Natalia López Moya – Translating Cuba

The Revolt of the Black Beans in Cuba

“A pound is so expensive that I haven’t given myself that luxury in a long time”

Given the maximum price decreed by the Havana authorities, many merchants have put the black bean aside because it is not profitable / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 21 July 2024 — It is the litmus test for those who prepare Cuban recipes. Anyone can graduate in tostones or ropa vieja, but the diploma of skill in traditional dishes is only obtained after making a good thick stew of black beans. The exam is difficult to pass: you have to achieve the exact point of thickness, the restrained touch of flavor and the correct consistency of the beans, without making them too hard. It is something that takes practice, time and a long history of failed attempts.

An apparently simple recipe, which doesn’t need added protein, which causes so many headaches on this Island, black beans are the fragmentation mine hidden in the daily recipe book. A chef who serves grilled lobsters and receives a wide smile from the diners can fail miserably with this indispensable legume at Cuban tables. The cook is known, in these cases, for what she serves with the ladle and not for what she takes out of the oven or the frying pan.

But it’s not all a matter of skill in the kitchen. The quality of the bean can derail any sacrifice or reward a simple beginner. “It can’t be done hastily,” summarizes Niurka, a 62-year-old Habanera who lost “half my life in several pressure cooker explosions” trying to find the right amount of pressure for the stew. “If the bean is not good, it doesn’t integrate well with the broth and becomes an empty and tasteless shell.” continue reading

Black beans are the fragmentation mine hidden in the daily recipe book

“It must be a small bean, and it has to look shiny. I always ask the seller to let me bite one, because if I can sink my tooth into it, it will soften,” the woman explains to 14ymedio. However, her peculiar quality test can barely be put into practice. “A pound of black beans is so expensive that I haven’t given myself that luxury in a long time.

The last time the product appeared on the tables of the agromarket on 19th and B Street in El Vedado, Havana, it cost 400 pesos per pound. This was on Friday, July 12, and just that day the governor of the capital, Yanet Hernández Pérez, signed a resolution capping the maximum prices of several agricultural products. The rule affects 21 foods and has now caused the disappearance of several of them.

Last November black beans exceeded the barrier of 500 pesos per pound / 14ymedio

Under the new regulations, merchants are obliged to sell a pound of black beans for a maximum of 300 pesos. The effect was noticed immediately, and this week only chickpeas and green beans were on sale in the emblematic Havana agromarket . “I won’t have any profit buying at that price, because I have to pay 350 or more per pound,” explains a seller. The market, known for its wide variety of produce, vegetables and fruits, also stands out for the presentation of its merchandise. These qualities, along with their high prices, have earned it the praise of La Boutique. “They always pack the beans very well; you can see that they are clean, without stones or dirt,” says a frustrated customer who this Friday arrived at 19 and B precisely to buy some black beans. “I had bad luck, and now they’re playing hide-and-seek.”

Merchants are forced to sell a pound of black beans for a maximum of 300 pesos

In recent days, the imposition of capped prices have hit six products sold by MSMEs and has caused some of those items to disappear, giving rise to popular sarcasm, which speaks of the “kidnapping of the chicken.” Despite the fines for merchants who withdraw the merchandise for disagreeing with the unilateral measures of the authorities, the bird still does not appear in the shops.

The agomarkets seemed to have been saved from this official raid, but the new rules signed by the governor have already begun to cause a shock. However, some Cubans welcome the measure and believe it could help end the unstoppable rise in price that black beans have experienced until recently.

In July 2023 each pound of the product was sold at 220 pesos in the market at 19 and B, but the price climbed as Christmas approached, when family dinners include, almost compulsorily, beans, which cost 550 pesos between November and December of that year. “It has become priceless,” summarized an old woman who approached the market on San Rafael and Belascoaín Street in Central Havana this Satrday, where a pound was offered at 350.

The bean that was for sale, in an improvised stall on the sidewalk, was imported. In recent years, the bean brought from abroad and from Mexican, Spanish or well-known American Goya brands has ended up displacing the national legume. “It has a better presentation, is cleaner and is sure to be good when cooked,” is how the woman summarized her preference for foreign food.

