-DATE-
19880408
-YEAR-
1988
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
INTERVIEW
-AUTHOR-
F.CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
MORE REMARKS AT LENS SHOP
-PLACE-
LA LISA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA RELE-REBELDE
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19880411
-TEXT-
More Remarks at Lens Shop

FL081810 Havana Tele-Rebelde Network in Spanish 1227 GMT 8 Apr 88

[Text] Coinciding with world health day, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro
Ruz, first secretary of the PCC Central Committee and president of the
Councils of State and Ministers, inaugurated a lens craft center located in
the grounds of the optic articles production enterprise in La Lisa.  Prior
to the inauguration ceremony, the commander in chief toured the new plant.

[Begin recording] [Speaker] The curve-generation process begins here.

[Castro] What is this mark for?

[Speaker] To find the curvature later, so it always falls in the center of
the lens.

[Castro] This is not something that is placed; what is this?

[Speaker] The curvature is ground.

[Castro] And this one?  I do not see that it was ground.

[Speaker] No, because when the curve-generation process is completed, when
it goes to the washer, then the blocking process begins.

[Castro] Which one?

[Speaker] The blocking process.  [Words indistinct] finished lenses.  They
are completed at this point.

[Castro] Where are they fitted?

[Speaker] At the provincial prescription shops, according to the patient's
unique specifications.  Then in the concave side they make...

[Castro, interrupting] Is this reduced to more than half?

[Speaker] Depending on the gradation.

[Castro] This leaves this place as it is.

[Speaker] Yes, as far as we are concerned, it is completed.

[Castro] So this needs to be worked on further at the optical center?

[Speaker] In the case of bifocals, yes.

[Castro] In bifocals, and in the other one?

[Speaker] No, it would only be in the case of bifocals.  We do the other
procedures here.

[Castro] So this is your finished product.

[Speaker] In the case of bifocals.

[Speaker] Here we have tools for the first stage consisting of a diamond
bar.  It has natural diamond.  Each bar costs us approximately $9.00; more
than $8.00.

[?Castro] Each one?

[Speaker] Each one.

[Castro] How much has to be spent on this a year?

[Speaker] [Words indistinct]

[Speaker] This costs more or less $12.00.  The one we use now is Soviet.
We changed it and now we use a Soviet one.

[Castro] How much does each bar cost?

[Speaker] I estimate that this bar costs around $30.00.

[Castro] Each bar?

[Speaker] No, this entire thing.  This is installed in the machine like
this.

[Castro] What is it you say you need 5,000 of?  How much of this do you
need?

[Speaker] It depends on the gradations we are going to make.

[Castro] Are they in the thousands?

[Speaker] They never reach the thousands.  They are in the hundreds.

[Castro, speaking with women working in lens craft shop] How old are you,
my dear?

[Speaker] Twenty-one.

[Castro] Twenty-one.  What did you study?

[Speaker] Chemistry.

[Castro] Up to what level?

[Speaker] Third year.

[Castro] You are a midlevel chemistry technician.  Does your work relate to
your profession?

[Speaker] Not really.

[Castro] In a broad sense, right?  Well, there is some chemistry in [words
indistinct].

[Castro, speaking to another woman] Are you doing the same thing your
comrade is doing?

[Speaker] Yes.

[Castro] Are you doing all right?

[Castro] Yes.

[Castro] How many minutes do you leave it there?

[Speaker] Forty seconds.

[Castro] Only 40 seconds?  Why does the other one level it 2 and 1/2
minutes?

[Speaker] Because it is not the same thing.  She is not doing the same
thing I am doing.  It is the same job, but it is a different [words
indistinct].  It is left less time than the one she was working on.  [end
recording]
-END-