“No Martyrs or Leaders,” the New Directions for the Diminished Cuban Bodegas

This newspaper was able to confirm that the images of the country’s former leaders were no longer in at least a dozen places where they were previously exhibited.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, Natalia López Moya, 16 March 2024  — “They told us to remove the photos,” explains the employee of a bodega (ration store) in Nuevo Vedado, Havana, before the question of a customer surprised by the disappearance of the images of Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl and Ernesto Guevara who, until recently, alternated on the wall with the blackboard that announces the ever-shorter list of available products. “They called from the Ministry of Internal Trade and advised us that we could not have any martyrs or leaders,” he says.

The practice of placing images of leaders of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), guerrillas and people who fell in combat during the revolutionary battles, was very common in the ration stores. “You went with your libreta (ration book) to buy something, and instead of beans you found a poster with a smiling Camilo Cienfuegos or propaganda from a PCC Congress,” says Liuber, a resident of San Lázaro Street in Central Havana. He was surprised a week ago when he arrived at his bodega and found “nothing; those faces were no longer on the shelves.” continue reading

“You went with your ration book to buy something and instead of beans you found a poster with a smiling Camilo Cienfuegos”

This newspaper was able to confirm that the images were no longer in at least a dozen places where they were previously exhibited before the eyes of those who entered. A butcher’s shop on Basarrate Street in El Vedado, which until recently showed a portrait of Ernesto Guevara, with a beret and a thin beard, no longer had the photograph, previously located on the table behind the counter.

“It seems they don’t want people to continue taking photos of the bodegas and butcher shops without food but full of propaganda and posting them on social networks,” says another bodeguero in Old Havana who also received the “direction from above” to remove the images “that had been there for more years than the tomato sauce that didn’t arrive for the libreta.

The butcher shop on Basarrate Street replaced the painting of Che with an abstract / 14ymedio

However, the employee clarifies that the new regulations have not reached them in writing. “They told us at a meeting that the counterrevolution was using the photos they took inside the bodegas to create popular discomfort and associate the leaders of the process with the shortages.” The woman regrets the decision because “those images attracted tourists, who came in, started talking to us and some even left us a little gift.”

Now, the little rice that arrives every month for the standard quota does not pose for the cameras next to the face of a leader sheathed in his olive green uniform, and the sugar that is delayed in the supply no longer shares space with a poster of a guerrilla with a rifle on his shoulder. The political altars can no longer be next to the meager ration of food that is sold in the Cuban bodegas and butcher shops.

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.

Blackouts Come to Havana While the Rest of Cuba Sinks Into Darkness

Store that required payment in MLC (freely convertible currency) on Belascoaín Street in Havana, closed due to lack of power on March 7, 2024

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 7 March 2024 — Without much notice or publication of the schedule, long blackouts have returned to Havana. The Cuban capital, which for weeks had the privilege of electricity while the provinces sank into power outages of more than ten hours a day, has not managed to avoid the crisis caused by fuel shortages and the deterioration of the Island’s thermoelectric plants.

This Thursday, last summer’s events were repeated in the most populous city in the country. Outside a private store on Carlos III Avenue in Central Havana, a bored employee waited in the dark, trying to avoid the heat. Behind him, the name of Las Columnas (The Columns) was displayed on a counter, along with cell phone cases, charging cables, devices to measure the number of steps that are taken each day and some bluetooth speakers.

All the products for sale in the small business require a connection to electricity, at least to be charged. An electricity that the people of Havana are beginning to lack, even in neighborhoods that in previous years were “forgiven” from power cuts due to the presence of several hospital centers or an underground electricity system, so obsolete that the authorities themselves fear turning it off.

14ymedio

“I walked near the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital; the whole area was in the dark, and you couldn’t hear the power plant that sounds like a dragon; when it’s on you can hear it for several blocks,” a retiree told this newspaper. She was frustrated when trying to get her pension out of an ATM on nearby Belascoaín Street; it was out of service due to lack of power. continue reading

The famous La Cubana hardware store, on the corner of Reina and Lealdad streets, popularly known as Feíto and Cabezón, was also closed to the public due to the blackout. Despite selling its products in freely convertible currency (MLC), a modality designed for those who have income in foreign exchange, the premises lacks a generator that would allow it to continue operating in these circumstances.

The customers who arrived looked through the entrance windows with frustrated expressions, trying to spot the merchandise they had come to buy or if any employee deigned to approach and give an explanation about the time of the possible reopening. “It’s the same old song. If the blackout continues after two in the afternoon, they will probably not attend to anyone else,” said a man who moved there from Cojímar in Habana del Este. “They told me that there was a piece here that I need for the sink but it has been a total frustration.”

The famous La Cubana hardware store, on Reina Street on the corner of Lealtad Street, popularly known as Feíto and Cabezón, was also closed to the public due to the blackout / 14ymedio

In La Algarabía, a private cafeteria on Neptuno and Escobar streets, also in Central Havana, silence was the tone of the morning. There were no customers at the tables, in the dark despite the strong sun outside, and the workers sat near the entrance, waiting for the electricity to return. “Without light there is no profit; without light nothing happens,” said one of them.

A map of part of the city, with zone 1 surrounded by red, became popular this Thursday in several WhatsApp groups. The image warned about the neighborhoods that were without electricity, a mapping of the blackout  which the eyes of the residents of Havana must get used to again so they can plan their lives accordingly.

This Thursday, the same thing was experienced during the six-hour blackout by the residents of La Timba, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Plaza de la Revolución municipality, despite its proximity to the Council of State. The well-to-do residents of Kohly Avenue in Nuevo Vedado were also affected. The tall buildings near Tulipán Street and Boyeros Avenue, built in the years of the Soviet subsidy, was the worst hit due to the paralysis of the elevators, indispensable to access the higher floors.

The famous La Cubana hardware store, on the corner of Reina and Lealtad streets, popularly known as Feíto and Cabezón, was also closed due to the blackout. (14ymedio)

“To top it off yesterday, no water arrived, so today we’re in a blackout and without water. We don’t know if, when the electricity returns, the cistern will have been able to fill up or not,” complains a resident of the 18-storey building located on Factor Street, near Conill, known as “the pilots’ building” by the professional sector that benefited from its apartments in the 1980s.

On social networks, residents of other provinces barely hid their joy because the Cuban capital finally has joined them in the energy crisis. “Ah, in Havana the power is also going out,” said a netizen on the Facebook page of the unpopular Electric Union of Cuba, which predicted a deficit of 1,210 megawatts for this Thursday. But beyond the regional rivalries, the signal sent by the Havama blackouts was “bad for everyone,” summarized another commentator.

