Julio César Contreras – Translating Cuba

The Economic Debacle of Cienfuegos, Cuba, Abandoned by International Tourism

Artisans complain about the increase in the price of raw materials / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, July 7, 2024 — Cienfuegos was never a tourist enclave of great importance like Havana or Varadero, but its architectural charm, more republican than colonial, attracted those looking for city tourism but without the bustle of the capital. In recent years, however, the number of travelers passing through the Pearl of the South has fallen, and, at least since the COVID-19 pandemic, the businesses that depended on that movement are fewer and poorer. A few meters from the city’s boulevard, next to José Martí Park, the artisans of the Cultural Heritage Fund have a space dedicated to the sale of their products. From wooden sculptures to textiles and costume jewelry, the stalls that offer handmade merchandise have been losing their prosperity.

María Luisa, an artisan who manages one of the tables, has witnessed the debacle. “Sales have been greatly affected. Just a few years ago, up to ten buses with tourists stopped here every day, and, although almost everything we sell is for them, from time to time some Cuban would come here to shop too,” she tells 14ymedio.

“Then we could even have the luxury of giving discounts, because we had enough profit to live on,” recalls the 43-year-old cienfueguera, who sells all kinds of memorabilia that can attract interest from abroad: paintings by Compay Segundo, maracas adorned with Cuban flags, cow bone necklaces and Che magnets. continue reading

Other private businesses that lived off tourism in the city have also experienced the consequences of the debacle / 14ymedio

In the current situation, María Luisa explains, the prices of raw materials have risen so much that “it is not only difficult to get them, but also to make a living from handicrafts… If before those who did better had enough to hire a seller, now it is the artisans themselves who sell the products. Between investments, taxes and paying for table space, many have had to abandon the sales,” she says.

Other private businesses that lived on tourism in the city have also experienced the consequences of the debacle of the sector. This is the case of the small hostel managed by Alberto, who is worried that this off-season will be the last. The cienfueguero has a two-story Republican era house that he fixed up a few years ago to receive tourists. However, with his age, 72, and how difficult it has become to get food and cleaning supplies, “it’s hard to provide services.”

The costs per night in a private hostel range between 20 and 50 dollars, or, if the owners accept the exchange, its equivalent in MLC (freely convertible currency), depending on the characteristics and location of the place. “Before, food service could be provided to guests, but now between how expensive the food is and how difficult it is to find varied and quality products to offer them what they want, we have almost begun to provide only a simple breakfast.” Offering other services such as the internet, common in other countries, is also a challenge. “It’s spending money on something that most of the time doesn’t work, or the connection is very slow,” he explains.

The house has also begun to show humidity in some corners, which causes Alberto headaches in advance since, if he needs any major repair, the materials will not only be impossible to find, but they will also cost him “an arm and a leg .”

Even so, many of the foreigners who pass through the city prefer a private hostel, which offers a more personalized service, rather than staying in state facilities. It is to be expected, therefore, that these will also suffer from the lack of customers. The La Unión hotel itself, in the city, with a four-star category, recently had all of its 46 rooms empty.

Most of the customers of state hotels are nationals / 14ymedio

“We try to make up for the absence of international tourism with the authorization of services for domestic customers. Although not everyone can afford the prices of our pool or cafes, at least we try to please our visitors, although sometimes we have broken elevators and other deficiencies that cause logical inconvenience to both tourists and employees. Our profits are below what was planned, but we do our best to pay good attention,” a worker of the complex managed by the Spanish Meliá, who has accommodation from 70 dollars a night, explained to this newspaper.

At the end of the chain are the restaurants of the city, many designed to exclusively receive tourists, which have now suddenly been left without a clientele and have had to “adapt.” Facing José Martí park is the El Palatino cafeteria, whose current customers are – contrary to their initial purpose – “cienfuegueros who come to have a coffee, a beer or a drink from the canteen.” Musicians no longer play there, and there are no tips for the waiters, condemned to survive with “very low wages for these times.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cuba, With His Tamales, Freddy Earns in Three Days What He Used To Earn in a Month as a Teacher

The streets of the city of Matanzas have been filled with street vendors trying to survive

Freddy walks around the entire city of Matanzas from Monday to Saturday selling tamales / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 29 June 2024 — Under the sun, sweaty and with a Chinese Forever bicycle that he inherited from his father, Freddy rides around the city of Matanzas from Monday to Saturday selling tamales. In Pueblo Nuevo, in the Versalles neighborhood, and near the Faustino Pérez hospital, the 34-year-old man from Matanzas appears with his white container full of the dough wrapped in corn leaves. The bicycle on which he insistently pedals has a dual purpose: to cover as many customers as possible and to escape the reach of inspectors who are looking for a license that he does not have.

“I have two children to support. Three days of work now brings me the salary I earned in a full month teaching school. Giving up my profession was not easy, but I had no other choice. It is a matter of survival,” he admits. Before working as a salesman, Freddy did many different jobs, but none of them were stable. Now he rides his Forever brand bike knowing that he can be stopped and fined at any corner.

Having a self-employed license would make his job easier, but it’s been four months since his applied

Having a self-employed license would make his job easier, but he submitted the application to the Municipal Labor Office four months ago; the procedure takes a long time and Freddy has to “earn his bread.” His relationship with other street vendors has allowed him to learn some tricks of the trade, such as the places with the best clientele or the neighborhoods where the inspectors don’t go. “What I do is go to La Marina, El Kilómetro or the Iglesias neighborhood, areas where they don’t go,” he explains. continue reading

According to a Labor employee, the delay in applications is due to the fact that they are all approved in Havana, which imposes — equally — an average period of three months that everyone must wait. However, Freddy knows that there is an exception to this rule: “Those who leave a ’little gift’ have preference.”

Now the streets are full of many young street vendors / 14ymedio

Yanelis, a woman from Matanzas, is in a similar situation. She has converted the car she used years ago to take her daughter out for a ride, into a vehicle for selling the bread. Early every morning she goes up Monserrate Street with about 50 bags of the product that she must try to sell that day. “They give me bread for 250 pesos so I can sell the bags for 300. If I can’t sell it, I still have to give the money to the bakery owner, and then it’s very difficult for someone to buy old bread,” she says, so sometimes she has to go out in the afternoon as well, if she can get someone to look after her daughter.

The fines, which Yanelis herself has suffered at some point, range from 2,500 pesos to 10,000

The fines, which Yanelis herself has suffered at some time, range from 2,500 pesos to 10,000. “The worst thing that can happen is that they confiscate what you bring, because then you have to assume the losses and pay the owner as if you had sold everything,” she adds.

“People know that we are in need and they take advantage of that. Street vendors have to face suppliers on one side and buyers on the other. We are the weakest link in the chain,” she reflects. According to Yanelis, the possibility of selling is not guaranteed either, as it does not only depend on the clientele. “In my case, when there is no flour, there is no bread. And when there is no bread, there is no work.”