The exam to graduate in Cuban cuisine has come up with a new obstacle. It is not enough to make the stew thick, and that the added dried pepper be just enough, the cumin not be exceeded and the bay leaf be present. No, it is not enough to put in the exact amount of salt or the splash of olive oil that the grandmothers emphasized while the grandchildren looked at them as if they were speaking another language.

Now you have to have a good stack of Cuban bills to buy them and “go out on a search and capture mission to find them,” said another frustrated customer who went to the market for black beans and exploded like those pressure cookers that have left a dark stain on the ceiling of so many Cuban kitchens.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Roseland, a Hard-Currency Store, Closed Due to Leaks

Problems have been growing, especially in the basement, where food items are sold.

The Roseland store on the corner of Neptuno and Águila streets in Central Havana

Havana, Natalia López Moya, July 12, 2024 — A crude sign sits on top of a shopping basket that blocks the entrance to the Roseland store on the corner of Neptuno and Águila streets in Central Havana. The makeshift message warns customers wanting to enter that it is “closed due to leaks.” The situation has been going on for several days despite the fact that the store only accepts freely convertible foreign currency (MLC) as payment and does several thousands of dollars worth of business a day.

“It seems like a joke that this is happening here. It would be understandable in a store that accepted Cuban pesos but this is supposed to be a place with high-end products for consumers who can afford to pay a lot,” complained one woman from the outskirts of Havana with a baby in her arms on Friday. She had come to the store hoping to buy some canned fruit. “It’s the third time I’ve seen this same sign. It’s as if no one cares that Roseland is losing money because it’s closed to the public.”

Located in one of the most iconic buildings in this area of Havana, the store sells grocery items, toiletries and a wide variety of home appliances. It is owned and operated by Cimex, a corporation run by the Cuban military. In spite of its high prices, however, little has been spent on repairs or improvements since the store opened. The problems have been growing, especially in the basement, where food products are sold. continue reading

“It would be understandable in a store that accepted Cuban pesos but this is supposed to be a place with high-end products for consumers who can afford to pay a lot”

“It’s a problem that’s has been going on for years. If it had been handled sooner, it wouldn’t have been as expensive to fix as now,” explains one resident of this downtown building, which also houses spacious apartments with terraces overlooking the city skyline. “It gives a very bad impression to get here and see the ground floor like this. People get worried when they see that sign.” Suspicion is not a trivial matter in a property where residents rent out rooms to tourists.

Currently, there are several apartments for sale in the building, with prices approaching 50,000 dollars. Their owners are concerned that a potential buyer might get to the well-known corner and notice the leak warning. “The first thing anyone would think is that the structure of the building might be affected,” says the resident. “We all lose. The store isn’t making money and it’s harder for us to attract buyers.”

In an online real estate ad for one the apartments, there is a photograph of a sunset taken from one of the wide balconies. Another shows a table full of fruit that foreign tourists can enjoy while looking out over one of the most centrally located areas of the Cuban capital. In none of the images are there any damp spots or walls through which water is seeping. The glamorous, comfortable building is good at hiding its feet of clay.

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Ten Days Guarding the Manzanares Building To Prevent the Theft of Belongings

A building collapse forced the residents to leave their apartments and they don’t want to lose everything

The collapse of part of an apartment created a domino effect / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 3 July 2024 — San Francisco Street at the corner of Carlos III, in Central Havana, is still closed with a yellow ribbon and an old wicker sofa that prevents the passage of vehicles. Since part of the emblematic Manzanares building collapsed on Sunday, June 23, several affected neighbors have been stationed in the surroundings to avoid the looting of their belongings. This Wednesday, the arrival of some wooden beams, to shore up the entrance, gave them some hope of being able to evacuate some clothes and appliances.

The posts, brought by the state brigade that works on the collection of the interior debris, were placed on the asphalt, very close to the facade at the number 912, a wall full of moisture that for years showed the problems that affected one of the icons of art deco in Havana. With long faces, the victims who have been watching on the street calculated whether those reused wooden beams with signs of deterioration will also be able to support the structure and allow them to access their apartments.