“If there are now blackouts in Havana, what awaits the rest of Cuba is total darkness,” a woman predicted.

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.

Paseo Galleries in Havana, a Palace of Consumption Turned into Ruins

The store that was a symbol of opulence now displays dirt and destruction everywhere / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 24 February 2024 — Careful!” a woman managed to say this Friday to a child who was rushing along the entrance ramp of the Paseo Galleries, in Havana’s Vedado district. The floor slabs, full of holes, forced customers going to the market, located on the first floor, to walk gently to avoid falling or spraining an ankle. The deterioration of what was one of the consumer palaces of the Cuban capital in the 90’s seems to know no limit.

Everywhere you look you will only find destruction, grime and peeling paint. With barely any lighting at its entrance, the cloudy day was of little help for those who entered the three-story establishment, located right across from the luxurious Cohiba Hotel and a few meters from the ocean-front wall of the Malecón. Most of those who arrived went to the market — which requires payment in freely convertible currency (MLC) — on the first floor, managed by the Cadena Caribe of Cuba’s GAESA* military conglomerate.

Access to the place through the exterior ramp is the prelude to the extreme deterioration that is exhibited inside / 14ymedio

Inside the store, the floor is in better condition and at least the lamps have most of their bulbs working, but the presentation of products is more reminiscent of a warehouse than a store. “Everything is piled up, in order to find a price sometimes you have to go among the mountains of bags or cans,” complained a customer who came in search of powdered milk. In the back, the meat sales area had a small line.

“This place sucks, but it’s what I have closest to my house and I came here to buy butter,” commented Moraima speaking to 14ymedio; she is a retiree who receives remittances on her MLC card from her son, who resides in continue reading

Sweden. “This small bar [90 grams] costs 1.70 MLC,” the woman criticized. Behind her, the price board announced “baby octopus” at 16 MLC per kilogram; seven units of Asturian blood sausage for 4.25, and 200 grams of smoked salmon for 35.

“Everything is very expensive and the place is depressing. They charge in foreign currency and abuse in Cuban pesos,” said Moraima. “This cart with oil, peas, a package of chickpeas, tomato sauce, flour, butter and a little ham is already costing me more than 50 MLC,” she explained to this newspaper. “With this, I’m spending more than half of what my son sends me monthly; he has to work very hard to send me 100 MLC.”

Access to the place through the exterior ramp is the prelude to the extreme deterioration that is exhibited inside / 14ymedio

“All this is in this condition because they know that even if it is a dark cave, people are going to have to continue coming here to buy,” another customer said out loud while waiting for an employee to appear to open a bag with packages of children’s candy. “They say that until they read the barcode, they can’t tell me how much it costs,” he was losing his patience.

“They don’t sell anything fresh and there is a disgusting smell in the market, it smells like rotten fish, I don’t know how they can be open like this,” questioned another buyer. “I used to come here, I even bought a Spanish pressure cooker years ago that turned out to be very good, but this place doesn’t even look like that anymore, this is in total decline.”

For those who do not want to risk their lives going down or up the access ramp to the supermarket, there is still the risk of taking the stairs with several broken steps on their edges and which has not seen a broom come by in months, perhaps years.

The Jazz Café, located on a mezzanine with a stunning ocean view, now resembles a haunted house, full of dust and cobwebs. “It closed a little before the pandemic and never reopened, a shame because this was always full and it was a unique place in Havana,” lamented a worker who was trying to push a cart full of goods being careful so the wheels wouldn’t fall into the ramp’s potholes.

A meeting place for musicians, national and foreign clients looking for company, the Jazz Café charged about ten convertible pesos (CUC), in the days when the CUC was still in circulation, which included a basic dinner and a musical show. The place remained full past midnight, especially on weekends, and the access staircase became an improvised catwalk of young girls showing themselves to the tourists.

With a careful design and sculptures that imitated jazz players in full improvisation, the Jazz Café became a unique space in the Havana night. “The proximity of the Cohiba Hotel guaranteed that this would be full, but right now there is little tourism and those who come asking if the club is open what they find is this, an abandoned place,” acknowledged a taxi driver who charged 2,000 pesos for a ride to the nearest municipalities to those who left the supermarket this Friday.

For the most empowered customers, Galerías Paseosreserves its boutique shopping area for dresses that exceed 200 MLC and sneakers from famous brands. But even those places of supposed glitz do not escape the dirt and crisis of the environment. Thus, Adidas shoes alternate with stained glass, expensive perfumes with cracked floors, and leather purses with stained walls.

Access to the place through the exterior ramp is the prelude to the extreme deterioration that is exhibited inside / 14ymedio

At least three of those businesses were closed this Friday without explanation. With the lights off inside, the stores, located on the third floor, gave the impression of having been abandoned with the merchandise inside, and no employee of the complex could attest as to when they would reopen. “Come by on Tuesday or Wednesday to see if they are selling again”, a custodian suggested to a teenager who inquired about the shoe shops.

The workers’ faces are also streaked with apathy. What was once a very attractive place to work has ceased to generate interest. “Everything is paid by card, customers almost never leave tips, and when they do, it is in pesos,” acknowledges an employee who this Friday helped a couple carry their purchases to the car.

“Many people have also left because they received their parole visa or left by way of the volcano route,” the man acknowledged. When foreign currency stores opened for Cuban customers in the 90s, working in one of those stores was, automatically, the beginning of starting to be part of a wealthier social class, but now the situation is very different.

“Inspections, hard work and little encouragement,” the employee summarized the situation of the Galerías Paseo workforce. “This has gotten really bad, I’m looking for a job in one of those MSMEs that pay better and where there isn’t as much drama as here, because I might as well have to stay until the next day for an audit than to put up with complaints from a client who is absolutely right, because what they should do with this place is to shut it down, it cannot continue operating in these conditions.”

In the bathroom on the top floor, only the one for women was open, which had three cubicles and at least one of them was out of service. A cardboard over the bowl with a bucket on top prevented the use of the toilet and the smell that came from inside made some of the urgent customers who came to that area give up. There was also no water supply for hand washing or flushing toilets.

The magical world looks faded and opaque / 14ymedio

But the best “surprise” was at the exit. A colorful sign welcomed Mundo Mágico, a place that a few years ago was the children’s store. “No, we no longer sell toys here, now we only sell the ‘basic products module’ [from the rationing system] for the people of this area,” an employee responded grumpily to a clueless customer who was looking for some dolls.

Above the worker’s head, blue, red and yellow letters recalled that period when Galerías Paseo was the consumer palace of a Havana that could afford to go shopping and enjoy the journey.