While a few years ago it was common for these jobs to be carried out by retired elderly people or the farmers themselves who came to the city to sell their products, now the streets are full of many young street vendors. It doesn’t matter if they have only been selling for months, like Freddy, or years, like Yanelis, resignation to their situation is something they quickly accept. “One day you are lucky and another you are not. The only thing that is certain is that you have to eat.”

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With the Exception of Varadero, Everything is Falling to Pieces in Matanzas, Cuba

Octavio, Yuneisy and Marcos tell of the difficulties in obtaining decent housing

Near the railway lines, many families have built zinc slab huts in which they live with their children / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 22 June 2024 — The reality of those who live on the outskirts of the city of Matanzas, Cuba, does not appear on postcards and much less in the press or official broadcasts. Barely habitable houses – built with precarious materials – lack of basic services, stagnant water and garbage is the landscape that Octavio sees every morning when he travels along the unpaved roads to his work.

The makeshift neighborhood where Octavio and his family live used to be a landfill and is located just eight blocks from Liberty Park, in the center of the city. Eleven years ago, when the 57-year-old man arrived from Camagüey with his wife and son looking to “make his way,” the area was very different from what it is today.

“Where I currently live there used to be a huge garbage dump, very close to the San Juan River. Little by little and with a lot of effort, I put block on block and was able to put up a plate roof. I went through quite a lot of difficulties to get ownership of the land, and in the end I had to spend a lot of money to get my house,” he tells 14ymedio. continue reading

Octavio did not choose Matanzas by chance, but relied on a niece who lived in the city to help him establish himself

Octavio did not choose Matanzas by chance, but rather he relied on a niece who lived in the city to help him establish himself. Now that he has managed to build the house, although he has only built three rooms, and changed his address to Matanzas, he feels calmer. “At least they can no longer call us ‘illegal’ or send us to Camagüey,” he explains.

What has taken the Camagüeyan more than a decade, is something that people in worse situations never achieve. The peripheral hamlets, which began as small settlements of one or two improvised homes, in a short time have expanded to the limits of neighborhoods such as Versalles, La Marina or Peñas Altas. “I am lucky, because I even managed to make a slab, but many people live in zinc sheds of two or three square meters, sometimes without water or electricity,” he laments.

Octavio’s description matches the situation of Yuneisy, a 27-year-old single mother. The young woman came to Matanzas in 2022 with her partner, and together they built a small house made of zinc plates and some blocks in which she now resides alone with her daughter. “We live about ten meters from the train line. My little house is made with what was found at the time and there is only one room, with an electric stove for cooking. My daughter and I bathe right there, and we relieve ourselves outside,” says Yuneisy.

Last year, the young woman went to the provincial government to raise her housing problem and, although the authorities assured her that they are “analyzing” the situation, so far they have not offered her concrete alternatives. “We are going through a lot of needs, but if we return to my town it will be worse, because there is no hope for anything there,” says the woman from Santiago.

Within the city the situation is not so precarious, but the housing stock and the neighbors suffer from other problems. In the absence of housing, many families have settled in tenements and interior patios, where the eyes of the inspectors cannot reach. They live overcrowded, with up to four generations sharing a small house, and the shortage of materials – or high prices – slows down the construction of their own homes or their repair, which is why many buildings are in a deplorable state.

The improvised neighborhood where Octavio and his family live used to be a landfill / 14ymedio

For those who rent, the situation is even worse. “I have been renting for several years, because with the salary of a professional like me you cannot even build a room,” says Marcos, a young man who moved to the provincial capital from the municipality of Jagüey Grande seven years ago.

“The price of rent has risen exaggeratedly. Today the cheapest thing you can get is a room for 5,000 pesos, with nothing inside and in a bad place. A decent rental costs at least 10,000 pesos. Not to mention renting houses or apartments, which are above 15,000, and many of them in dollars or MLC (freely convertible currency),” lists the young primary school teacher, who has had to look for “extra jobs” to pay rent and other expenses.

Marcos says that a few weeks ago, taking advantage of the beginning of summer, he went to Varadero with some friends. “It’s incredible to see how everything is falling apart in Matanzas while every time I go [to Varadero] one or two new hotels are being built,” he says outraged. “That thing of raising a house daily – a promise that the regime has not mentioned again since 2019 – ended up being one collapse a day.”

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The Youth Computer Club in Matanzas, Cuba, Doesn’t Even Have Internet

“There are no parts or budget for the computers, the equipment is broken or obsolete,” explains an inspector

Another problem of the Youth Club is that, in addition to the lack of customers, no one wants to work on the computers / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, June 15, 2024 — In the city of Matanzas there are three Youth Computer and Electronics Clubs that, although they seem few for such a large population, are actually superfluous due to their lack of customers. The offices, where young people used to go to play online or to access computers that they did not have at home, have become empty spaces that depend on someone leasing them to survive.

The first Youth Club on the Island was inaugurated in 1987 by Fidel Castro, when money from the Soviet Union was still flowing. Since then, and with the successive crises of the country, what began as a computerization project ended up being a hall to access games such as Dota, Age of Empires or Call of Duty – to mention the most popular. Then it was transformed into a point of sale for phone recharge cards, and now its workers limit themselves to updating antivirus products for a few customers.

“The other day I arrived at Joven Club III, which is on the road of El Naranjal. The only technician there had been talking to two people. I asked him to show me the registration of clients who, at the end of the month, did not total even fifty visits,” Alejandro, a specialist of the Provincial Directorate of the Youth Club and in charge of inspecting them regularly, tells this newspaper. continue reading

The technological obsolescence of these premises frightens the customers / 14ymedio

Another problem of the Youth Club is that, in addition to the lack of customers, no one wants to work on the computers. Almost always the technicians are young boys who use the position as a springboard for other better-paid jobs. “It is true that they do not have good opportunities to develop professionally. So, as is logical, they go to some private company or better-paid state position,” says Alejando, 36, from Matanzas. As a young man and a graduate of the University of Computer Science (UCI), Alejandro says he understands his colleagues when they leave the staff. “If you have at least a little interest in what you do, being in a place that still uses computers from a decade ago and a tape printer kills your desire,” he reflects.

Alejandro explains that technology has advanced rapidly, “but what has not evolved is the institutional conception of what these places should be. Most people have at least one modern cell phone with which they can do almost everything, including access to artificial intelligence. Here, however, they don’t even allow internet access. The supposed online games we offer have to be played here, with the internal network of computers, when young people in the whole world can use their phones for that,” he adds.

In addition, continues the inspector, “there are no parts or budget for computers. Much of our equipment is broken or obsolete, and there is no money even to give a coat of paint to the facade. In those conditions it is very difficult to maintain the operation of the facilities in the province. Some have even had to change their corporate purpose or remain closed while waiting for a solution, which could be a definitive closure.”

This is the case of the Joven Club II, which has had to rent an area of the premises to a private business that repairs cell phones and other electronic devices. Many of these workshops perform functions (installing antivirus, downloading programs or installing applications) that make them direct competitors of the state center, but unlike the workshops, the state centers don’t attract customers.

