Sad Consequences / Rebeca Monzo

Photo: Rebeca

The issue of layoffs has gained force, as the rumors that so worried us late last year are coming to pass.

Talking with a friend who works in the tourism company, she told me of sad scenes she had been a witness to. But what affected me most strongly when she told me that last week, crossing through the cemetery as a shortcut to Vedado, she was stunned by the immense number of people waiting for a funeral. She thought it was for someone in the government or perhaps show business. On inquiring, she learned the sad news:

Two administrators of the former nightclub complex Johnny’s Dream Club, now called Club Rio, had been killed by an employee who, on being told he wold be laid off, got a knife and returned to assault them both, causing their deaths. All the employees of the place were shocked at what happened, because they all agreed the aggressor was a quiet-looking young man whom no one could imagine doing such a thing.

We had already been commenting on the possibility of painful events relating to the layoffs, because although there are situations like this the world over, in our case there is nothing to fall back on nor any chance of claiming compensation, because the labor union, along with the administration and the Party, is on the expert commission that is making these decisions.