*Translator’s note: Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA) is a Cuban military-controlled umbrella enterprise with interests in the tourism, financial investment, import/export, and remittance sectors of Cuba’s economy.

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.

An ‘Almendrovich’ — A Taxi With a Unique History — Tours Havana

The Chaika has an adaptation that allows it to carry up to six passengers, in addition to the driver / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 21 February 2024 — It was one of the fleet of GAZ 14 Chaika cars that Leonid Brezhnev gave to Fidel Castro in the 1970s. Now, it serves as a collective taxi like any old almendrón* and travels the route between the Parque de la Fraternidad and Santiago de las Vegas, in Havana. “Since there is no tourism and we have to put food on the table, the Cubataxi company has us picking up the fares,” says the driver this Wednesday, while transporting five customers on a cold Havana morning.

With a glossy black body and an intimidating length, the Chaika has an adaptation that allows it to carry up to six passengers, in addition to the driver. Where there used to be ample space for travelers to stretch their legs, an improvised seat has been placed such that it requires them to raise their knees.

But even these transgressions do not tarnish its stately bearing and the historical value of the vehicle, a symbol of a time when the Kremlin’s wallet seemed bottomless when it came to propping up the Cuban regime. “This was one of the ones used for Fidel Castro’s bodyguards, that’s why it’s not armored,” adds the driver when asked by a client.

“This was one of those used for Fidel Castro’s bodyguards, that’s why it is not armored”

According to another Cubataxi employee, “Fidel never really liked the Chaikas. He used them for a short time and switched to other capitalist-made cars, which were the ones he preferred,” he says. Of those 15 GAZ cars continue reading

that the general secretary of the CPSU sent to the island, “there are only about five left circulating on the streets and they are dedicated to tourism, but now almost no foreigners are arriving and we are working with Cubans.”

The so-called Soviet limousines were widely used at the time as protocol vehicles to transport important visitors arriving to the Island. Presidents, high diplomats and political allies traveled in those cars that demonstrated the proximity between the Kremlin and Revolution Square. When they began to provide services to tourism, travelers went crazy to take pictures with those fossils from the Cold War.

The enthusiasm was not shared by Castro. “The first cars he had in 1959 were Oldsmobiles for him and his entourage, then the Alfa Romeos arrived. He rode in the Chaikas for very little time just to please the bolos, the gossipers, and finally he opted for the Mercedes-Benz, “adds this employee who, before Cubataxi, worked in the protocol service of the Council of State.

“Most of the people who get into these Chaikas now don’t know anything about their history, they think they are old cars like any other. But nothing like that, this is as tough as a Chevrolet but it is exclusive because there are very few left and everyone who sat in those seats was a minister or higher,” he says. “People, when they find out where a car like this comes from, scoff and say it’s an almendrovich*, but this is a piece of history, a museum piece with wheels.”

*Translator’s note: Classic American cars are called ‘almendrones‘ in Cuba, a reference to their ‘almond’ shape’, and are used largely as shared taxis. ‘Almendrovich‘ is an additional play on words for these ‘Russian’ almendrones.

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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.

Home Delivery Now a High Risk Job for Cuban Drivers

Some couriers deliver goods that Cubans living overseas have bought for their relatives back home as well as takeout orders from bars and restaurants. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 14 February 2024 — A company logo, a restaurant’s refrigerated packaging or the typical colors of a home delivery service are enough to catch the eye of a thief. In a country ravaged by economic crisis, couriers transporting goods to customers’ homes are being targeted. Easy to spot, with some on bicycles and others on motorcycles, they are increasingly victims of robberies and assaults.

With one arm in a sling, 21-year-old Ismael relates his story. “I picked up an order that included several main dishes and some beers from a restaurant for a customer in Playa. It wasn’t late but it had already gotten dark,” he says. “When I got close to the iron bridge over the Almendares River, a guy came out of nowhere with a pipe in his hand.”

During the assault, Ismael shielded himself with his forearm to avoid being hit in the face and ended up with a fractured ulna. “They took the backpack and everything it had in it,” he says. “The contents of the thermal container, which had the logo of a well-known home delivery service on it, cost more than $80. The customer had paid the bill up front using a payment app.”

After growing hungry and impatient while waiting for Ismael, the customers contacted the delivery service but it was hours before they received a response

After growing hungry and impatient while waiting for Ismael, the customers contacted the delivery service but it was hours before they received a response. “We are very sorry for the inconvenience,” the message read. “Our courier has been assaulted and is now in the hospital. We will arrange for a new delivery but it will not be until tomorrow because, at the moment, we have no other employees available.” continue reading

Home delivery services are becoming more common in Cuba. Some deliver goods that Cubans living overseas have bought for their relatives back home. Items can include anything from food products to hardware store purchases to home appliances. Perhaps the best known are the e-commerce platforms Supermarket and Katapulk.

“They might use panelitos [small vans], which are always safer, but even they attract a thief’s attention,” acknowledges Vladimir, who worked at Supermarket — an online grocery store — for three years. Now using his own vehicle, he delivers remittances for a company headquartered in Miami that sends cash on an informal basis to the island.

“Things weren’t too bad during my time at Supermarket. I just had to make sure the vehicle’s doors were secured to avoid the occasional robbery but we were already talking about it back then. We were talking about how they would come at you with a blunt instument at a street corner because they knew you were transporting things of value.”

By “things of value,” Vladimir means a box of frozen chicken, a rice cooker or a package of cassava. “It’s best to use cars that don’t have the company logo on them and that are not obviously used for deliveries. If you’re carrying valuable goods, the risk is greater,” he says.

This week Annia and Pascual, a married couple, waited more than ten hours for a driver to deliver some drill bits

This week Annia and Pascual, a married couple, waited more than ten hours for a driver to show up with some drill bits, which they needed for changes they were making to a kitchen wall. “The only thing left to do on our renovation project was to drill some holes in the stone and we needed some very specific tools. We saw someone was selling them on Revolico [a digital classified ad site] and decided to have them delivered,” says Annia.

After a frustrating day-long wait, the couple received a voice message from the driver. He told them he was at the hopital because someone had attacked him and stolen all the merchandise he was carrying. Between the drill bits, a hammer drill and some hydraulic parts, the thieves made off with items worth more than $300.

“Luckily, we hadn’t yet paid for anything — we didn’t have to pay until the driver arrived with the order — but it did force us to stop work. And we’ve been worried about the boy, who is very young. They hit him in the head really hard but at least they didn’t kill him. The way things are these days, you can lose your life over just about anything,” says Annia.