The victims watch on the street, calculating whether the beams, with signs of deterioration, will be able to support the structure

Inside, the panorama is much more serious than can be seen from the outside. The collapse of part of an apartment on an upper floor, which began in the patio area, created a domino effect continue reading

that dragged down the apartments on the lower floors. The mountain of debris exceeds the height of a man, and the pieces of wall piled up have dimensions that are impossible to carry without heavy machinery. A hill of stones and twisted steel blocks the passage to the rest of the building.

San Francisco Street on the corner with Carlos III, in Centro Habana / 14ymedio

Above the ruins, the sun is reflected through the hole where once there were small interior balconies where the families hung their clothes. “The question is no longer whether we will be able to return to our homes but if we will be able to save some things that remained inside,” an old woman, who claims not to have moved from the place since that fateful Sunday, told 14ymedio. “We began to feel a bit of sand falling from above and we went out. Then we heard the roar, and we lost everything: ceiling, beds, televisions and even the food we had in the refrigerators.”

Now the residents hope to arrive before the thieves, who climb rooftops, go down drain pipes and come at night

Now, the the residents hope to arrive before the thieves, who climb rooftops, go down drain pipes and come at night, approaching the wallet that was left on the table, the crucifix inherited from a grandmother that hangs on a wall or the electric pot which until two weeks ago a family used to cook rice. It is a race against the clock in which they are the ones who lose: the walls of rubble prevent them from entering what was once their home.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Flowers for One of the Many Defunct ATMs in Cuba

The ATM machine at the Metropolitan Bank of Estancia and Conill, in Havana, was a spectacle this Monday

The spontaneous offering confirmed that they had perished from breakdowns and the deficit of Cuban pesos / Cuba]

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 2 July 2024 — A flower on the keyboard of an ATM at the Banco Metropolitano de Estancia y Conill, in Havana, was the spectacle that greeted customers who arrived early this Monday to withdraw cash. Both ATMs were out of service, and the spontaneous offering confirmed that they had perished from breakdowns and the deficit of Cuban pesos.

Shortly thereafter, one of the ATMs was refilled, and the line grew as the morning progressed. Even the bank of Nuevo Vedado had residents coming from the nearby neighborhood of El Cerro, who walked from the vicinity of the Almendares River on 26th Avenue and some other neighborhood of the Boyeros municipality, where “there is no money in any branch,” as explained by someone who paid 200 pesos to ride in an almendrón (a shared taxi) in order to be able to collect her retirement.

The line moved very slowly. After noon, some of those who were waiting despaired and left, but workers from the nearby ministries and state agencies that abound in the area also arrived. “It’s my lunch hour, but I’m going to spend it trying to get my salary from last month,” said an employee who finally gave up in the face of the prolonged wait, aggravated by an interruption to recharge the device with cash, which forced the rapid depletion of the bills. continue reading

The murmur of customer dissatisfaction continued until a scream caught everyone’s attention: “They’re out of money!

After one o’clock in the afternoon, a scream invaded the line. Two employees of the Metropolitan Bank itself, who were in line, although they had spent most of their time inside the air-conditioned premises, came out, both with several credit cards in their hands, to extract money. “We are forbidden to take cash out of the window so we have to take it, like everyone else, from the ATM,” one of the women defended herself against the numerous complaints about the time they took with all the operations and the danger that the women would grab the few pesos that were left.

Finally, the bank workers took their dozens of bills and returned to the branch. The murmur of dissatisfaction of the customers was maintained for a while until a scream caught everyone’s attention: “They’re out of money!” A frustrated old man, standing in front of the ATM, removed his expelled magnetic card without receiving any cash. “Tomorrow will be another lost day for me,” he sighed.

