CUBA: Fears Mixed With Hope As Workers Cope With Economic Changes.

PBS/NEWSHOUR/ 10:56 VIDEO With TEXT/

   In the first of 3 reports, Ray Suarez gives an overview on Raul Castro's new economic reforms to promote much needed growth and also preserve socialism.
    "But is change coming? Cubans have heard it before. And, in previous decades, the government opened the door a crack to the development of a small business sector, only to pull back the reforms by refusing to issue more new licenses.
     A tiny private sector remains from the '90s. Now there's a national debate about making that sector bigger. A rare Communist Party Congress is set for the spring to discuss change. Self-employment looms large in Cuba's future. The government has already announced the coming firings of half-a-million workers. To start the transition, over 100 different occupations will be opened for self-employment."
AND:"... right now, we live in a moment of complete frustration, and most of the Cuban people are feeling that way. The revolution is going backwards. It's now taken the country back to a point that is worse than it was before 1959. Our dreams have become a nightmare."