An article published on Sunday in the official State newspaper Granma on the role of the police in crime prevention explained that authorities have increased security “through operational and policing actions in different aspects of the country’s economic and social life, including transportation, storage and food distribution.” They are, of course, talking about state assets. Beyond filing a complaint or hiring private security guards, individuals have few options for combatting crime.

“We’re always hiring drivers but, for nighttime deliveries, we now prefer they have a car,” says the manager of one of Havana’s online delivery services. “We’ve had several assaults in the last few weeks. When that happens, everyone loses out. Customers don’t get what they ordered, we have to reimburse them for their loss and the driver bears the brunt of it.”

“I no longer use the the backpack they gave me at work. I’d rather use a plain bag because where some read the name of the company, others read ’Rob me.’”

What not too long ago had seemed like the ideal job for someone who had his own vehicle — whether it be a bicycle, a scooter or a car — has become a high-risk profession. “I don’t use the the backpack they gave me at work anymore. I’d rather use a plain bag because, where some read the name of the company, others read, ’Rob me!’” explains Ricardo, whose employer has allowed him to revise his work schedule.

“I don’t deliver at night. I don’t deliver to neighborhoods on the outskirts of Havana. I don’t go into buildings; I do the handover on the street. I don’t let customers change the delivery address once the order has been placed.” To his long list of “don’ts,” Ricardo adds, “I don’t work Saturdays because those days are more dangerous and a lot of people are looking for ways to make some easy money. I don’t stop at stop signs or at railroad crossings. If I see a light is about to turn red, I circle around until I can go or I take a detour.”

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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 Arrival of a British Cruise Ship Revives Old Havana for a Few Hours

The police stopped traffic so that tourists could comfortably leave the Customs building. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 9 February 2024 — The British cruise ship Marella Explorer 2 returned to Havana this Friday, and, as often happens, its passengers, who bring foreign currency, have preference. A patrol guarded the area closest to the pier, and the police even stopped traffic so that the tourists could comfortably leave the Customs building, some of them carrying suitcases.

Although there were some travelers who stayed on the ship, many went for a walk and others went by bus to the nearby historic center of the Cuban capital or to other tourist places.

From land, you could glimpse the ship’s splendor, the giant screen at the edge of the pool and the huge satellite antenna. Several spas, a club-casino, bars and restaurants are some of the services offered by the cruise, which is only for adults and belongs to TUI Group of  the UK and Germany. continue reading

Marella Explorer 2 will dock at four ports to link passengers to the Island’s recreational offers.

The British cruise ship is part of the fleet of TUI Group, a leading company in tourist travel. (14ymedio)

The cruise is part of the fleet of TUI Group, a leading company in tourist travel (United Kingdom-Germany). It only allows adults and includes spa services, a club-casino, bars and restaurants.

In Old Havana, the merchants rubbed their hands together. On Obispo Street they offered an exchange rate “at a good price” – 280 pesos per dollar (the informal rate reported by El Toque for this Friday is 298). The children in the area rehearsed some phrases in English asking for “money,” and the streets near the bay again experienced the frenzy that once characterized them.

When the sun goes down, everything will be over. The tourists will return to their ship, the children of the neighborhood will return to their quarters, and the illusion of a dynamic city will have vanished. There will still be, of course, the silhouette of the Marella Explorer 2 with its swimming pools, its luxury areas and its broadband internet.

In Old Havana, the merchants rubbed their hands together after the arrival of the cruise ship. (14ymedio)

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.

The Storm Caused Flooding in Low-Lying Areas and Waves Several Feet High in Havana

Along some sections of the Malecón, the waves crashed over the wall onto the road. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 5 February 2024 — Although the government of Havana had urged measures to be taken in the face of possible flooding in some sections of the Malecón, waves rose over the wall and flooded the road, and the traffic on Monday afternoon was cut off.

In the lower areas of El Vedado the waters began to rise around five in the afternoon, and part of the Avenida de los Presidentes in the area closest to the sea began to flood.

Few people remained on the streets, and the wind dragged garbage containers for some distance. Users on social networks, residents along the Malecón, shared images that illustrated how the waves burst over the wall and inundated several streets in El Vedado.

After increasing deterioration of weather conditions on the north coast of Havana, the local government determined “the closure of circulation on Malecón Avenue” after 5 pm. “The call to stay alert and comply with the measures established in the face of this type of hydrometeorological event is reiterated,” the Government of Havana posted on its Facebook page.

Around five in the afternoon, part of the Avenida de los Presidentes in the area closest to the sea began to flood. (14ymedio)

The Institute of Meteorology predicted for Monday winds of 16 to 25 miles per hour in Havana, which would cause penetrations by the sea. The day was preceded by storms on Sunday that caused the collapse of roofs and electric poles in the neighborhood of Lawton.

There were few people on the streets in this area of the capital. (14ymedio)

The institute said that on Monday afternoon in Pinar del Río, there were gusts of winds of more than 62 miles per hour. In the Casa Blanca station, in the capital, the wind reached 57 mph, and in provinces such as Villa Clara, Camagüey and Sancti Spíritus, the gusts ranged between 45 and 55 mph.

After the increase in the deterioration of weather conditions on the north coast of the capital, the local government determined “the closure of traffic on Malecón Avenue.” (14ymedio)

Numerous showers and thunderstorms were common throughout of the day in almost the entire country. The strong winds in the capital kept some streets deserted, with people sheltering at home waiting for the end of the storm, which was predicted to last part of the night and into the early morning of Tuesday in the western part of the country.

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.

From Bus to Ambulance, a Caring Havana Driver Confronts a Hospital’s Apathy

The P15 bus outside the entrance to the Freyre de Andrade General Clinical Surgical Hospital. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 29 January 2024 — A bus travelling at full speed and persistently honking its horn crossed Carlos III Street in Central Havana on Monday morning. The vehicle, loaded with passengers at at a time of day when demand for urban transport is high, headed towards the entrance of the nearby Freyre de Andrade General Clinical Surgical Hospital, popularly known as “Emergencies.” The reason for the race against the clock? A man who was riding on the bus had fainted, which brought the bus driver’s sense of solidarity into sharp focus.

“The boy next to the man realized that he was collapsing,” reported one of the passengers as the P15 waited outside the emergency room while the driver tried to get the unconscious man to safety. “I brought him here because I am responsible while he is in my vehicle. I couldn’t let him die but now we need a doctor!” cried the employee of the Provincial Transportation Company when faced with a disinterested man cleaning the area around the gatehouse of a hospital short on physicians.

Peering out the windows, many of those waiting inside the bus became frantic, not only because the clock was ticking but also because the “rescue operation” led by the driver and supported by the passengers seemed to have run into the twin barriers of a hospital personnel shortage and the sense of apathy endemic to the Cuban public health system. Finally, the driver himself grabbed a stretcher and had to leave the patient in a hallway, alone and unattended.

