Man's choice: abandon wife or house

Man's choice: abandon wife or house

HAVANA, Cuba - May 29 (Roberto Santana Rodríguez / www.cubanet.org) -
Juan Carlos Linares has run afoul of Cuba's bureaucracy, and as a result
has been fined for cohabiting with his wife.

Linares, who owns a house in Old Havana, said he cannot have his wife
move in with him because housing authorities do not allow new residents
to move into the historic district.

The wife, then, lives in a house in the Diez de Octubre municipality
which, incidentally, she has been trying to buy for the last three
years. That is to say, she has been processing paperwork for the
purchase of the house for the last three years.

The problem, Linares said, is that if he registers as a resident in Diez
de Octubre, he would lose the property in Old Havana.

So he lives with his wife in her house, but since he is not registered
as a resident in the district, was fined last October 450 pesos, which
by now have doubled to 900 since he hasn't paid.

And he won't pay, he said, even though he could be sent to jail for up
to a year if he doesn't.

Linares said authorities have suggested to him that he either separate,
at least temporarily, from his wife, that he visit her at night, or that
he try not to be seen by any neighbors who could denounce his presence
in the district.

http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y06/jun06/08e5.htm