Joven Club II rented an area of the premises to a private business that is dedicated to repairing cell phones / 14ymedio

“It’s curious, if not worrying, that their computers are more advanced than ours. People arrive asking directly about the workshop, and I would not be surprised if in the future it will expand to the entire place,” says Alejandro. “It’s a shame to say, but the computer scientist who is at the door (of the Youth Club) spends more time explaining how to get to the cell phone workshop than doing his real job. If someone comes specifically to the Youth Club, the answer is almost always one of these three: We don’t have it. It’s broken. That service is not provided here,” he adds. Joven Club I, close to René Fraga Park, is the only one to which some elderly people go sporadically. “They are people who, since they do not master some technical aspects well, seek advice to update programs, install applications on their phones or obtain some specific information.”

Seen from the outside, the network of Joven Club de la Isla does not seem to be in such a precarious state. If you access its website, there are an infinity of community services and projects for students, the elderly and people with disabilities that are theoretically developed successfully. In practice, however, “they are only taking up space.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Retired Restaurant Inspector Laments the Decline of Matanzas’ State-Owned Restaurants

Arístides admits that he can no longer afford to eat at these establishments since prices skyrocketed / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, June 1, 2024 — Since retiring, Arístides has gotten into the habit of going once or twice a month to have “a drink” or the occasional lunch at one of the local restaurants in Matanzas. However, it has been months since he has been to any of the state-owned businesses that he used to frequent. His return on Thursday to Casa del Chef left him perplexed. “Poor service, limited selection and a tasteless environment” is how he summarized his visit.

“I like going to that restaurant because the decor is nice and it feels cozy. But as soon as I got there, I saw four employees just sitting around a table, talking. Even though they were close, I had to try several times to get someone to wait to me. Since there was no one behind the counter and no headwaiter, the cook finally came over,” says Arístides, who worked as a restaurant inspector in the city for twenty-five years.

Arístides admits that he can no longer afford to eat at these establishments since prices have skyrocketed. Nevertheless, personal experience tells him that an increase in restaurant supply costs is not the only issue. “There is no point in restoring a place if customers are put off by supply shortages and indifferent staff,” he explains. continue reading

The cafe La Pelota offers two or three types of sandwiches and juice. / 14ymedio

Employee salaries, he argues, are a key factor that negatively impact workers’ performance and ultimately customer experience. “The current monthly salary tops out at 3,000 pesos. For workers it’s very discouraging to see that the price of a few dishes – between 80 and 160 pesos for sides and between 400 and 1,000 for a main course – is equivalent to their monthly salary.” He is referring to Casa del Chef, which has seen its staff turn over numerous times because employees left for jobs “at the privates.”

Put off by the poor service, Arístides heads for a nearby cafe. It is now 5:00 in the afternoon but the place is closed. “It would be preferable to rent out these establishments to individuals rather than go out of business because they’re empty or closed all the time,” he complains.

Arístides continues his journey until he arrives at Freedom Park, where he finds two places side-by-side: a cafe called La Pelota and a pizzeria. The first offers two or three types of sandwiches and juice. Though there are tables at which customers can sit, he is turned off by the bar’s greasy wooden countertop and a menu that offers more items than are actually available.

State-owned restaurants cannot compete with offerings at their private-sector counterparts. / 14ymedio

The pizzeria, with its door closed tight, is waiting on an “investment” it needs to reopen its doors.

“A few years ago, things weren’t too bad,” says Arístides. “But now you go to Coppelia and, instead of selling ice cream, they’re ’diversifying production.’ Bread and croquettes, or ten types of pizzas when they really only have two, and for a different price than what is shown on the board.”

When asked about the offerings at private restaurants, he says the “price barrier” has forced him to choose between the meager selections but lower prices at state-run places versus the better quality but higher prices at privately owned restaurants. In terms of what they can provide, state-owned restaurants cannot compete with their private-sector counterparts. That is why they will often illegally sell off their supplies to private business owners, balance their books and pocket the rest. “If that’s how they were going to run these businesses, better to have left them in the hands of their original owners,” he says.

Once-great old state-owned restaurants such as La Vigía, El Polinesio y El Bahía are, like their clientele, difficult to revive. It is not about inflation, the lack of equipment or the poor training provided by business and food service schools, claims Arístides. For him it all boils down to a truth so basic that every fast-food street vendor knows it: “There has to be a direct relationship between the price of what you’re selling and the quality, especially when you’re charging 1,200 pesos for a steak.”

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The Everyday Question in the Pharmacies of Matanzas, Cuba: “Did the Medications Arrive?”

Knowing that the pharmacies are empty, the people in Mantanzas turn to the informal market to buy medicine / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 8 June 2024 — At the crack of dawn, the elderly and the ‘coleros‘* begin to turn up at the pharmacies on Tirry Road, in the Iglesias neighborhood or in El Naranjal, in the city of Matanzas. It’s early, but the heat already suffocates those who wait for the pharmacies to open with a question on the tip of their tongues: “Did the medications arrive?”

Two blocks from the Versalles bridge, Elsa, a retired woman suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, is waiting. The disease and her 72 years do not prevent her from going to the pharmacy first thing in the morning to buy medication for her and her husband, but the pharmacist, who sticks her head out without fully opening the door, is blunt: “Don’t get excited. Yesterday nothing came in and neither did it today.”

“There is never anything in this pharmacy. Supposedly they must be stocked once a week, and the medications on the card, which my husband and I have for our chronic conditions, are prioritized. In total, a month’s medicine costs us 375 pesos. It’s not cheap, but the real problem is that what we need is always missing,” Elsa complains. She considers for a moment going to a pharmacy somewhat further away that usually has naproxen, the only thing that relieves her pain, but “by now, everything is gone,” she thinks.

Given the lack of anti-inflammatories, Elsa has also tried to buy remedies at the natural medicine pharmacy on Milanés Street. The experience, however, continue reading

has not been gratifying. “When I go, there’s nothing I’m looking for, and if there is, it doesn’t do anything for me,” she says.

The Matanceros complain that, even with a good diagnosis, if there are no medications everything is for nothing / 14ymedio

Elsa is accompanied by Cristina, a neighbor a few years younger, who tells this newspaper that getting medication in the city is a race of cunning and favors. “It’s not just that they resell the drugs in the pharmacies, but now you also have to pay the ‘coleros‘ to be ahead in line. By giving them 500 pesos, at least you have a better chance of reaching the medications. Otherwise, you have to try to get along with the pharmaceutical companies so that they can keep a package for you,” she says.

Cristina is skilled in the “business” and knows more than one trick to guarantee the medications she needs every month to treat her heart disease. The first “law,” she says, is to always have a prescription on hand, “because you never know when what you need will arrive. I have a niece who is a doctor, and she gives me prescriptions so that when the medicine appears, I have them ready,” she explains.