Looking out the windows, many of those waiting inside the bus became frantic, not only because the clock was ticking but also because the “rescue operation” to save a man’s life. (14ymedio)

“I don’t know if it was a heart attack or if he fainted from hunger. These days, people drop like flies and the usual response is that, most likely, they didn’t have breakfast,” said a woman who was also on the bus when the incident occurred. “He was lucky the driver was a decent man but now comes the hard part, waiting for a doctor.” The cries that could be heard continue reading

coming from inside the vehicle filled the narrow access road to the hospital, leading several residents to peer down from their balconies.

“Was there a fight on the bus?” asked a passerby who heard the commotion. “No, someone fainted,” replied the companion of another patient, who was also waiting for someone in a lab coat. The P15 had to be on its way. The driver was met with applause and congratulations when he returned to the vehicle but many kept their gaze on the gatehouse as the bus pulled away. “Will he be okay?” asked one of the passengers who had helped get the man into the hospital. He was met with silence.

Faced with the big waystations of life —  birth, death, managing to reach your destination on time on a Havana bus — few people have answers.

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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.

Jose Marti Knocks Down the Increase in Gas Prices in Cuba

El Tángana gas station, in Havana, this Wednesday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 31 January 2024 — It started as a murmur. Some drivers who were waiting with their vehicles in line to buy fuel at the El Tángana gas station in Havana shared the news. “They just said it on the news,” said a driver with shortness of breath and an almost purple face. “They backtracked on the new prices,” he concluded, before the stunned gaze of the others who had been in line for days.

A few hours before the new rates came into effect, up to five times higher than the previous rates for the sale of gasoline and diesel in Cuba, the authorities have canceled the measure. The reason for the step back has been explained on national television by Mildred Granadillo de la Torre, First Deputy Minister of Economy and Planning. The official has justified the slowdown due to the occurrence of “a cybersecurity incident in the computer systems for the marketing of fuels whose origin has been identified as a virus from abroad.”

Life stopped in each Cuban service center starting a little after two in the afternoon this Wednesday, when the announcement was broadcast on national television. In other times, it would have taken hours for those who had not been in front of the television screen to find out, but, for better or worse, the Internet has shortened the time and has accelerated reactions in today’s Cuba. A few minutes after it was announced before the news microphones, the effect of the official rectification was noticeable at the gas stations. continue reading

“I spent a very cold night in this line because I knew that starting February 1, fuel would cost more. Right now I feel like they’ve laughed at me, I don’t see this as a relief, this is a mockery”

“I spent a very cold night in this line because I knew that starting February 1, fuel would cost more. Right now I feel like they are laughing at me, I don’t see this as a relief, this is a joke,” said another driver of a Lada car who had already even “made friends” with the nearby drivers of a Polski Fiat and an old American vehicle from the beginning of the 20th century. In the face of the crisis, there is no better or worse car, what counts is whether or not the owner has access to the currency, a carte blanche that, in principle soon, will facilitate access to the precious product.

And it is precisely dollars that will begin to make the difference when the new prices are implemented, postponed by the alleged hacking of the networks of the military conglomerate Cimex, which manages the gas stations on the Island. The alleged computer attack has come to add doubt to doubt and unease to a reality that was already quite immersed in unrest.

“What’s wrong with these people?” asked the driver of a Moskvitch, who this Wednesday found out about the “step back” after more than 36 hours in line to refuel in El Tángana. Behind him, the statue of José Martí, which once served for the most recalcitrant official events held in the Anti-Imperialist Platform, was seen in a peculiar and little-known foreshortening.

The sculpture, seen from the gasoline pumps, no longer showed its haughty profile this Wednesday, carrying its small son and pointing an accusing finger at the United States Embassy in Havana. Instead, it seemed timid, humble, and more down-to-earth. It summed up the feelings of frustrated drivers who did not know whether to breathe a sigh of relief or fear the worst when the date of the new rates for gasoline and diesel changed.

“Retreat!” joked on driver, paraphrasing a popular Cuban cartoon. “The Apostle* has said it: go back, we must go back,” and the long and inflexible arm of the figure seemed to agree with him. In the foreground, the screens of the fuel pumps marked a brief message: “Err” for “error” or perhaps for “eradicating” such a disastrous measure, just before it was applied.

*Translator’s note: Cubans identify José Martí [1853-1895] as the “Apostle of Cuban Independence” and he is commonly referred to simply as “the Apostle.” 

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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.

Electricity Thefts and Blackouts Go Hand in Hand in Cuba

Most of the frauds for electricity theft are carried out with the participation of workers of the Electric Union. (Escambray)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 13 January 2024 — Camila, 52 years old, checks the number on the meter up to three times a day. She leaves her apartment in the Wajay neighborhood in Havana, reaches the common area where all the devices of the five-storey building and dozens of apartments are located and takes a photo of the number shown on the screen before returning home. Four weeks ago she dropped out from a mechanism to steal electricity in complicity with an employee of the Electric Union (EU).

“When you get out of this business they punish you,” she tells 14ymedio. “I had been paying “on the left” [the informal market] for two years to get a much lower reading, but I am no longer interested in continuing. Now they are going after electricity frauds, and I don’t want to get stuck in this.” Another reason not to continue with illegal payments in exchange for a receipt with lower wattage: “My two children have emigrated, and my husband and I no longer consume so much electricity.”

For more than three years, Camila was one of the many Cubans who, in collaboration with UNE workers, received an electricity bill well below the amount of energy she actually used. “It wasn’t so much to save money, because at the end of the day I was paying; it was so I wouldn’t be noted as a high consumer,” she says. “My husband has an official position, and it is not convenient for him to get a very high reading.” continue reading

Time passed, and the couple decided to drop out of the fraud, but they fear that the employee involved in the agreement will penalize them. “When you tell him that you don’t want to continue, the next few months a high reading will arrive. It is how they can make you return to the contract and throw you to the inspectors, who suddenly see a strange increase in consumption.”

“A few weeks ago some inspectors descended on us, and it turns out that there was a cable that didn’t go through the meter clock and that we were getting our electricity from it”

Others, like Ismael, 34, entered the list of energy offenders without knowing it. “My mother and I moved from Central Havana to a larger house with a patio in the Cotorro,” he explains. “A few weeks ago some inspectors descended on us, and it turns out that there was a cable that didn’t go through the meter clock and that we were getting our electricity from it.”

