TV images show the president of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon (L), during a question and answer session with University of Information Technology student, Elieser Avila, on February 7 in Havana.

A group of university students posed tough questions about Cuban society to Parliament chief Ricardo Alarcon, in a video made public through the Internet and distributed in Havana that is causing a stir in the communist-ruled country.

"Why don't the Cuban people have the real possibility to stay at hotels or travel to different places around the world," asked Eliecer Avila, a self-avowed revolutionary who is studying at the University of Computer Science.

Alluding to Cuba's strict travel restrictions imposed on all its people, Avila said she would very much like to visit the place in Bolivia where Ernesto "Che" Guevara was killed.

And in implied criticism of Cuba's economic policy, Avila asked why staples such as food, cleaning products and clothing must be purchased with convertible pesos, when workers everywhere are paid in normal currency, which has 25 times less buying power.

When the students finished with their questions, Alarcon reminded his audience of the gains made in 50 years of Cuban Revolution.

"If everybody in the world, all six billion inhabitants, were able to travel wherever they pleased, there would be a tremendous traffic jam in our planet's airspace. People who travel are really a minority," he said in answer to Avila's travel question.

The question-and-answer session with Alarcon follows interim president Raul Castro's suggestion last year that people should speak without fear about the problems the country is facing.

Raul Castro, 76, took over from his brother Fidel Castro, 81, on a "temporary" basis while his elder brother recovers from intestinal surgery he underwent in July 2006.

Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since, but has appeared in videos, on radio and television programs, and writes weekly commentaries in Cuba's official newspapers.

© 2008 AFP