In Cienfuegos’ Pueblo Griffo Neighborhood, Water Comes Only Once a Month

Despite the announced investments, in Cienfuegos the lack of water extends from the center to the periphery

Outside a tenement on 35th Street, a water truck supplies water to residents. / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 9 September 2024 — Three weeks have passed since the official press celebrated that water is flowing with less difficulty in Cienfuegos, thanks to the “execution of significant investments,” but the residents of the Pearl of the South do not perceive any change in a problem that extends from the center to the periphery, forcing them to seek solutions by their own means.

Outside a tenement on 35th Street, a truck supplies water to residents. “We had spent more than 15 days without being able to clean our houses. We could barely do the minimum things related to hygiene and consumption. With a lot of effort, we all managed to gather twenty thousand pesos so that this truck could bring us a few liters of water here,” explains Mercedes, a 49-year-old from Cienfuegos, who says she is living the worst time of her life, in this regard.

“I don’t know what they do with the money from the famous investment plans that supposedly would renew the water and sewerage network. As soon as they tell you that there are resources they tell you that there aren’t. It’s all a lie and the people are the ones who pay the price, in this case, the lack of water,” she complains. Mercedes adds that there is not even easy to access plastic or metal tanks to guarantee storage, since prices on the informal market are continually rising, in an uncontrolled manner. continue reading

Some people have to sweep the area between the curb and the street. Otherwise, the water builds up and the stench becomes unbearable

In contrast to the lack of water for human consumption, new leaks appear scattered throughout the city, which end up becoming small puddles or noticeably putrid lagoons. Mercedes explains how her sister, a resident of 54th Street, one block from Martí Park, has to sweep between the edge of the sidewalk and the public road. Otherwise, the water accumulates and the stench becomes unbearable.

Other, more fortunate Cienfuegos residents have hired “water thieves” to fill the tanks on the roofs of their houses. “In this neighborhood there was always water, but recently we only received it once every 15 days, approximately. I had no choice but to buy two prefabricated tanks. I had to spend forty thousand pesos to have that peace of mind,” says Amaury, a resident of Pastorita.

“There is no alternative but to resolve the problem at all costs. A friend of mine had to sell carpentry tools to buy a turbine. Now he can get the water up to the third floor. His situation is worse, because where he lives, in Pueblo Griffo, the water comes in only once a month,” he concludes. Several Cienfuegos residents speaking to 14ymedio said that, in certain places, such as La Juanita, people have taken to the streets to protest, complaints that are calmed by the government sending a tanker truck to pacify tempers, without giving a definitive solution to the matter.

As in other places where water has been arriving with difficulty, such as in Havana, quality is an added problem. “No one drinks the water that comes in from the aqueduct. The level of impurity is so high that it is not enough to filter it. You have to boil it to be able to consume it,” Damaris says without fear of being wrong. She lives on San Carlos Street and generally has to take a break from work to fill the tanks, since the water comes into her home for a short time, only at midday.

“The water that comes in from the aqueduct is undrinkable. The level of impurity is so high that it is not enough to filter it. It has to be boiled to be able to consume it.”

“I am a cleaning assistant at a state institution. I spend my life collecting water to keep my workplace and my house clean,” says Damaris, who moved to a central street thinking that she would not have problems with water resources there. However, at certain times of the month she has received drinking water only three times a week. “Those of us who cannot afford to buy a large tank or a turbine are at constant risk. We have to save that too,” she laments.

Authorities acknowledged on Tuesday that more than 600,000 people in the country are suffering from problems with their water supply. According to a note published in the state newspaper Granma, the number of people who lack adequate access to water in Cuba has been increasing to reach 7%. In November of last year, the regime acknowledged that there were 450,000 people affected throughout the country and by April the number was already around 500,000. Last April , the official press explained that, with data from the end of 2022, 5,689,476 Cubans did not have “decent access to water,” that is, half the population.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Closed for Months, the Coppelia in Cienfuegos Is Now Open a Few Hours a Day, Until the Ice Cream Runs Out

“They limit you to one flavor option and the portion sizes keep getting smaller”