Ismael says that it has nothing to do with the illegal installation of the cable. “It was left by the previous owners of the house; we didn’t even know that it existed.” But the fine came anyway. “The oversight cost me 8,000 Cuban pesos, and I did well, because in this neighborhood there are people who have had to pay more. Mine wasn’t so serious because I showed the papers for the permuta (house swap), and they saw that I had been in this house for a short time.”

Like Camila, every now and then Ismael checks his meter because he fears, this time, that some nearby neighbor will “create a bridge” and steal the electricity that he now pays for watt by watt. The crystal case, the numbers that fall as the energy passes to the house and the figure that he writes down with discipline in a notebook keep him attentive. But he warns that “in this area there are many who steal electricity by agreement with the UNE workers than those who do it on their own.”

This Friday, the official newspaper Granma revealed that 266,000 electrical crimes were detected in Cuba in 2023

This Friday, the official newspaper Granma revealed – citing the Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy – that 266,000 electrical crimes were detected in Cuba in 2023. “What is being stolen from the country by electrical fraud is almost as big as what is generated by the Antonio Guiteras thermal power plant, one of those with the largest generation capacity on the Island.”

The complaint came from an announcement that this Saturday there will be blackouts throughout the Island, especially in the “peak hours of night,” due to a deficit of 821 megawatts in the generation. The UNE reported that unit 5 of the thermoelectric plant of Mariel, the 1 of Santa Cruz, the 5 of Diez de octubre, the 1 and the 2 of the Felton and the 5 of the Renté were damaged, a series of key points in the electrical network throughout the country.

Determined to show the “human face” of the UNE official, the official press interviewed the technical director of the company, Lázaro Guerra, who offers a daily report on the situation in front of the cameras of the island’s information system. Graduated from the pre-university vocational Lenin school, from Havana, and with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Guerra was also a leader of the Union of Young Communists.

The official took advantage of the interview to exalt the “exceptional work” of the UNE and said that he had experienced situations of extreme difficulty as a manager. “The most tense moments in my career have come when the system has crashed. This has happened on some occasions due to the passage of cyclones and, in others, due to different causes.”

However, the most memorable line of the interview was his answer to the question of why he was “so serious” on Cuban Television: “I don’t think I can announce a blackout with a smile; I don’t think I can do it.”

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.

Cuba: Aguas de la Habana Surrenders in Nuevo Vedado and the Neighbors Take It Easy

They chose to put the table in the shade, and the middle of the street was the only shady place they could find. (14ymedio)

14ymedio biggerNatalia López Moya, Havana, January 02, 2024 — In the first days of January the noise of nearby Rancho Boyeros Avenue calms down, but the clacking of dominoes echoes in the neighborhood. The neighbors of Marino Street on the corner of Santa Ana, in Nuevo Vedado, take advantage of the holidays to put out the table and look for their double nine. This 2024, although diminished by emigration, they have greater reasons to get outside: after months in which an excavation prevented transit through their block, now the hole has been filled by Aguas de La Habana, although the work is a mess.

“At least we didn’t have to spend Christmas with all this full of water and mosquitoes,” acknowledges Amanda, one of the neighbors who, for more than three months, saw how the excavation was emptied of workers and became “a lagoon.” State employees repaired a leaking pipe that gets its water from the Palatino water treatment plant, built at the end of the 19th century in the municipality of Cerro.

The break in the pipe left a part of the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución without water, and, despite the triumphant official deadlines, the work lasted until December. “We were climbing the walls; on this block there is pizza business, a privately-owned business and several rental houses. All in the red because when people got to the corner they were scared looking at that hole full of water,” another neighbor confirms to this newspaper. continue reading

After months in which an excavation prevented traffic through the block, now the hole has been filled by Aguas de La Habana. (14ymedio)

Nobody knows if the breakage of the pipe was finally solved, or if, overcome by the magnitude of the damage, the workers of Aguas de La Habana only covered the hole to placate the nearby residents. “After weeks when nothing happened, one day they arrived in the morning and began to throw in dirt, but the brigades never showed up to cover it with asphalt so this now looks like a country town.”

For years, the neighbors of Marino Street had been complaining about the deterioration of the road that passed over the pipeline. The street had been sinking for a long time, and many warned of its possible collapse. In mid-2023, a pothole became so alarming that residents chose to put up a warning sign on their own, trying to avoid a misfortune.

To attract attention, they reported that many of the officials of the nearby Ministry of Agriculture parked their vehicles on that street and also evoked the imperatives of the nearby Panataxi base, the fleet of “yellows” destined to transport tourists from José Martí International Airport to Havana. Not to mention the adjoining exit point for ambulances.

The urgency didn’t much matter. Aguas de La Habana took its time and much more. This January, between red signs of “do not pass,” stones extracted from the substrate that mimicked a Martian landscape and frustration for so many months sunk in the mud and waiting, the neighbors of Marino Street decided to try their luck. They chose to set the table in a shady area, but the shade was in the street. A few meters away, the poorly-packed, soft earth warned of the danger: below the surface, nothing has been solved.

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.

Misogynist Graffiti in Havana Becomes an Enigmatic Message

Two men taking a break on Thursday in front of a hand-painted sign at the corner of Belascoaín and Zanja streets.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia Lopez Moya, Havana, 4 January 2024 — “I buy women in bad shape,” the message read back in April, when 14ymedio first reported on it. As of a few days ago, all that was left were the words “in bad shape,” which now seem like a cryptic description of that corner, of the city and of Cuba itself.

On Thursday, two men were sitting in front of it, taking a break. Some passersby could not help but make a joke. “Look what you’re doing there in front of that sign criticizing the state,” a security guard from the nearby Banco Metropolitano remarked ironically. Only then did both individuals turn their heads and read the words.

One of them got up a few seconds later and continued on his way. The other wasted no time picking up the bag he had left on the ground and also walked hurriedly away from the site. This odd, green-lettered graffiti no longer carries the suggestion of mockery or harm to women but rather something worse in the eyes of many Cubans: “an anti-government slogan” in the words of a resident on nearby Tetuán Street. continue reading

That’s how it’s been for months. No one seemed to care. My prediction is that it won’t long before they erase it completely.

“That’s how it’s been for months. No one seemed to care. My prediction is that it won’t be long before it’s gone completely,” she concluded. The question for some residents is why the person who got rid the the first four words did not go to the trouble to erase the rest. “It looks like they did it with the same paint as the wall, so they must have been well-organized.”

In a country where the number of murdered women just keeps growing due to inaction by the state, this enigmatic phrase is more frightening than the previous sexist statement.

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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.

