Cuban President Diaz-Canel and Ice Cream Arrive in Camaguey Together

If the future law turns out as expected, voters will go to the polls without knowing how their representatives think. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 14 June 2019 — Preparing the stage for the visit of a high official, putting the makeup on the place expecting a minister, or a quick remodel of a work before a Party leader arrives, have been common practices for decades. This week, the custom repeats itself with a visit from Miguel Díaz-Canel to the city of Camagüey, where even the Coppelia ice cream parlor has experienced an assortment of flavors that its customers haven’t seen for decades.

The creamery, located in the historic center and remodeled last year, has of surprising quantity of its six flavors of ice cream and the same number of possible combination, some of them with sweets included, a complete novelty for the customers, which rarely see a menu announcing more than two or three options.

“All we need is for Miguel Díaz-Canel to come to Camagüey more often,” a surprised customer noted sarcastically on social networks, having taken advantage of the chocolate-coconut combo that, according to him, his palate “had forgotten what it tasted like.” Other residents of the city took photos of the menu to immortalize the moment or to show the image to some skeptical friend who wouldn’t believe it if they didn’t see it.

For the two days of the governmental visit, there was not only an abundance in the flavors of ice cream, but also police officials in the streets and, especially, outside the homes of opponents and independent journalists. The latter was not “pure props” like Coppelia, but barely differed from reality, an augmentation of the permanent control activists and dissidents must live under everywhere in the country 365 days a year.

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