The woman has also managed, through her niece, to be treated by a doctor in a medical center for foreign patients inside the Faustino Pérez hospital. Since the center is located on the outskirts of the city, she has to pay for a shared taxi every month to get to the consultation. “The truth is that I have no complaints about the doctor, although from time to time I have to give him a little gift. The problem comes when I leave the consultation because, even with a good diagnosis, if there are no medications I haven’t achieved anything.”

She says that she has learned all those “tricks” because she has nowhere else to get the drugs, and her pension of 2,800 pesos is not enough for her to buy them in the informal market. “Elsa, for example, pays less than me, 2,200, but she has a grandson in Miami who helps her with medicine or money all the time. Everyone has to solve problems with what they have,” she reflects.

Interviewed by 14ymedio, the administrator of a pharmacy in the city center says that the huge amount of missing medications is just one more problem of those faced by State premises. The entity that administers, for example, “has no refrigeration equipment” and is in bad condition. “Every year the Government tells me that the center is part of a capital repair plan and every year the same thing happens: when the founding anniversary of the city approaches, they paint the facade and the interior continues falling down.”

Many pharmacies lack the necessary equipment to store medications / 14ymedio

That pharmacy is precisely the one that Antonio, a 61-year-old high school teacher who has diabetes, attends. “I don’t remember the last time I saw Metformin at the pharmacy in my neighborhood. Luckily my daughter, who lives abroad, every time I need it, sends me a blood glucose meter and some insulin pills, which are very good. If it weren’t for that, I would have my veins finished from the punctures,” he says.

However, Antonio issues a caveat. “Hospital pharmacies are even worse, and sometimes there is a patient in serious condition and they don’t have the medications they need.” The teacher has experienced this situation first-hand, since months ago he went with his grandson to the pediatric hospital for a bacterial infection, and they couldn’t find the antibiotic they needed throughout the province. “We had to buy it in Havana and when he was discharged and we wanted to give him some candy, the candy seller himself – among other things – had the Rocephin blister packs that we had looked for like crazy,” he says.

“They want the teachers to tell their students that Cuba is a medical powerhouse, when all those kids have seen their grandparents and siblings get sick without there being anything to cure them,” says the teacher, who adds that staying healthy on the Island costs an arm and a leg.

Translated by Regina Anavy

*Translator’s note: “Coleros” are people who are paid by others to stand in line (la cola) for them. The practice is widespread but not legal.

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Thieves and Bureaucrats Make Life Impossible for Cuban Ranchers

Faced with permanent harassment on his farm in Cárdenas, Ernesto is almost thinking of selling his animals and abandoning the country

If you start to do the math, Ernesto has dedicated almost 20 years to a fa that is not actually his / Radio 26

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 5 June 2024 — Ernesto has had Spanish nationality since 2008 and in recent years he has traveled to Spain a few times, but he always returns. In Cuba, specifically in Cárdenas, Matanzas, he manages a livestock farm in which he also cultivates some land with vegetables which would be very difficult for him to part with. Until now, as a producer, he had been able to get by – although he acknowledges that “it has not been easy” – but the situation that the peasants are experiencing has led him to consider selling his animals and permanently leaving the country.

continue reading

Faced with the dilemma between complying with the rules or surviving and saving their business, many ranchers end up making deals outside what is legal / 14ymedio

Ernesto interrupts the conversation for a moment to answer a phone call. He is contacted by a seller who has obtained fencing wire for 1,200 pesos per meter. “Who supports those prices doing everything through the state channel?” But they are expenses that he must incur, since his animals could end up in the hands of an illegal slaughterer.

“This is getting as dark as a pitch. In all these years I have been robbed twice and the worst thing is that, when it happens, the authorities blame the farmers for not having the land fenced and letting the cattle roam. But if you are going to cut wood to build a fence, the Agroforestry Company delays your permit or denies it. If you file a report for theft, the Police are likely never find the criminals,” claims the guajiro.

If you start to do the math, Ernesto has dedicated almost 20 years to a farm that is not actually his, since the land belongs to the State, and the State can take it from him at any time. “I am exposed to shortages and problems of all kinds, including thieves who constantly try to do their own thing. I have grown tired of meetings that solve nothing and bureaucrats who live off the sacrifice of others,” he says. “Sometimes they make me feel like getting rid of all this and going to another country. That would be my biggest sacrifice.”

Translated by Norma Whiting

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The Adventures of Three Women in Search of Unlikely Transportation in Matanzas, Cuba

A ticket on a state bus costs 20 pesos and, in private trucks, 250, but “state buses are scarce”

Prices are rising for private transportation in Matanzas, which does not reach all the municipalities of the province / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 28 May 2024 — Marlén wakes up at dawn, but she is not the first to arrive at the Matanzas bus terminal – the only one in the city – where the broken state transport, the truckers traveling to Havana and private taxi drivers congregate. She had not visited the place for months, but now, due to paperwork in the Civil Registry, she must return to the municipality where she was born, Unión de Reyes.

When it comes to describing the transportation situation, a look at the boarding point says it all: the architecture damaged due to lack of restoration, a single employee who writes down or calls people on the waiting lists and who, at the same time, corrects the tickets booked in advance, the dirty bathrooms without water and the rusty benches complete the picture.

“There is not a single corner in this place where you feel comfortable. Everything is dusty and dirty. There are no bag lockers, so travelers must carry their luggage from the place where they get the ticket to the baggage compartment of the bus itself. The cafeteria doesn’t sell anything either and it’s common for buses to be late,” Marlén complains.

In the old bus terminal, the only one in the city, people gather to travel in and out of the province / 14ymedio

The woman from Matanzas managed to get on the waiting list for Unión de Reyes, but first she had to wait half an hour for the terminal employee to finish selling tickets for a last-minute car to Havana and correct the list of passengers to Santiago de Cuba. The long wait allows you to “take a walk” around the area where private vehicles wait, but the prices make you turn continue reading

around: 500 pesos to Unión de Reyes, because it is close, but for the trip to more distant destinations like Jovellanos or Colón it is between 600 and 800 pesos.

Meanwhile, a ticket on a state bus costs 20 pesos and, on private trucks, 250. However, “state buses are scarce.” “We try to at least cover a daily route to most municipalities, but the harsh reality is that sometimes that plan cannot be fulfilled. We also do not have fuel for our buses, so inter-municipal transportation often depends entirely on individuals,” an official from the terminal explains to this newspaper.

At the exit from the city, in the place known as Los Amarillos (‘The Yellows’), Ivis has been there for approximately an hour and a half. The name given to the site is due to the presence of inspectors who stop the cars driving by to facilitate the boarding of people. However, no inspector showed up at the stop this Tuesday, so the state and private cars, full and empty, pass at high speed without picking up anyone.