Paying with Hard Currency Cards, A Scam for Tourists in Cuba

A ticket just to enjoy the Tropicana show regularly ranges between $75 and $95, depending on whether it is standard or premium. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 4 January 2024 — Twinkling lights, sculptural bodies and music. The propaganda about the Tropicana cabaret in Havana has barely changed in decades. The environment has changed and customers looking for a night of relaxation will have to overcome some obstacles, including the method of payment: a convoluted and frustrating mechanism that many see as a scam.

“They told us just to come and pay the entrance, but it is more complicated,” lamented an American this Saturday, at the  entrance of Havana’s most famous cabaret. The man, who traveled to the island with a group that had previously toured several Cuban evangelical communities, found that entry to the “paradise under the stars” could only be paid with magnetic cards, not cash. And the magnetic card had to be one bought in Cuba, loaded with ‘freely convertible currency’ [MLC].*

A ticket to just enjoy the Tropicana show regularly ranges between $75 and $95, depending on whether it is standard or Premium. If dinner is included, it can cost up to $120 and, this Sunday, December 31, as a special New Year’s Eve offer, with several services included, each person had to pay $300 dollars with the promise of also enjoying a special presentation of the dancers. continue reading

At the suggestion of a Tropicana employee, one of the foreigners went to a nearby hotel and bought a ’hard currency’ card on which he deposited 800 dollars

“American cards do not work, so to enter they have to buy one in freely convertible currency [MLC]”, the employee at the Tropicana access checkpoint clarified to the group. With night already falling and temperatures cool for Havana, the last thing the anxious customers wanted was to delay their entry and postpone the first drink of rum to warm up their bodies.

Prepaid cards in Cuban ‘MLC’ are purchased at airports, hotels and the Island’s exchange offices known as ’Cadecas’. The cards can then be used to pay for hotel reservations, excursions, purchase of airline tickets, in stores, to rent a car, and to eat in restaurants. Their main function is to help travelers from the United States overcome the restrictions that the embargo imposes on financial operations between both countries.

However, after its implementation in mid-2021, what should have been a convenience has become a headache due to the continuous connection problems between the businesses that use them and the Central Bank. Distrust also accompanies this form of payment, which many tourists see as a nuisance, since it involves waiting in line to get them and, in addition, any balance that is not used on the Island is lost.

At the suggestion of a Tropicana employee, one of the foreigners went to a nearby hotel and bought an MLC card on which he deposited $800, an amount that covered the cost of entry for all the members of his group. But, his problems had just begun. “When we went to swipe the card, the device did not read it. We tried, but nothing,” the saddened tourist told 14ymedio.

Once, twice, three times and the device screen always gave an error message. “We have problems communicating with the bank,” insisted another employee, who assured that the payment terminal was “working perfectly for non-US Visa or Mastercard cards,” but “since the afternoon it has been having problems with the MLC cards,” an explanation that left the customers overwhelmed.

“We are losing money, because there are people who, when they find out that they have to go back to the hotel and buy an MLC card they do not return for the show”

“We are losing money, because there are people who, when they find out that they have to return to the hotel and buy a card an MLC card, they do not return for the show,” a tourist guide who frequently takes groups of foreigners to visit the Tropicana acknowledges to this newspaper. “Everyone knows that it would be best if tourists could pay in dollars directly, but they don’t want to implement that for fear that the fulas [dollars] will end up in the workers’ pockets.”

“To prevent employees from pocketing part of the ticket money [which they do by giving a fake or recycled ticket to some tourists] they have created a mechanism that does not work and that only brings headaches to visitors,” he complains. Finally, after several attempts, the Americans paid with a Visa card from a bank in Spain that one of them, with business in that country, had on him.

“The problem is that these cards in MLC are not refundable, now they have to spend the money they deposited on it because they are not going to get it back even if the card has not worked due to problems for which they are not at all to blame,” emphasizes the official guide. “It can’t be done like that, we all lose from this.”

After obstacles at the entrance, the group of American tourists managed to access the Tropicana. But the night was no longer what they projected. Hanging over them was the question of how they were going to manage, in less than the 48 hours they had left in Cuba, to recover the 800 dollars deposited on the card. The guide, embarrassed, clarified that they could only withdraw Cuban pesos from ATMs – at the official rate of 120 CUP per dollar – or transfer the amount in MLC to the account of a relative or friend on the Island.

More than a cultural spectacle, the ‘paradise under the stars’ seemed, to the overwhelmed Americans that Saturday, a complete representation of the Cuban absurdity.

*Translator’s note: The irony is that the MLC cards must be bought with foreign credit cards, but the American cards cannot be used for anything else, and the MLC cards are worthless outside of 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.

Flooded and Full of Rubbish, Havana Prepares Itself For More Storms this Weekend

This week’s winds took down one of the emblematic trees in Brotherhood Park. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 15 December 2023 – After the dearth of any official information or warnings prior to last weekend’s heavy rains, the Cuban authorities have been under pressure to put out warnings that this coming Saturday and Sunday there will be storms in the west of the country, and especially in Havana. In the capital, flooded after several days of rain, and with rubbish bins overflowing, residents were trying to prepare themselves, on Friday, for several coming days of being confined indoors.

In Central Havana one can see evidence of the continuous rainfall of the last few days. People queued outside bakeries, food ration stores and state-run shops that sell the so-called “free modules” which offered only detergent, vegetable oil, cigarettes and chicken picadillo. People have to get the rest of their provisions on the informal market or from private shops, at extremely higher prices.

In Plaza de Carlos III, the biggest shopping centre in the neighbourhood, the queue stretched right around the corner and one could see the desperation on the faces of many of those who were waiting. “They say things are going to get ugly”, one elderly woman feared as she waited to buy her family’s module, which is also called a “combo”. The institute of meteorology has forecast heavy coastal rain, with possibly very intense rainfall, for the weekend.

People have been becoming more worried as the morning has progressed: many fear that the city is defenceless in the face of any inclement climate effect. “All that rubbish which has accumulated over there, there’s no time to collect it, and not even bringing in the army could get rid of it in time before the weather gets worse”, says Javier, a resident who lives on the continue reading

corner of Royo and San Martín in central Havana, where a mountain of waste has been collecting over several weeks.

Rubbish on Royo and San Martín, Central Havana, on Friday. (14ymedio)

On San Francisco and San Rafael the picture is the same – the rubbish mounts up and spreads out from the corner to almost half way across the block. Much of it also blocks the drainage grates which ought to be carrying the rainwater away – another cause for concern for the locals. Although their principal fear continues to be the possibility of building collapses.

“We’re going to my mother’s house because this roof is in a very bad state”, Yamilé, a resident of Gervasio/Laguna (San Leopoldo) tells 14ymedio. “Here, there’s always the danger of seawater ingress”, notes a woman who lives just 100 metres from the Malecón sea wall. “But this time we’re leaving not because of that but because we fear the heavy rain”.