The quality of service at the state-owned ice cream parlor as well as the quality of the ice cream itself leave much to be desired / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 31 August 2024 — Cuba’s Coppelia ice cream parlors are a stark reminder of country’s current economic crisis. Created shortly after Revolution to provide a sense of prosperity and abundance, the outlets, which can be found in many provincial capitals, used to be sources of entertainment for locals. In the midst of today’s financial difficulties, however, when there is no guarantee that even basic foodstuffs will be available, ice cream has become a luxury. Coppelia’s branches now open only intermittently and, when they are open, offer few options. The Cienfuegos location is no exception.

For months, Coppelia’s metal chairs lay in disarray and its tables sat empty. At the beginning of the year, city officials promised that it would reopen by summer. But June and July came and went without a single scoop being sold. Many lost hope of ever again enjoying a “copa Lolita” (flan with two scoops of ice cream) or an “ice cream salad” (an ice cream sundae).

This week, to the surprise of many, Coppelia reopened its doors. But customers who had hoped service would be as it had been in the past were visibly disappointed. At noon on Saturday, the line of customers waiting to get inside included dozens of people who sought shade in the adjacent covered walkways.

“I’ve been waiting for months to have have chocolate ice cream. We’ll see if that happens. Someone just came out and said the supply is getting low,” reports a tired and hot Yaíma, who is carrying her two-year-old son in her continue reading

arms. She has spent more than an hour in line. Frustrated with the slow service and with people cutting in line, she has several times considered giving up on the idea of a enjoying a cold dessert.

Every scoop costs 12 pesos / 14ymedio

From outside, Yaíma keeps an eye on the waiters, who move from one side of the establishment to the other carrying glasses and bowls of ice cream in their hands. This provides the young mother with valuable information such as which flavors are still on the menu, which have already run out and how agile the waiters are. “They limit you to one flavor option and the portion sizes keep getting smaller,” she observes. “It’s true that each scoop only costs 12 pesos but that doesn’t mean it should be no bigger than a tablespoon.”

When asked about the scoop size, one of the employees replies bluntly, “Each tub generates a minimum of 500 pesos. The more you stretch it, the more money you make.” Ice cream, like so many other products from state-owned establishments, also generates income for the workers. “That man who just left with two plastic buckets is my neighbor. If I can’t buy ice cream for my child here, I’m going to have to pay him 60 pesos for a cone big enough to satisfy our craving,” Yaíma says.

Every day since Coppelia reopened, people pass by my house selling five-liter containers of ice cream for 1,300 pesos,” reports Yuri, a Cienfuegos resident who does not believe this is a coincidence. “Besides the price, which is unaffordable for someone with an average salary, it’s obvious that the resellers and pushcart vendors are getting their ice cream from here.”

[[“The private vendors are doing this now because they know that at any moment the factory could have another breakdown]]

“The private vendors are doing this now because they know that at any moment the factory could have another breakdown or it run out of raw materials,” he explains. While ice cream can be purchased around town in bites, scoops or bulk, it is only being enjoyed by those who can afford it. “Both sellers and customers know that it will run out sooner or later so every one tries to take advantage of the situation in his or her own way,” says Yuri.

According to its schedule, Coppelia is supposed to be open from Tuesday to Sunday. “I passed by at 10:00 AM on Wednesday and it was as quiet as a convent,” he notes. “It all depends on how much ice cream they have on any given day. If they don’t have any, they don’t open.”

By 2:00 PM, Coppelia’s employees announce they have run out of stock. Yaíma and her son were among the last customers to be served but had to settle for one of the less popular flavors. Some of the waiters begin to leave, carrying cases and bags bulging with what they were able to “scrape together” from the bottom of the tubs.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Cienfuegos, Cuba, No Longer Deserves To Be Called the Pearl of the South

In Cienfuegos, waste is abundant in the streets and the sewers are clogged / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 1 September 2024 — Never before had the Pearl of the South – once called that for its beauty – been at such risk of losing this appellation as now. In Cienfuegos, founded by 47 French settlers in 1819 and declared a World Heritage Site, today there is plenty of trash in the streets and the sewers are clogged. You do not have to move to peripheral areas to see the prevailing dirt. It is enough to go through a few central blocks to realize that the work of the Communal Services Company leaves much to be desired.