Some choose to travel to nearby municipalities or towns from Peñas Altas, and not do so from the Los Amarillos stop / 14ymedio

To visit her parents in the municipality of Limonar, Ivis must take at least two transport option, both on the way out and back. “I do this once a week, because my parents are very old, and I often find myself on road at night.” Ivis remembers that several times she has heard, on the street and in the official media, that state vehicles must stop at the collection points but, in reality, “almost all the drivers continue on by as if people were invisible.” As the only refuge from the sun and inclement weather, the stop has a narrow roof and a cement wall to sit on. Travelers must choose between staying in the shelter until a car voluntarily stops – which almost never happens – or staying in the shelter and not getting any transportation.

Another stop, at the Viaduct, has become dangerous lately, since in the tumult of people desperate to get on board, there is a proliferation of thefts of cell phones, wallets, among other valuable belongings. Claudia is among the vendors there, offering slushies, pizza or canned soda. The woman watches in amazement as the Transtur and Transgaviota buses continue on their way to Varadero. They have empty seats, but they pass without any intention of heeding the signal from the inspector, who asks them to stop.

“These drivers think they own the buses,” says a man sitting next to Claudia. The answer is not long in coming: “Yes, in reality the drivers are the owners because they buy, with their money, everything from tires to fuel,” responds another young man. “In the end one has to agree with them. I have a friend who takes a ticket and charges 500 pesos per person to Varadero and in the end he gets very little money even though it is exaggerated for us. Everything goes to gasoline, repairs and paying the rent to the owner of the car,” says the young woman, a hotel receptionist.

From the El Viaducto stop, passengers transfer to Santa Marta, Cárdenas and Varadero / 14ymedio

“Hotels have buses for workers, but they leave at certain times and if my work shift doesn’t coincide, I have to come here ready to leave as soon as it comes,” he explains. Claudia admits that riding the workers’ buses is much more comfortable, but “that comfort depends on the fact that they don’t stop to pick up anyone other than the employees, even though sometimes they are half empty.”

After a long wait, Marlén is the first of the three women who manages to take a bus to Unión de Reyes. She had to pay the driver 80 pesos above the ticket price, but she has finally achieved her goal. Ivis, for her part, continues at the pick-up point and knows that if she does not board soon she will have to return home because she will not have enough time to visit her family.

Claudia, meanwhile, manages to get on a truck that takes her to Varadero for 300 pesos. But the problem doesn’t end there. As soon as she sets foot on the peninsula she thinks about the return trip. “Today I finish the night shift and I don’t know how I’m going to turn around,” she laments.

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Cuba’s Foreign Currency Store Prices Are Prohibitive for the Majority of the People of Matanzas

While some people enter stores to see what’s there, others beg for alms to survive / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, May 12, 2024 — The idea that stores that only take payment in freely convertible currency (MLC) were created to supply markets in pesos is a mantra that Valeria repeats, ironically, when she enters one of those stores in Matanzas. The half-empty showcases, the labels with unthinkable prices and the beggar who sleeps in the doorway makes one doubt whether to enter or not. But in a country without supplies, which move in dollars, there is no other option.

“Honestly, I can come and shop from time to time because my son sends me some money from the United States. If that weren’t the case, I would have to settle for looking into the windows from the street of the many stores that have opened, most of them where locals can’t even enter,” Valeria tells 14ymedio . According to the woman from Matanzas, in the city foreign currency businesses proliferate “as if they were hotels” although there is no merchandise or clients with pockets deep enough to allow themselves to be a regular at these establishments.

This store, located in the old Ten Cent on Medio Street, remains much of the time without customers purchasing products at MLC / 14ymedio

“My nephew, who works as an architect, has told me that many projects have been stopped because the place they imagined was going to be used for cultural presentations or social enjoyment becomes a store in MLC. The very corner of Ayón Street, where we all thought they were going to open a cultural center, from one day to the next they surprised us with another of these stores,” she laments. continue reading

For those who do have the currency, finding what they are looking for is not an easy task either. “These businesses always have problems supplying themselves and many times we receive products that no one is going to buy because of their high prices or because they are not to the taste of Cubans,” explains the manager of one of these stores. “I myself get tired of asking for replacement of out-of-stock products and I don’t receive any effective response. So, what we do is fill the shelves with the same products so that the room doesn’t look empty,” he says.

The stores in MLC are within the reach of the minority of the town, whose income does not allow them to purchase the products sold in said stores / 14ymedio

“Not too many people come either – those who have family abroad who send them remittances and those who get dollars on the street to buy a specific item – so many times the most expensive products stagnate,” he adds. “Look at this four-burner stove with an oven, how good it is, but it costs 395 MLC. Even changing an entire year’s salary into dollars is not enough to buy it.”

Shortages are is part of the stores in MLC / 14ymedio

“To make matters worse, with normal purchases you also have to be careful and look at the receipt. Several times I have had to complain to the clerks who charged me more than the product is worth,” he adds. Another common trick is the sale, “on the left,” of appliances in high demand, such as refrigerators, freezers , microwaves and air conditioning consoles. “I have been on a list in the store for two months to buy a refrigerator, which is also very expensive, and they have been re-supplied twice and I still have not been able to buy it,” summarizes Antonio, who is trying to purchase the equipment for his daughter.

“The thing is, if 15 kits come, the store sells five to people and the other 10 are sent to friends or people who pay them with money or favors for their refrigerator. At this rate I’m going to die before I can buy it,” he says.

Lining up to enter the cafeteria located in the store on Ayón Street. It is the only space in the establishment that sells products in pesos / 14ymedio

Part of these appliances end up being sold through black market networks, at higher prices, often in cash in dollars, although with the advantage of transportation to the customer’s home. Informal merchants also accept payments through a wide range of channels, including some such as Zelle from the United States or Bizum from Spain.

For their part, the workers of these businesses report that they also have their own set of problems. “In addition to controlling customers who gather furiously when a requested product arrives or receiving complaints and insults from others due to shortages – which is not our fault – the portals of MLC stores have become places frequented by beggars,” says Miriam, who has worked for 12 years as a salesperson, first at a Panamericana and now at a local currency store in the Caribe chain.

The stores in MLC have also become points of sale for basic family basket products, such as the long-awaited packages of chicken or the, now missing from the rationed market, bottles of oil / 14ymedio

To this we must add that card payment has almost completely eliminated the tip that state store employees received when people paid in cash and the convertible peso was still in circulation. Now, in many of these stores in MLC, workers have placed a box with bills in national currency to suggest to customers that they can leave some money, but the generosity of the buyers is scarce.

“I feel very sorry for the people who come to ask for alms, but here they have us, who, no matter what we sell, we earn the same: a pittance,” she explains. Miriam particularly remembers an old woman who often settled in the doorway of her business. “She told us that she had to beg because she had no pension and she needed to buy food for her daughter who was sick with nerves. That day I helped her with what I could, but life doesn’t give much more. Better or worse, almost everyone who comes to this store – whether for what it costs or for what they can’t find – is to be pitied.”

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The Lack of Electricity Paralyzes Businesses and Life in Matanzas, Cuba

Small businesses dedicated to the food trade are others are affected, and the annoyance of their owners who, in addition to income, lose part of their merchandise, is increasing .