The stampede wasn’t long in coming. As in those wakes where the coffee is finished and the chairs in front of the deceased’s coffin are broken or uncomfortable, people left the ATMs to rest in peace, with their screens off, their insides empty and the floral offering now withered by the passing of the hours.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Another Building Collapse in a Central Corner of Centro Habana Alarms the Neighbors

“We saw that the crack that went from the roof to the balcony began to open more and the façade leaned forward,” say neighbors of the property at Consulado and Virtues Streets

The Building collapsed this Friday, at Consulado and Virtudes, Centro Habana / Facebook / Yuamari Morales

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, June 28, 2024 – The collapse of part of a two-story building, located on the corner of Consulado and Virtudes streets in Centro Habana, has set off alarms among the residents of one of the Cuban capital’s neighborhoods most affected by the deterioration. In the area, which is very busy and densely populated, there are numerous tenements and houses on the verge of collapse.

“We saw that the crack that went from the roof to the balcony began to open more and the facade leaned forward,” said a neighbor who witnessed, from her window, the fall of the first fragments of the wall, speaking to 14ymedio by phone. The woman lives across the street, in the building where the Havana Musical Theater used to be, which has fallen into ruin and become a public trash dump since it closed in 1989.

The building, built around the 1920s and in a neoclassical style, has experienced a lack of general maintenance

Vehicle traffic is closed in the area, both on Virtudes and on Consulado Streets, but “there is no good signage so that people do not walk here and you can see people passing by the rubble that fell, that is very dangerous,” she laments. The neoclassical style property, built around the 1920s, has suffered a lack of general maintenance and successive changes.

In addition to wooden platforms — colloquially called barbacoas [barbecues] — built in the rooms to increase the horizontal space, wooden or brick partitions have been added to divide the rooms. “A few years ago, several balconies collapsed, there were serious leaks and in the same corner you could see that the construction was very damaged, it was very damp.” continue reading

With the rains of the last few days, “the crack became wider and we all knew what was going to happen,” the woman stressed. On social media, other residents in the vicinity have lamented the danger that surrounds them. One of these is Yaumari Morales, who lives a few meters from the collapse: “it is on the same corner of my house where many people walk, where my son walks to get bread. How sad how this country is falling into pieces.”

“Now the garbage that is always on this corner has mixed with the rubble, we are going to need a fire ladder to enter our house,” laments another resident of the Havana Musical Theater building. Under its balconies, the mountain of waste borders the entire property and mixes with the pieces of wall that have fallen from the house directly in front.

The rains that have begun to intensify over the Cuban capital as the afternoon progresses this Friday have paralyzed the demolition work at various times

The rains that have begun to intensify over the Cuban capital as this Friday afternoon progresses have paralyzed the demolition work at various times. For the weekend, showers and possible intense precipitation are also forecast in western Cuba. A tropical wave that advances through the Atlantic towards the Caribbean Sea also keeps Havana residents in suspense.

The intense storm of recent days has caused dozens of building collapses in the Cuban capital, one person dead and several injured. Last Friday, an official source, who preferred anonymity, informed this newspaper that 19 partial collapses had occurred in the city due to rainfall, but in the following days the number continued to grow.

Last Sunday night, one of the most emblematic buildings in the capital, the Manzanares Building , suffered an internal collapse. Around 9:20 pm, a skid collapsed, dragging in its wake the entire bathroom and kitchen area of the lower floors, at number 912 San Francisco Street, one of the entrances to the apartment complex.

Just two days ago, it was the historic Casa de Doña Luz Godínez de Diago, the 19th century building located at number 1360 Calzada del Cerro, which suffered the collapse of part of its façade and roof.

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Despite an Abundant Harvest, the Price of Mango Has Skyrocketed to 80 Pesos a Pound

The fruit now costs four times more than it did in June 2021

Mangoes for sale in a produce market at 17th and K streets in Havana’s Vedado district / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 16 June 2024 — “This year is going to be tough,” warned Mauricio when he saw his mango bush covered in flowers a few months ago. Despite living in Havana for more than half a century, this 79-year-old Cienfuegos native still relies on the wisdom of the peasants with whom he grew up. “If it’s full of flowers, it means it will be a time of hunger and want,” he said at the time. And he was not wrong.