“The hygiene here is not even a shadow of what it was,” says Antonia, a neighbor of the emblematic Roma hotel, currently reduced to a dilapidated facade. “People are throwing garbage in the corners in disposable straw baskets, bags or whatever they find. All that remains on the sidewalks for days, without anyone worrying about picking up even the waste that accumulates in the sewer,” the woman complains.

According to the 58-year-old Cienfueguera, her nephew, who works as a driver on one of the garbage trucks of Comunales, has told her that “their working conditions are very bad. Many times they are forced to carry out trash collections with their bare hands, because they don’t even have gloves.” Trucks also do not pass with a frequency that allows the city to remain clean, because the “fuel allocated to their business, together with the lack of vehicles, causes cleaning cycles to be missed.”

You do not have to move to peripheral areas to verify the prevailing dirt

In this situation, it is normal that paper, nylon and cans block the city’s sewer system, which barely fulfills its function. The blocked-up sewers can be seen in Martí Park, as well as on Santa Clara Street and the Malecón, says the woman. “It only takes a small downpour for the water to stagnate,” she says.

Garbage workers are forced to carry out trash collections bare-handed / 14ymedio]

Yosvany, another victim of the city’s precarious drainage system, tells this newspaper that a few days ago his house was flooded after a storm. The young Cienfueguero has raised the issue – he says – in all accountability meetings, but no solution has been found for the floods, which occur especially in the lowlands.

“It is very sad to see how trash piles are forming on the shores of the sea with the most unimaginable waste. But even sadder is to realize that the authorities do not seem to care that the people are living in such unhealthy conditions,” he laments. Yosvani is concerned that this unhealthiness will end in an epidemiological crisis that is difficult to contain.

“The People’s Power delegate can only say that he has raised the issue several times with the Government, but for those of us who live in certain places, such as Junco Sur or La Juanita, the garbage is literally in every corner,” he says with concern. “I myself have gone to complain to all possible authorities,” he says.

The neighbors are worried that this unhealthiness will end in an epidemiological crisis that is difficult to contain

“I don’t know if this can be fixed by putting garbage collectors in the neighborhoods or hiring individuals with horse-drawn carts to pick up the waste. It’s intolerable that a province recognized in Cuba for its beauty is today going through this great abandonment,” criticizes Antonia, who returns to the attack against Comunales. In the Pearl of the South you hardly see garbage bins or street sweepers. Beyond the historic center, the city is lost in a tangible filth.

The accumulated waste, the holes in the middle of the sidewalks and the broken roads that coincide in any corner of the city have become an everyday sight. Meanwhile, Antonia says that the smell of the trash piles that surround her home seeps through the door of her house, without asking permission.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Poorly Stocked and Dirty, Cienfuegos’s Market Square Languishes under State Management

Constant inspections and government actions have scared away vendors / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos 24 August 24, 2024 — Upon entering Plaza del Mercado (Market Square), located on Santa Cruz Street in Cienfuegos, one is confronted with a sad, neglected space. In addition to the usual unsanitary conditions, which extend even to the way food is handled, there are the often empty shelves. This is not due to a scarcity of food, though that is indeed in short supply, but because of constant inspections and government actions that have scared away vendors.

“The truth is that what little there is here is of very poor quality,” says Anselmo, a 73-year-old retiree from Cienfuegos. He points to bruised avocados arranged haphazardly on a counter. “They’re asking 60, 70 and even 80 pesos for them but I am not going spend money on something I can’t use,” he says.