Products that need to be refrigerated lose quality in the absence of electricity / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 14 May 2024 — Aurelio has not been able to serve any customers this Tuesday in his cell phone repair shop in Matanzas. The constant blackouts, especially in the part of the city where he works, affect his business, which depends almost entirely on electricity. The situation has forced him to give, for several days, the same response to his clients: “I have a solution for your phone. What I don’t have is electricity.”

“I live in Pueblo Nuevo, near the bus terminal, and I have to come to Allende to do my job. After an early morning with a blackout at home, isn’t it easy to get here and find the same situation?” the 52-year-old man from Matanzas, whose power in his workshop has been turned off again since 7:00 am, tells this newspaper.

In the middle of the darkness of the night, and in a blackout, only a cafeteria can provide service with its own power plant / 14ymedio

His business, Aurelio says, is not “even remotely” the only one that suffers losses due to power outages. “Even state-run businesses are struggling.” A few days ago, the man from Matanzas went to the Bellamar state pizzeria, located a few blocks from his workshop, to look for some lunch. The place was in blackout and they had not been able to prepare any dishes. Asked if it was possible to return in a couple of hours, the waitress’s response – with a smile – was forceful: “You can come back whenever you want, but since we don’t know how long the blackout will be, we’re leaving.”

The MSMEs [micro, small and medium-size private enterprises] dedicated to the food trade, especially those that need refrigeration, are also affected, and the annoyance of their owners , who in addition to income, lose part of their merchandise, is increasing. “Here we use a coffee maker, toaster, oven… Everything is electrified. With the constant blackouts, it is difficult to maintain the ice cream and cold products with the necessary quality,” the owner of a cafeteria in the Iglesias neighborhood explains to 14ymedio. continue reading

When water cannot be pumped up to the rooftop tanks due to lack of electricity, the establishments’ offerings are affected / 14ymedio

“I have a friend whose MSME is mainly dedicated to selling chicken, and this week he had to empty an entire refrigerator that already had flies because the meat had spoiled,” he says. Compared to how demanding the State is with individuals, he laments, “the commitment is little.” “Every month I have to make a payment for my license, whether I sell anything or not. And if the inspectors show up, they want to charge me a fine for anything. Meanwhile, I am losing money and products go down the drain,” he complains.

The blackouts affect even the sectors most favored by the regime, such as tourism, which has one of its most important enclaves in Varadero. The hotels may not have the power cut off, but when the buses that transport workers come to refuel and there is no fuel at the service center, an operation that should take a few minutes ends up becoming a cumbersome procedure that takes long hours.

A cellphone repair shop with service turned off due to lack of electricity / 14ymedio

“Yesterday I was here until 7:00 pm and I couldn’t refuel because there was no electricity service and, therefore, the magnetic card could not be swiped. Today, the same. “I decided to wait a while, but if the power doesn’t come on…” says one of the disappointed drivers. The same thing happens with tourists who rent vehicles and when they arrive in the city find “no gas, no food, no anything.”

The chain of services affected by the blackouts, which, according to several residents of Matanzas, can exceed eight hours, is incalculable. “If there is no electricity, you cannot withdraw money from the bank, without money there is no food or transportation, much less energy to face the same situation every day. The list goes on and you come to see you can’t do anything because it is an essential service,” Aurelio grumbles.

The buses pile up, waiting for supplies to refuel / 14ymedio

The only place where there is no lack of electricity, explains the man from Matanzas, is in the La Marina neighborhood, where popular protests have occurred. In the rest of the city, “it doesn’t matter if it’s in an Etecsa branch [state telecommunications company], in the bank, in the law firm or in a store, wherever you go, there is a blackout.”

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New Trash Dumps and Puddles Like Lakes, the Hygiene Situation in Matanzas, Cuba

“Sometimes plastic bags and papers fly to my door, and the smell is intolerabl, especially at night”

Calle Medio is one of the most central streets in the city / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 10 May 2024 — He took the job to “survive,” but Fernando strives to make Calle Medio, in Matanzas, look impeccable by the end of the day. At 73, he still gets up at dawn and gathers strength to pick up trash from Monday to Sunday in the city centre. His tools: a worn broom and millenary gloves; his mission: to sweep, as much as he is physically able to, all the garbage that piles up in the city.

“If you want to know what the hygienic situation is, all you have to do is walk through Matanzas,” says the sweeper to this newspaper, aware that the view he promises is not pleasant. “Right there is a ‘trash dump’ in the middle of the street that can be compared to a swimming pool, but fixing that is out of my reach.”

According to the man from Matanzas, the working conditions offered by Communal Services are not acceptable at all. “We have to make do with old brooms and dustbins. It is not nice to say it, but they demand a lot from us and we are given very little,” he reflects. To top it off, the job he got with the idea of “shoring up” the insufficient pension he receives, barely earns him another 2,500 pesos per month which is not enough for much. continue reading

“I don’t know what we’re going to do if this ends up in a disease or a plague of rats

Fernando is known on Calle Medio, one of the most central streets in the city, where he often sweeps. “This area is quite clean, but other more distant streets, especially in residential neighborhoods, are not as lucky.”

Alina, a housewife living in the Peñas Altas neighborhood, has been complaining to the authorities for weeks about a trash dump that emerged at the corner of her house. “The People’s Power delegate talks and talks, but he doesn’t solve anything and the garbage truck sometimes goes weeks without coming, so I can’t count on that.”

The trash dump of “titanic proportions” has begun to disrupt her daily life. “Sometimes plastic bags and papers fly to my door, and the smell is intolerable, especially at night,” she explains. Neighbors are also unhappy with the situation, “but many have gotten used to it and now it is the neighborhood’s garbage dump, from construction debris to food waste, garbage and junk end up there, then the dumpster divers get them.” However, there is a thought that worries Alina more than the smell and dirt: “I don’t know what we are going to do if this ends up in a disease or a plague of rats.”

In the city’s lower elevation neighborhoods, where water accumulates when it rains and sewers rarely do their job, residents notice the appearance of several gigantic puddles on street corners. Félix, a retired officer of the Ministry of the Interior, suffers this phenomenon first-hand in La Marina neighborhood, where he resides. “When it rains just a little bit, so much water accumulates in front of my house, that I already talk about lakes and not puddles. Sometimes we have to wait more than an hour after the rain to be able to leave and, if then some days go by without rain, that stagnant water becomes green and stinking,” he said.

The residents of Matanzas sometimes have to wait several hours for the stagnant water to recede before they can go out / 14ymedio

Felix doesn’t just sit back and watch, and says that on several occasions he has gone to the authorities to report the problem. “I have gone to the Government and the Party to raise the complaint about what is happening. They always tell me that they are going to create a task force to analyze the case. You don’t have to be an expert to know what it takes. The truth is that they do nothing. And then do not express your opinion, because they accuse you of being a counterrevolutionary,” he complains.

