when we are talking to friendy staff at the resorts.
 
 
 

CAYO GUILLERMO, Cuba, December 7 (Kallan Poe, APLA / www.cubanet.org) - The workers committee at the Meliá Cayo Guillermo tourist hotel ratified management's firing of chambermaid Leidys Morales Quinteros, overheard criticizing President Fidel Castro.
 
 Morales was declared "unfit" to work at the hotel after a Communist Party instructor overheard a conversations in which the chambermaid complained to a friend about power outages and the work of Castro and other government leaders.
 
 The instructor reported what he called "counter-revolutionary" behavior by the chambermaid.
 

Wouldn't want to see anyone else lose their job, over idle chat.

[flopnfly]

I just noticed this thread.
 
 I have noticed that the staff are very willing to talk about their families etc, but as soon as you mention anything that might be "political" they quickly change the subject.  This has happened to me a couple of times at different resorts.
 
 Are they really not allowed to discuss anything or do they just not trust?  I'm sure that they need to be careful of what they say and to who.

[MCB]

Hello flopnfly,
 Know where you're coming from...as a tourist,going to Cuba for the past twenty years, I was curious initally to ask them a variety of questions..some were a little political in nature.
 Have learned reactions vary with the individual (based on their position and beliefs).I now try to talk about general issues..family,weather,etc.
 I don't want them to be uncomfortable with me.
 My opinion is that we get more news about Cuban politics externally than the average Cuban does about their own country.
 I do try to bring in current magazines,newspapers..so they can "catch up on the rest of the world" and they can practise their English.

[MarieMaya]

We experienced the same distance or discomfort from staff whenever the political subject comes into play.  The most informative person was one who was willing to discuss politics with us but would answer our questions in a way that made us draw our own conclusions as to what his opinion was.  He never expressed any opinions directly or overtly, but we always could tell what he was thinking.  Very interesting, almost speaking in codes.