The end of May’s rain signals the start of mango season, when consumers can begin enjoying one of the most iconic fruits of the Cuban countryside. Although one can always find trees that bear fruit year-round, or have growth cycles that last months, summer is more commonly the time to savor all the varieties available on the island.

“Those lucky enough to have a mango bush in their garden are safe. They don’t have to pay for it and can even sell whatever they might have left over”

Bizcochuelo, manga, filipino, mamey (named for its reddish pulp), Super-Haden and hilacha are among the many varieties that appear nowadays at market stalls and on pushcarts of street vendors making the rounds through Havana neighborhoods. At the produce market on 19th and B streets in Vedado, which has a much wider and costlier selection than similar operations in the capital, mango season has come early this year. The mangoes here are shiny, with their reddish, green and orange tones on full display. continue reading

At 80 pesos a pound, the price of a single mango can easily be in the three digits. A bag of them can cost more than 1,000 pesos. Though this year’s harvest seems to be off to a good start, the abundant supply has not resulted in lower prices. Mangoes now cost four times more than they did in June 2021.

At 80 pesos a pound, the price of a single mango can easily be in the three digits. A bag of them can cost more than 1,000 pesos. Though this year’s production seems off to a good start, the abundant supply has resulted in lower prices. Mangoes now cost four times more than they did in June 2021. / 14ymedio

That was the year when currency unification took effect and the convertible peso was abolished. At that time, a pound of mango from the produce market at 19th and B streets cost 20 pesos. It was already going up by the start of the 2022 season before settling at 30 pesos a pound. However, 2023 was when it jumped to 50 pesos as measured by a weekly survey of produce markets conducted by 14ymedio.

“Those lucky enough to have a mango bush in their garden are safe. They don’t have to pay for it and can even sell whatever they might have left over,” says Mauricio, who lives in Havana’s Cotorro neighborhood. “But it’s also a headache because you have to keep an eye out to make sure no one steals them. By the time the bush stops producing, almost no one in this house can close their eyes.”

“The amount of mango we get in July and August is enormous. I don’t know what we would do without that bush”

Mauricio sells some of his crop to several private dealers and a nearby cafe that uses them to make milkshakes. “I pocket a few pesos, which isn’t bad. My wife also makes mango jam and mango slices in syrup, which are a big help in the summer when the grandkids are on vacation and constantly asking for food.”

“The amount of mango we get in July and August is enormous. I don’t know what we would do without that bush, he says.” September, however, is another story. “By then, we are sick of mangoes because we’ve eaten so many. Sometimes I trade them for rice or something else that we need.”

This year, Mauricio’s family is bracing itself for a season with lots of mango but very little else to eat. The flowers that he saw blooming so profusely a few months earlier on the tree in his patio were a warning: “We’re all going to be the color of mango because that’s all we’ll be eating morning, noon and night.”

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Almost Twenty Building Collapses in Havana Cause One Death and Several Injured

In addition to Old Havana and Cerro, the glamorous neighborhoods of El Vedado and Miramar are also affected.

Several neighbors of the municipality of Playa in front of the building that collapsed / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, June 22, 2024 — A group of shocked and curious neighbors crowded this Friday in front of a building, in the shape of a small castle, on 26th Street between 27th and 29th Street in the municipality of Playa, Havana. A crack appeared in the building this morning while a crevice advanced on the facade, and, a bit later, part of its upper floor collapsed.

The recent rains have caused at least 19 partial collapses in the Cuban capital, according to an official source consulted by 14ymedio, who prefers anonymity. There were several injured in those incidents and even one death in the collapse of a wall on Calzada del Cerro, between Patria and Carvajal. The downpours have affected the housing infrastructure, which has lacked maintenance for decades. There has been no government investment in the residential housing stock, and families have been forced to crowd together, in an improvised way, into divided spaces.

Surrounded by an intense police and State Security operation, the perimeter around the collapse seemed, this afternoon, like a war zone. “Fortunately, no one was injured,” clarified an old woman who, close to a stall of agricultural products, had become an improvised source of information for newcomers, given the secrecy of the officials. continue reading

“I was in my house and I screamed, I thought it was a wedding, but no, it was a collapse,” said a woman who claims to have been “born and raised” in the neighborhood next to luxurious tourist accommodations, headquarters of foreign companies and foreign embassies with a meticulous garden and a freshly painted facade.