At the end of the street, the same puddle that robs Felix of his sleep merges with water from a broken ditch. “I have seen with my own eyes how excrement circulates from one side to the other without anyone caring,” says Carmen who, from the other shore, shares her neighbor’s concern. Her disappointment with the response given to her by the authorities is also evident. “They always tell us that there are no resources, that they are studying the issue, that the blockade* does not allow [a solution]. In short, that they are not going to do anything and that we must solve it ourselves if we can and want to. ”

The dissatisfaction of people in Matanzas with hygiene in the city, once an example of a clean city, extends to other services, such as the scarcity of garbage bins in central areas, the reluctance to hire – as in other provinces – truck drivers and individuals who support the collection of waste, or the hiring of more sweepers like Fernando.

Likewise, with the containers overflowing and the few streets he can cover in one day, the old collector knows that there is very little he can do to prevent the garbage from taking possession of the city once and for all .

Translator’s note: There is, in fact, no US ‘blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the ongoing US embargo. During the Cuban Missile Crisis the US ordered a Naval blockade (which it called a ‘quarantine’) on Cuba in 1962, between 22 October and 20 November of that year. The blockade was lifted when Russia agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from the Island. The embargo had been imposed earlier in the same year in February, and although modified from time to time, it is still in force.

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In Matanzas, Cuba, the ATMs Are Like People: Without Money

In addition to the limited availability of cash, customers complain about the long hours of waiting, not understanding the working hours, fatigue and hunger

The ATM of the Banco Popular de Ahorro on Medio Street does not always have cash / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, May 5, 2024 — Getting up early in the morning, making a coffee and leaving for the Banco Popular de Ahorro on Calle Medio, in Matanzas, has become a routine that Magda repeats between three and four times a month. Before 5:00 am, the 47-year-old is already at the branch standing in line to withdraw money from the ATM. The entity, however, does not open its doors until three and a half hours later.

“When I have to come to withdraw money I always arrive very early, but it doesn’t matter when I get up, there are always people there: coleros* [people being paid to stand in line for someone else] or people who are willing to wait from earlier,” Magda tells 14ymedio. “I immediately sit on the stairs and wait.”

Magda lives near the bank, but customers from several miles away walk to that branch from, for example, Peñas Altas. As she explains, arriving early does not guarantee that she can withdraw what she wants. “When the bank opens, the coleros have already left and those who hired them arrive – sometimes more than one – and replace them. By the time you arrive, the number of people in front of you has doubled,” she says. “The other thing is that this bank doesn’t always have money and coming here is a game of chance.” continue reading

ATM located on Contreras Street, belonging to the Banco Popular de Ahorro. Sometimes, several days pass without it delivering cash / 14ymedio

At 8:30 am a branch worker opens the doors to the anxious crowd and repeats his speech of every morning: “Soon money will be put in the ATM; each customer will be able to extract only 10,000 pesos and insert a maximum of two cards. Keep the line organized,” he warns.

With the wait for the money, the discomfort begins. “None of those people were here at 7:00 am, when I arrived,” a woman complains. “Oh, daughter, don’t you realize that that man made a line for them? Everything here is fixed,” another replies.

In addition to the low availability of cash, customers complain about the long hours of waiting, the working hours, fatigue and hunger. “I already warned them at work that I was going to be late. The boss will scold me again, but there is no remedy. If they want us to be early, then don’t pay us by card,” grumbles a young office worker.

With the difficulty of the task, Cubans have devised several “tricks” to extract the money or do it faster. “That man there came early with his wife, and she went to another ATM in case the cash runs out here,” says Magda. Others, she says, have contacts in several banks and call to find out if they will have cash. “I myself have a friend at the ATM of El Naranjal, who told me that today there would be no cash there, nor in the ATMs of the funeral home and Contreras Street,” she says.

ATM located on Medio Street, belonging to the Banco de Crédito y Comercio / 14ymedio

“The problem is that, with inflation, anything you buy costs 1,000 pesos, and therefore you need to take large amounts out of the bank. That’s what they charge, for example, the coleros, but I can’t give them that pleasure. Anyway, at 10,000 pesos per head, there are times when the first five people clean out the cash,” she says.

The hours pass slowly and the line doesn’t seem to move forward. “Who is the last of the disabled?” asks a woman without any visible disability. Immediately, suspicion in the line skyrockets. “Right now two people from a private business passed by and took out a lot of large bills. Now you appear with a physical disability. When we get to the front of the line, the money is gone, and those of us who have been here since early morning are left without anything,” a man growls at the indifferent gaze of a woman, who inserts her card into the ATM.

The same employee who hours before gave instructions to the customers now leaves, looks at the line and enters the branch again without saying a word. “Is the money going to run out?” The question makes everyone’s hair stand on end. “It not even ten,” says an old man.

ATM belonging to the Banco de Crédito y Comercio, located on Milanés Street. In general, it only has money available from Monday to Saturday in the early hours of the morning, although sometimes it also has cash for one or two hours in the afternoon / 14ymedio

“There’s a lot of banking and everything, but nowhere do they accept payment by transfer. The other day I needed to urgently buy some medication and I had to go to Varadero to get money,” complains a young man.

“Who is the last one?”** asks a man who arrives by bicycle, but there is no answer. The young office employee, whose turn had now arrived and who was extracting cash, gives the bad news: “There’s no more money. I could only get 2,500.” Many of the clients get annoyed and begin to protest, but most, for whom that situation is routine, pick up their things and leave. It’s 10:30 in the morning.

The employees of the branch don’t say a word. Only the custodian of the bank clarifies the doubt – otherwise well known – to an old woman: “They won’t put in one more peso until tomorrow.”

Translator’s notes:

*A line or queue in Cuba is called a ‘cola’ (literally ‘tail’) and ‘coleros’ are people who others pay to hold their place in lines that can be hours, or even days, long.

**Each person who joins the line asks “who is last” and then they themselves become the new “last person” until the next arrival. In this way Cubans don’t have to stand strictly one-behind-the-other, and can still maintain their positions in the line.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Private Businesses in Matanzas Present Customers with Both Opportunities and Challenges

If there is one thing that bothers local residents it is that buying something at an MSME is becoming as difficult as doing it at a state-run store

Many local businesses offer products that are scarce or which have not been seen in state stores for years / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, May 1, 2024 — For years now, one could map the layout of Matanzas by following the trail of the small and medium-sized private businesses (MSMEs) that have proliferated throughout the city. Street-side produce stands, covered entryways of old mansions and makeshift warehouses have served as the locations for the province’s independent businesses. Many offer products that are in short supply or have not been seen in state stores for years. Others are businesses that previously did not even exist in Cuba.

“How can I help you?” asks the receptionist at a workshop near Freedom Park that sells electronic devices. “Sorry, we don’t have batteries for that model,” she tells Julio, a 56-year-old Matanzas resident who wants to use a phone that he has been keeping in a drawer for months.

