putting back some of the fun into life, they operated Training schools for restaurant personnel and bar men. State Operated restaurants, small cafes, snack bars, pizza parlors and soda fountains are being opened at a fast clip now the main intersections in downtown Havana. Visitor finds now at the main intersections of downtown Havana, the visitor finds a variety of signs pointing the way to restaurants, some specializing in Italian, French, Chinese and Spanish dishes, some offering a reasonable facsimile of the well known Yankee hamburger and hot dog. One of Havana's most remarkable sights is the crowded 100 yard long lunch counter at what was Woolworth's five and dime store. Today's special items are spelled out. Under giant pictures of marks and linen, chicken pizza, 40 cents, chicken salad sandwich, 30 whole meat plate, $1 and sandwich, 30 cents. Awesome cream pie, 25 fruit cocktail, 20 shake, 30 ban a split sundae, 20 over a glass case of Jelly Roll are the words Patria o mierte, our country or death. The objective of all this is to Drain off excess purchasing power, to relieve monotony of the diet on rations, the idea one in it official, told me not to supplement the ration, but to offer a change from it, items in short supply, such as chicken and pork featured In many restaurants. Most urban families I met were eating out once or twice a week. Escape food of normal rations comes too for more than half the working population who have their main midday meal either free or for a small charge at canteens and cafeterias in government office buildings, factories and military installations. Ration book is not required. Most students have their midday meal at schools. And some 150,000 of the scholarship winners from the hinterland known as the sporting in the elegant abandoned mansions of Miramar left their ration books to be folks back home. These bonuses, as one Havana newspaper has called them, have undoubtedly been contribute a contributing factor, along with harsh penalties of up to 30 years imprisonment in curtailing black market activities, have the arrest and sentencing of black market operators has been widely publicized. Has been widely publicized. During my earlier visit, there have been no cases mentioned in the Havana newspapers in recent months, action items are in many cases, spread as thinly as they were three and four years ago, and in some categories or less, because of the break in trade relations with China, six pound monthly issue of rice has been halved Cuba's agriculture bosses, I N R A the national Agrarian Reform Institute are countering by stepping up production of macaroni noodles, spaghetti and other carbohydrate foods, but may fall short of Their 1966 goal of a 30% increase because of breakdowns and the shortage of parts for us made processing machinery, coffee, which was unrationed, is now being exported for foreign currency and is limited to seven ounces per person monthly. Cause for such considerable belly aching. Fidel Castro took pains in April to announce that 6700 new acres of the bean will be planted and that it will be off the ration after two more crops monthly per person, quota of a single chicken has been eliminated entirely, except for children up to the age of three years with over 65 and pregnant women, expectant mothers, diabetics and persons with other illnesses, are provided with special ration cards to allow them the diet recommended by their doctors, drinking fats, a pound of lard and a bottle of vegetable oil, largely butter, two ounces meat, three quarters of a pound per week of grade a beef, beans, one and a half pounds monthly, and milk, a quart per day for children up to the age of seven, six cans of condensed milk per month for adults are pretty much unchanged. What has changed is a considerable list of items that since my earlier visit, have been removed from controls. Eggs, which were doled out five to a customer each month, are now in abundant supply and on the free list for it, fish limited to a pound per month in 1963 is unrationed, so our bakery products, cheeses and yogurt, fruits and vegetables, including potatoes, which had been restricted to 14 pounds per. Per person. Since I was last in Savannah, 70 newly built state run stores, whimsically known as the fruity Cuba chain, and another 90 shops specializing in vegetables have been opened at the fruity Cuba stores. There's seldom a shortage melon, papaya, oranges, at least six cents a dozen pineapples, mangoes, lemons, avocados, coconuts and bananas. 15 cents a pound. Vegetables. At the vegetable shops, the bins are full of turnip, cabbage, lettuce, peppers, green beans, celery, carrots, beets, cucumber, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Four cents a pound, a ration, free supply of any of these items three years ago was unthinkable food supplies in the country, as I discovered in a tour of the three western provinces, are considerably better than in the cities. There are now more than 2500 people's stores, tiendas del Puebla in the rural areas, in many towns, farmers sell live chickens and turkeys on the street corners. Rationed items such as butter and cooking fat are frequently given in larger amounts when the supply warrants a dividend.