“Water up there and water down here, a terrible combination”, adds Yamilé, who lives in a building dating from the 1920’s. “As we live on the first floor*, the seawater affects us mainly by contaminating the water tank, but if it’s also raining for days on end then it’s certain that the roof is going to be leaking as well”.

The streets, awash from all the rainfall, and having faulty drains as well, wouldn’t appear to be able to take any more water if the rain continues. “I’ve had to keep trying to dodge the puddles but it’s difficult because they’re everywhere”, says a worker from a state business premises on Calle Infanta.

This week’s winds took down one of the emblematic trees in Brotherhood Park, a key passenger transport hub, given the number of bus stops and private taxi ranks nearby. “It’s been like that for more than 24 hours and they haven’t come to clear it up”, complained a local resident who not only feared even further and greater damage but she also believed that “this tree could still be saved”.

After midday, the situation became worse and the winds grew stronger across the city, which coincided with the meteorological forecast of an imminent arrival on the island of an extra-tropical cyclone.

*Translator’s note: The ’first floor’, in Cuba as in much of the world, means the floor above the ’ground floor’.

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.

‘Fama y Aplausos’, the 20 Story Havana Building That Has Become a Hell

The current description is far from what the 20-story massive structure looked like two decades ago. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 14 December 2023 — A quick touch with the index finger and middle finger on the shoulder is the key to knowing that the building known as Fama y Aplausos (Fame and Applause), on the corner of Infanta and Manglar in Havana, is the home of important official spokespeople who handed out national awards of various categories to figures who stood out during the ideological offensive at the beginning of this century: the Battle of Ideas.

“This is no longer what it was, nor does it look like it did when I moved here,” a plastic artist who has lived in the place since its inauguration and prefers anonymity tells 14ymedio. “Not only has the entire building deteriorated, the area, which was always a little controversial because of the neighborhoods nearby, has become very dangerous. At night no one goes out or receives visitors. They lift weights.”

A tour of the surroundings is enough to see the mountains of filth, the streets full of potholes, the peeling walls and the dirty perimeter wall with cracks. On a corner, a poster with an image of José Martí highlights one of his phrases: “This is a virtuous time and you have to melt into it.” A few meters from the exterior gardens of the building, there are only mud and weeds left.

The streets full of potholes, the peeling walls and the dirty perimeter wall with cracks. (14ymedio)

The nearby Pan-American store that even attracted residents of other neighborhoods for its “good assortment” is now a place that only sells products for the so-called ’released module’ — that is food and other items sold outside the ration system — as 14ymedio was able to verify this Wednesday. A bored custodian still remains in Fama y Aplausos, a remnant of the old team that guarded the place. continue reading

But the current description is far from what the 20-story building looked like two decades ago. Immaculate corridors, elevators that were quickly repaired when they broke, a reception area on the ground floor that made the visitor give chapter and verse about the person he was visiting, lights on the outside and an immaculate white paint on the facade stoked the curiosity of nearby neighbors.

Randy Alonso, director of Cubadebate, and Rosa Miriam Elizalde, main spokesperson for the media war against the independent press, were among the beneficiaries of an apartment in the building. They were chosen to receive the award for flattering, putting on makeup and lying. Of those “illustrious” inhabitants there are hardly any left, because they passed “to a better life” and now enjoy independent houses in more select neighborhoods.

Among the current residents, of course, there are figures of the plastic arts, outstanding filmmakers, troubadours who have supported with their music many political acts they were called to support. For them, however, the Infanta y Manglar building is not the same place “that made it seem like you were in another country,” according to a neighbor, but a real hell of accumulated garbage, dark corridors, broken elevators and a total absence of cleaning personnel.

A long text, published by art critic Jorge Rivas on Facebook, complains that “dozens of people, among these sick and disabled children and the elderly, are practically stranded in their respective apartments due to the impossibility of going down the stairs.” The breakdown, 20 days ago, of one of the elevators, and the exit from service, years ago, of the other, have left them in that situation. But moving from the bottom up is not the only problem.

“Almost all the floors are totally dark, the cleaning staff left en masse, there is trash everywhere, including a gigantic garbage dump that the Company of Comunales maintained for months in front of the place,” adds Rivas, who regrets that the management of the property passed, years ago, from the hands of the state-owned Habana Inmuebles to the Provincial Directorate of Housing of Havana, which barely has the resources to maintain it. “It only mismanages what was once a respectable building,” he says.

Rivas clarifies that although “ministers, deputy ministers and other ’important’ managers, of a high ’level,’ who in the past urged everyone to maintain order, no longer live in the place, but “great personalities of culture, journalism and sports continue to reside in the building, among them national award winners and medalists, but above all, there are human beings, women, children and the elderly who live here.”

Rivas categorizes everything that happened as a “public shame” for a building that was popularly described “as Fame and Applause and that now is called the Building from Hell.”

But this is not the first vicissitude that the property experienced. For more than a decade, the corner of Infanta and Mangrove showed an unfinished ’pile’, which was stuck with the arrival of the Special Period and the end of the microbrigades, supported by the Soviet subsidy.

The bricklayers who started by raising the foundations with the illusion of obtaining an apartment in the property saw how their project for a home was going to end. The building became one of the many modern ruins, like other unfinished works, that were seen in the Havana of the Special Period.

On a corner, a poster with an image of José Martí highlights one of his phrases. (14ymedio)

At the end of the 90s, the nearby neighbors saw the return of the cranes, the trucks with cement and some builders who would not reside there after the inauguration. Instead of the original micro-brigades, the owners would be selected for their political, artistic or journalistic merits.

In the middle of the official campaign to bring the child Elián González back to Cuba, some voices stood out that immediately saw their enthusiasm compensated with the key to a new home in the place. That’s when it began to be known as Fame and Applause, because singers, film directors, cartoonists, ministers, reporters and actors began to move in.

For many of those beneficiaries, obtaining their own home made them even more committed to the official discourse, and their public projection increased a few degrees in unconditionality. The illuminated parking lot on the ground floor of the building was quickly filled with modern cars that came to complete the already bulky privilege of an apartment.

However, the exodus in the artistic and intellectual sector, the proximity of several slums that were not to the liking of the residents and the rise in la nomenclatura that allowed some to move to El Vedado, Miramar and Siboney caused several casualties among the most illustrious inhabitants.

The other part was the passage of time, laziness and the lack of maintenance. The property that was once considered a medal for its inhabitants now has more problems than joys. Gone is the fame; not even the applause remains.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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