“I’ve been here several times, asking the same question, but they never have them,” says Julio. “They’ve told me the issue is that they have problems getting parts past Customs. And because this country is not as technologically advanced as others, we sometimes are still using models that manufacturers no longer produce. It seems absurd that the government makes it difficult for these businesses to import parts when the state itself does not offer these services and we have to rely on individuals.”

An electronics workshop on Milanés Street, near Freedom Park / 14ymedio

Other businesses have cropped up in the city, often with tacit approval from local officials, offering services that Cubans have come to believe are impossible to obtain through legal means, without turning to the black market. Such is the case with SuperVision. Many locals use this optometry and eyeware store on Milanés Street to fill a hospital-provided eyeglass prescription. continue reading

This particular MSME shares a small space with a barber shop. It so happens that is one of barbers who explains how the business fills a void created by shortages at state-run eyeware stores. “You bring in your prescription and they make eyeglasses to fit you. You can provide your own frame or pick one out from their selection,” he says.

“I finally got my progressive lenses,” says a satisfied customer who had not been able to find a solution to her problem at state-run eyeglass stores. “It’s true that the prices here are outrageous but, if you have the money, your situation gets resolved.”

If there is one thing that bothers local residents it is that buying something at an MSME is becoming as difficult as doing it at a state-run store, and not for lack of inventory. In a makeshift business along the Central Highway, a saleswoman will not accept ten and twenty-peso banknotes, even from customers who only want to but a single piece of candy. “Here, we only accept 50-peso bills and higher,” she says. Businesses across the island are rejecting small-denomination bills due to the drop in value of the Cuban peso.

Many private businesses refuse to accept banknotes smaller than fifty pesos / 14ymedio

One neighborhood resident reports that the owners are not worried this requirement will scare away customers because they have the best prices in the district. “One day the place will be fully stocked and the next day it will be empty. They sell everything in a flash,” he explains.

While individual customers use these stores to satisfy their basic needs, other businesses turn to them to buy products wholesale which they can later resell. On Calzada de Tirry, near the house where the late poet Carilda Oliver Labra once lived, El Patrón opens its doors at 7:00 A.M. to a crowd that has gotten there early to buy jams that their families will have for breakfast or to make school snacks for their children. Also waiting in line is Sara, owner of a pushcart who resells El Patrón products in several downtown locations.

“This MSME is the cheapest in town,” says the 62-year-old Matanza resident, who has been waiting in line since 5:00 A.M. “It also attracts a lot of people from far away because what they sell here is high-quality. Since I found this place, I’ve been able to sell jams at more affordable prices,” she says.

Another MSME with competitive prices is located on Second of May Street. It specializes in meats, sweets and beverages, items which Cubans would otherwise only be able to buy at hard-currency stores. However, its “payment options” have made things difficult for more than one consumer. The owners only accept cash, and only in large-denomination bills. Shopping is becoming more difficult because, due to the country’s liquidity crisis, banks only give out small-denomination bills and ATMs never have cash.

For those who must leave the shop in search of the “fat bills” they need to make a purchase, the saleswoman has a ready smile. “No rush. The food here is very well refrigerated. Come back soon,” she says

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In the Cuban Athens ‘Everything Is Done on Foot’ Due to the Transport Crisis

Not even the “blues,” the inspectors in charge of intercepting vehicles and boarding passengers in Matanzas, “impose respect”

In peak hours, the mass of Matanzas residents who accumulate at the transport stops must decide whether to wait or leave on foot / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, April 27, 2024 — A Transmetro bus passes by and does not stop. A few minutes later, one from Transtur follows it. Travelers on any road in Matanzas look in desperation at the empty vehicles with the long-awaited air conditioning. “Not even the cars with State license plates stop anymore,” they lament, despite the fact that the leaders have given them the order to pick up passengers.

Not even the soothsayer Nostradamus could predict the times in which public buses circulate within the city of Matanzas. The traditional routes have been terminated for a long time, in an instability that significantly affects the daily routine of the matanceros.

Whether they are articulated, panoramic or assembled by pieces in a state workshop – such as the Dianas – the buses do not work at the same time, much less every day. That translates into a mass of stacked and sweaty Cubans who, when the rush hour arrives at stops, must decide whether to wait for a State car that deigns to pick them up or walk to their destination.

“The blockade does not come from outside, the blockade is here inside,” emphasizes an old man who claims – fanning himself with an improvised leaf – to have been waiting for more than an hour for transportation to go from the historic center to the Peñas Altas area. “Is there no oil?” asks a woman and from the same line the answer emerges: “What there is is no shame, señora. Look at that bus: it’s empty. continue reading

“The blockade does not come from outside, the blockade is here inside,” emphasizes an old man

Not even the figures of the “blues” – inspectors in charge of intercepting vehicles and boarding passengers – “imposes respect” on the state Ladas and Kamazes. To top it all off, the old man still sitting at the stop says, they are as inefficient as the public transport itself. “They only work half a day and on weekends so you can’t expect them.” Nor do the forceful looks of the “blues” and their clipboards intimidate anyone.

The Government’s vehicles pass, wave, and the inspector says goodbye “as if it’s nothing.” When the cars are not known but have State plates, the official registers the number – or pretends to – on a sheet of paper so as not to “offend” overcrowded travelers.

In the end, the “weakest link,” tired of waiting, gets out of line and takes charge of the matter. Any well-formed line is abruptly interrupted when a bus appears. Even if it’s empty, there are pushes and offenses. Pregnant women, children, the elderly and disabled, called to board first, must cross the furious mass in order to get a seat and not run the risk of being left behind.

The disorder quickly becomes a feeding ground for thieves and pickpockets, who grab chains, cash and even cell phones. By the time they manage to get on the bus, many passengers have even been stripped of their identity cards.

The other side of the coin are the private carriers, who, in tune with inflation, impose their prices / 14ymedio

The other side of the coin is the private carriers, who, in line with inflation, impose their prices according to “their objective and subjective needs.” For a trip of a few kilometers, a motorcycle taxi charges between 300 and 500 pesos, Mario, the driver of an electric motorcycle, tells this newspaper. In the case of a vehicle, for the same distance, the price ranges between 50 and 100 pesos per person. The máquinas*, on the other hand, charge about 100 pesos.

According to Mario, those are just the “standard prices.” “If I rent or work at night, the costs go up.” The electric vehicles, which the Government announced last January with pomp and fanfare after buying them at $7,000 each, are far from meeting the city’s demand for transport

At the central transport stop, from which the old man was able to escape in an agricultural truck, a medical student now occupies his seat. “It can already be said with propriety that Matanzas is the Athens of Cuba and, like the ancient Athenians, we do everything on foot,” he mocks. A few streets ahead you can see the remains of the old tram line, inaugurated when the city was experiencing better times and the only blue was that of the bay.

*Translator’s note: Máquinas, almendrones and colectivos are overlapping names for similar services: generally a shared taxi service (and in some cases fixed-route) provided by classic American cars, which are now generally retrofitted with diesel engines because that fuel is more likely to be available than is gasoline.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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