“I came to see if they had anything, knowing that there’s not much to buy here, but I didn’t expect it all to be so bare,” Anselmo complains. Most of what little the province gets, he points out, officials allocate to the Calzada open-air market, which is held once a week. At the moment, the only thing for sale at Market Square is rice for 170 pesos a pound and black beans for 320. “You have to be watch the scales very closely because they’re only too happy to shortchange you a few ounces,” he warns. continue reading

“I came to see if they had anything, knowing that there’s not much to buy here,” complains one customer / 14ymedio

Anselmo does not give up. After running his finger through the bills in his wallet, one of the salesmen with whom he has “done business” on occasion approaches him. “Go see the Chinese guy in the house on the corner. He has what you’re looking for. With all the recent inspections, we’ve had to move the ’big ticket’ items to other locations. This here is the window dressing. It’s just a front,” the salesman tells him.

“If the state starts imposing price controls,” warns the salesman,” we’ll take our things and leave if that’s what it takes to stay in business. Unless things change, the place will stay like this: empty.”

A blank menu at the local cafe marks the entrance to Market Square. At 120 pesos apiece, a batch of stale pizzas is the only product for sale. “I wouldn’t eat one even if they were giving it away for free,” says Anselmo.

Anselmo leaves the market but not before announcing, “You have to stiffen your spine or the prices will scare you.” In contrast to the deserted meat counter at Market Square, the “Chinese guy” has fresh hams, pork shoulders and even pig livers. Red meat is also available to “trusted customers” who will not tip off authorities.

The items for sale at Market Square are not even enough for a proper meal / 14ymedio

Having purchased three pounds of pork loin and a pound-and-a-half of pork pieces, Anselmo continues his journey in search of food. “Now it’s off to the farmers market, where the prices are also steep,” he says worriedly.

According to Anselmo, one viable option might to buy directly from farmers, who are also trying to avoid selling what they produce to the state. Many prefer to handle retail sales themselves while others sell to pushcart vendors or other retailers, who are willing to offer them a higher price. “If you deal directly with the farmers, you get a better, fresher product. The problem is transportation. Whatever you save on food costs you spend on travel costs,” he reasons.

After making a stop at the farmers market, Anselmo returns home with two plastic bags that cost him ten pesos. One is for meat, the other for some guavas and a “not too bruised” avocado. Though his total bill comes to more than a thousand pesos, he is disappointed “[It] is not even enough for a proper meal, much less for my 74th birthday party.”

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Deterioration of the Esplanade in Cienfuegos – Another Sign of this Magnificent Town’s Decay

The holes that are now expanding aggressively across the bay’s promenade are not just a problem for pedestrians, they’re a symbol of the city’s decay.

On Calle 37, opposite the radio station, lies one of the most dangerous holes / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Ciénfuegos, 26 July 2024 – The collision of the sea against the Ciénfuegos esplanade, along with too many years of neglect, has resulted in the continuing appearance of new holes in the surface of the promenade, as confirmed by 14ymedio this Thursday. The official press informed of this with alarm on Wednesday, by explaining that the sea has begun to “take back” its territory in Jagua Bay.

Built in the nineteenth century and based on the Havana Malecón model, the Ciénfuegos malecón (esplanade/promenade) lived through the town’s magnificent years which advanced with gigantic economical steps and Ciénfuegos was on the point of becoming one of the most beautiful and cosmopolitan cities in Cuba – if it hadn’t been for the sudden emergency stop that came about in the middle of the twentieth century, with the triumph of the Revolution.

The holes that are now expanding aggressively across the bay’s promenade are not just a problem for pedestrians, they’re a symbol of the city’s decay, and this is the manner in which the residents experience it – residents who have witnessed how, with the discontinuance of pavement-repairs, the potholes have begun to fill up with soft-drink and beer cans, along with other rubbish.

The holes in the pavement get filled with soft-drink and beer cans thrown away by pedestrians / 5 Septiembre

“This stretch of the esplanade has deteriorated a lot. People have complained to the government many times but they haven’t solved the problem, which gets worse over time and with the moisture and the rubbish which accumulates”, explains Orlando to 14ymedio – a health worker who passes this deteriorated part of Calle 37 opposite Radio Ciudad del Mar twice every day on his route to and from work.

“Those holes are dangerous, especially at night-time during the weekend when the promenade is full of youngsters. The street lighting isn’t good and continue reading

anyone could trip up or fall into one of the cracks”. The official press agrees with Orlando and recognises that the night-time lighting is “rather precarious at present”.

