Raul Castro warns Cuba of widespread job cuts

President Raul Castro startled Cuba by saying about one in five Cuban workers may have to be made redundant.

Facing a severe budget deficit, the government hinted at restructuring or trimming its bloated work force.

Such talk is causing tension, however, in a country where guaranteed employment was a building block of the 1959 revolution that swept Fidel Castro to power.

Details are sketchy on how and when such pruning would take place.

Raul Castro warned however that “hundreds of thousands of unnecessary workers” may have to go.

Cuba’s work force totals 5.1 million, in a population of 11.2 million.