“Even the candy sellers that pass by have their own rechargeable lamps, it’s so dark round here”, says the Cienfuegero. The drainage in the area, which gets constant impact from the sea, as well as downpours and storms, even that isn’t in the best condition. “If we get just a couple of drops of rain here, everything is flooded”, he says.

Despite the fact that “the location isn’t for parties”, says Orlando, when school term ended the promenade regained a bit of life and the kids of the city got together to listen to music or have a drink – despite the prices – in the nearby cafés, such as La Criollita, La Sureñita, or El Rápido.

The esplanade has lost some of its social life in recent years and what’s on offer in local bars has gone up in price / 14ymedio

“That’s why it’s so sad that the footpath on the promenade is in this condition because the majority of city life revolves around it”, adds Orlando, though he accepts that the solution is not a simple one. “It’s normal for the sea and salt to deteriorate structures, that’s why they need to have constant maintenance. However, it’s many years since there was even the smallest amount of maintenance work carried out, so now, if they’re going to do anything they’ll have to do it properly, because if they don’t, in a few months it will be just the same or even worse than it is now”, he concludes.

The promenade has not only lost bits of its actual structure, but also its life. Nancy, another Cienfuegera and a housewife, remembers the days when the fishermen, who were an emblematic image of life in the bay, would sit and wait for a fish to take the bait on their lines. “Not only is the water really dirty but the poor anglers have had to leave this area because of the new fishing regulations. Many have moved to other parts to avoid the fines and the inspectors”, she grumbles.

Also, the increased price of refreshments in local establishments has made them inaccessible. “You need to be carrying at least a thousand pesos to be able to sit in a bar and have a drink, or spend some time with your partner”, she says.

For Nancy, to watch how this area is dying – an area which so many Cienfuegeros have passed through, which has been for generations a place of meeting and of celebration, where years ago she herself had her first date – it’s to watch a part of her own memory disappear. “Every crack in the esplanade is a crack in the very identity of the Cienfuegeros themselves”.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

In the Café of the Terry Theater in Cienfuegos, Business Is Done Behind the Bar

In the state cafeteria “everything is bought and sold, even what one cannot imagine”

Located in front of José Martí Park, the Tomás Terry Theater cafeteria has a privileged location / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio Cesar Contreras, Cienfuegos, 20 August 2024 — At the cafe tables in the Tomás Terry Theater in Cienfuegos, all kinds of deals and business agreements take place, and the authorities turn a blind eye. From foreign currency and illicit substances to the body of a cienfueguera girl, in a place managed by the state-owned Artex, “everything is bought and sold on the premises, anything one can imagine,” whispers a bar customer.

Facing José Martí Park, a central area of the city, Terry’s cafe is not empty even when there is a blackout. Sitting at a table, tapping his foot impatiently, Adrián – who uses a false name so that he is not “booked” by the Police – waits for a foreigner who is looking to rent a room in a hostel. “This is my daily struggle: Getting tourists and hosting them in private homes, with a commission for me for each client I get,” the 26-year-old man tells 14ymedio.

Even when there are blackouts, Terry’s café always has customers / 14ymedio 

Those who, like him, travel around the city looking for potential customers are known as “managers,” a name that gives more prestige to their profession than it really has. “The owners of the hostels charge between 15 or 20 dollars a night, and I take a percentage of that,” he says. continue reading

For a few months – Adrián has only been in business for two years – the difficulty in attracting foreigners has increased, and tourists hardly arrive in the city or prefer to stay in state hotels. Because of this, the business of the young cienfueguero has been “low,” and the customers who do stay in private homes are now, for the most part, those who have a very specific interest: to be out of sight of the authorities.

“It’s not that you like this mess of prostitution, but sometimes the opportunity presents itself and you have to take advantage of it, because things are very hard wherever you turn, and that’s one way to hook tourists,” he explains. Normally, Adrián says, the cost for a night with a jinetera is around 100 dollars or euros, but “when things are tight” and there are almost no tourists, sometimes they accept 50. The woman is given part of the take depending on the deal, reveals the young man. He prefers to settle matters because the “question” brings its own risks.

From the outside, life in the Terry seems to be quiet, although, from the prices, anyone can deduce that those who come to have a coffee do not live on a worker’s salary

From the outside, life in the Terry seems to be quiet, although, from the prices, anyone can deduce that those who come to have a coffee do not live on a worker’s salary. With espressos at 60 pesos – a year ago one cost a third as much – cocktails between 150 and 300, or a beer at 280, the place still maintains a menu that is obviously State but also expensive. The tricks to keep the business afloat happen behind the bar.

Behind the bar is where the tricks that keep the business afloat happen / 14ymedio

“To maintain the service you have to stretch the coffee powder as much as possible, because the supply is very scarce and the demand is very high,” an employee tells this newspaper. At the cocktail bar is thrown “a lot of ice and a little alcohol,” and to “fatten” the salaries a little, which do not reach 3,000 pesos, some workers resell on the left “what appears.” As to what happens inside Terry’s doors, the workers prefer to turn a blind eye.”

Appearances are deceiving, and while the music goes on through Saturday night and into the next morning, there are also those who are selling, buying and negotiating anything,” explains Mercedes, another of the unique customers of the cafe. “Right now I bought 80 MLC (freely convertible currency) from a woman who has just left,” says the cienfueguera. She pretends to be surprised at the fact that the Government is persecuting the foreign exchange black market at the same time that it lets it happen on its own premises.

While the music goes on through Saturday night until the next morning, there are also those who are selling, buying and negotiating anything

If it were not for everything that is “offered” on the left in Terry’s cafe, the place, with an illuminated sign that, between blackouts and technical failures, never works – in addition to the 100 pesos that are requested to enter any event – would always be empty. “I shouldn’t say this, but sometimes certain drugs are even sold here,” says Mercedes, who has seen customers “pass pills” while hiding among the crowd and the music. “In the end everyone just minds their own business,” the woman alleges, for whom it is also a relief that – paraphrasing the famous Las Vegas saying – what happens in the Terry stays in the Terry.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Built in 1912 by an Italian Architect, the Ten Cent Building in Cienfuegos, Cuba, is Wobbling

The structure is an original work by the Italian architect Alfredo Fontana Giugni / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 10 August 10, 2024 — Each city on the Island with a certain economic accommodation had a Ten Cent store during Cuba’s Republican years. Built many times to order, designed by foreign architects and managed by American chains, those retail stores used to be the center of boulevards and shopping avenues. What has become of them after 1959 would horrify their former owners.

The Ten Cent of Cienfuegos is no exception. Two floors in an eclectic style and with monochrome stained glass windows, the old shop, located on the city’s boulevard – formerly San Fernando Street – is now a danger for pedestrians who pass by. The store, which has gone through several names, from Variedade Cienfuegos to the current Variedades Cimex, has been surrounded for months by a metal fence that prevents people from approaching the building, which is in danger of collapse.

Built in 1912, the former Ten Cent was owned by the American company F. W. Woolworth Company, dedicated to the sale of retail items. Since its nationalization after the coming to power of Fidel Castro, the centenary building has undergone very little, if any, maintenance. When the facade began to lose pieces and the humidity was already eating away the walls, Cimex tried to carry out a repair in 2017, with a view to the city’s bicentennial, and invested two million pesos. continue reading

The old Ten Cent was owned by the American F.W. Woolworth Company, dedicated to the sale of retail items at a low price

“That great restoration they promised came to nothing. The little they did was of poor quality, either because the resources were stolen, or because the materials were not good enough, or both. Everything is very beautiful in theory, but when they put it into practice, they ruin it,” complains Ramón, a resident of the area who remembers the years when his father, a textile worker, bought him candy for 20 centavos at the store.

Since its nationalization after the coming to power of Fidel Castro, the centennial building has not received maintenance / 14ymedio

Ramón recalls that around 2000, the building devised by the Italian architect Alfredo Fontana Giugni was the victim of another “restoration.” “They spent a long time working in the Ten Cent, and in the end they were only able to restore a part of the ground floor,” he says. When walking on the boulevard, many pedestrians move away from the ruinous structure. Although the facade seems firm, the windows reveal holes in the ceilings and some destroyed areas. The ornaments or a piece of wall that fell have brought more than one scare to the Cienfuegueros. “They waited too long to pay attention to it and now, if there’s not a lot of money, there’s no remedy. I hope they don’t lose it completely, like so many other buildings of that period,” Ramón says, wistfully.

What has become of the Ten Cent stores after 1959 would horrify their former owners

Nor does he expect a future repair to bring the building back to its old glory. “If they were to restore it, everyone knows that they won’t have access to most of the products, because of how expensive everything is. Then we’ll start calling it the ’Ten Dollar,’” he mocks.

The store remains surrounded by a metal fence, to avoid possible accidents in the face of the danger of collapse / 14ymedio

At 78 years old, Ramón is able to remember the majesty of the republican buildings that adorned the city in his adolescence. “The most elegant mansions, the shops with the best style, all were capitalistic,” he says. The Revolution soon got rid of the “smell of Yankees,” of “capitalism. Now there are only mansions converted into leaders’ homes, convents transformed into schools and some fragments of that time that people don’t even recognize,” he says. The Ten Cent, at least the ones that are still standing and have not become MSMEs, are the last to survive that “dispossession.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

In Cienfuegos, Motor Scooter and Tricycle Owners Take Advantage Of The Lack Of Public Transport

For those living in the surrounding areas, managing to get into the city for work or for running errands is an Odyssey

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 3 August 2024 – Climbing with difficulty onto a horsedrawn cart, cramming inside an electric tricycle or paying more than 100 pesos for a motor scooter are the transport options that Lidia has to shuffle every morning when she sets out for work in Cienfuegos. For a bus to actually arrive, or for some Lada driver* to decide to give her a lift, these are no more than “miracles” which happen with less and less frequency since the start of the fuel shortage and the lack of public transport vehicles. If you want to move about, private vehicles are the only option.

“It’s useless to wait at a bus stop”, the 65 year old Cienfuegera told 14ymedio. Private transport is usually more efficient and more readily available she says, but it’s the prices which stop people from using these vehicles.

“From the entrance to Calle Industria to Paseo del Prado, a horse drawn cart ride costs between 15 and 20 pesos, but that zone is always full of people due to its proximity to the provincial hospital so it’s difficult to get a lift around there at peak times. If you need transport quickly, or you need to go a longer distance, the motor scooters can cost you up to 500 pesos for just a few kilometres”, says Lidia.

From the entrance to Calle Industria to Paseo del Prado, a horse drawn cart ride costs between 15 and 20 pesos / 14ymedio

For those living in the surrounding areas, managing to get into the city for work or for running errands is an Odyssey. “I live in Pueblo Grifo, on the outskirts, and pay 200 pesos for a motor taxi that takes me from Villuendas Park to the centre”, says Luis, another Cienfueguero, complaining about the few options available and their high costs. continue reading

“Okay if they were fixed prices but the problem is that tomorrow they’ll raise the price by 50 pesos and you’ll still have to pay it without complaining because there’s nothing else available and it’s weeks since I last saw a Diana”, he says, referring to the inter-urban buses that carry that name.

In answer to anyone who might ask what happened to all the inspectors who were supposed to prevent abusive pricing, Luis replies sarcastically: “It would seem they all went off to Venezuela to look for petrol (gasoline)”. The Cienfuegero assures us that in the last few days he’s only seen, sporadically, the official in charge of the Pastorita bus stop. “He works a bit in the mornings with his clipboard under his arm, without getting even the minimum of respect from drivers”, he complains.

It costs 200 pesos for a motor taxi from Villuendas Park to the city centre / 14ymedio

If Cienfuegos’s bus stops seem to be deserted for the major part of the day, it’s not because the transport is efficient and quick but that the passengers know that if they bother to wait around for a bus to arrive, “they’re gonna be there until nightfall”.

It doesn’t bother the private car owners who offer transport to travellers that there aren’t any buses or that the inspectors are disappearing. “At the end of the day that brings us more clientele and more work”, says the driver of one motor scooter. “It’s true that people can’t always pay our tariffs, but the prices aren’t that way because we want them to be but because inflation affects us as well”, he says.

Tyres and wheels, spare parts, petrol, duty payments and maintenance costs, “all that is money which we have to find at the end of the day and we still have to earn enough to live on, because if not then the business can’t be sustained”, he explains. “The passengers are sometimes annoyed or refuse to pay. It’s unfortunate that people treat each other badly when it’s the people higher up that have the solution in their own hands. When someone’s like that with me all I can say to them is ’either get in, or stay where you are’”.

Translator’s note: Government officials who are issued government cars — generally Russian made Ladas — are required to pick up and drop off passengers (at no charge) at designated areas, but commonly fail to do so. 

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

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

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

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, 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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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

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 bigger14ymedio, 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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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

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 bigger14ymedio, 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.”

See also: Article from 2021 about housing in Santiago de Cuba

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

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 bigger14ymedio, 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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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

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 bigger14ymedio, 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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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

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 bigger14ymedio, 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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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

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 bigger14ymedio, 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.

“A few years ago, I managed, with a lot of effort, to obtain three caballerias  of land [roughly 100 acres total]. I even had to go see the delegate of Agriculture in Matanzas so that they would give me this property in usufruct [a form of leasing]. After many efforts I achieved it. However, my goal developing livestock has cost me dearly,” the 58-year-old farmer confesses to this newspaper. 

Between cows, bulls and calves, Ernesto has a total of 67 heads of cattle on his farm, distributed in two barns or dairy houses. “I initially thought of dedicating part of the land to livestock production and the other part to the cultivation of some vegetables, but the difficulties in having the necessary resources have prevented me from moving forward,” he explains. 

According to the rancher, about half of his pasture, with useful land, remains unused. “Where can I buy machetes, rakes or gloves to deal with the weeds? Where are the supplies that guarantee that we guajiros can take care of the land and the animals? These years I have seen everything: campesino stores, projects with foreign financing, sales of some products in MLC (freely convertible currency). But these are just insufficient attempts to help producers and they have all come to nothing.

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Between cows, bulls and calves, Ernesto has a total of 67 cattle on his farm / 14ymedio

Other problems keep Ernesto in suspense, and one is that, despite having water for the animals, edible pastures do not grow well in the area and the consequences can be disastrous for the cattle and for the rancher’s pocket. “If one of my animals gets sick, I have to buy the medicines on the informal market, at whatever price they want to charge, because either there are none or they are very difficult to obtain from the State,” laments the man.

“We cooperative members are required to comply with all production plans but, in the years that I have been here, no one has come to ask me what I need to build the dairy farms, to feed my cattle or to keep the lands healthy and in good condition. I have never wanted them to give me anything, but it is not fair that they abandon the farmers like that,” he says, annoyed. 

Faced with the dilemma between complying with the rules or surviving and saving their business, many ranchers end up making deals outsidthe normal legal ways. “These years I have been able to escape by selling some animals, but the matter becamcomplicated with the livestock census that began at the beginning of this year. The ‘orientation’ is that you cannot sell any animals until they finish counting everything, although people always manage to sell one or two cows,” he says. 

Even so, the guajiro reflects, the management of his farm has begun to give him “more headaches than satisfaction,” since it has become an unprofitable task and the State “does not give the campesinos much room for action. I supposedly own the cattle, but I can only slaughter two a year, with prior authorization from the cooperative and the Agriculture Delegation. If I make a minor slaughter contract, I have to look for a vehicle to transport the animals to the slaughterhouse. After everything I spend on time and procedures, they pay me per pound of meat at one-tenth of what is quoted in the informal market,” he laments.

“Some guajiros end up looking for a veterinarian to certify the death of an animal due to illness, removing it from the livestock registry and selling it,” he points out. 

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 Stateand 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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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.