The property that suffered the collapse of part of its structure was built in the first half of the twentieth century and in an architectural style that mixes the functionality of the spaces with certain aesthetic details of grandiloquence much appreciated by the Cuban bourgeoisie that was stripped of its properties after the arrival of Fidel Castro to power.

The images transmitted on social networks show how a crack was enlarged on one side of the facade while the neighbors shouted to summon the residents of the house to leave as soon as possible. The voices expressed their concern for a girl who was among the residents who were trying to evacuate the house.

“Run, run, get the girl out!” a man and a woman are heard screaming, while the top of the structure collapses and leaves a trail of debris in front of the building. When the cloud of dust falls, neighbors of the surrounding buildings are seen leaving their homes in search of shelter. In the face of a collapse, no one feels safe. “They are major forces,” said a resident on the sidewalk right in front. Despite the widespread idea that building collapses only occur in the poorest and oldest neighborhoods of Havana, residents in the vicinity of the castle, damaged by decades of neglect, rains and weather, know that in any area of the capital buildings can fall like dominoes.

As a reminder of the day that was a turning point in the history of the Island, the nearby First of January polyclinic, honoring the official date of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, located a few meters from the current collapsed building, suffered a collapse a little more than a year ago that forced patients and workers to relocate.

“People believe that because we live in Miramar there are no problems,” says Miriam, an employee of the clinical laboratory of the Polyclinic who lost her job when the building collapsed. “They offered me a place cleaning an apartment in another municipality but I said no, and I no longer work for the State. A fallen king, buried king. I went with the private businesses. Now I work in a cafeteria that only has one floor, and the roof is a light roof, it can’t fall down.”

This afternoon Miriam was among those who waited and watched on the street in front of the beheaded castle. “I live in a nearby room and every time I passed by here I thought about what my life would have been like to have a house like this. Now they are worse off than me; I have a roof over my head, they don’t.”

In less than a week, the collapses have affected several neighborhoods in Havana. This Thursday a balcony collapsed around 11:00 at night over the El Tablazo cafeteria, located on 1st Street, between C and D, in El Vedado. The accident occurred at a time of maximum attendance at the premises and left three injured, all adults.

A partial collapse occurred a few hours later at 425 Monte Street, between Ángeles and Águila, in Old Havana, leaving a young woman injured. The same property had claimed the life of a man three years ago, when one of its side walls fell.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The People of Havana Hold Their Breath in the Face of a Forecast of More Rain for Sunday

This Saturday night the floods began to recede but left behind a very worrying panorama of mud, dirt and material damage.

The avalanche of garbage prevents the city’s drainage from quickly releasing water. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, June 23, 2024 — “I slept on the table because the bed got wet and I couldn’t put a sheet on the floor, it was all flooded,” this is how Leidy, age 32, a resident of the neighborhood of Los Sitios in Havana, describes her situation. The area, which is traditionally flooded with rains, has been one of the most affected by the intense downpours that this Saturday covered large areas of the Cuban capital with water.

On Saturday night the floods began to subside but left a very worrying picture. “Here everything is full of mud and garbage; the cisterns are contaminated; we don’t have electricity and many neighbors have lost everything because the water level rose very quickly; there was no time for anything,” she tells 14ymedio.

Leidy says that in her neighborhood they are “flood experts” and have put up walls at the entrances to their homes and have ways to evacuate mattresses, household appliances and to take children and the elderly to the upper floors. But this Saturday’s downpour showed that “you can believe that you have everything planned but when nature says ‘I am here’ there is no one to stop her.” continue reading

Los Sitios, like most of the neighborhoods in Havana, has gone months with mountains of garbage accumulating on the corners and waste that covers the drains, aggravating the situation. “In my house we woke up today and there is nothing to eat. Our bread got wet, water got inside the refrigerator and a mortadella that had been kept for the children was spoiled because the water inside was disgusting, with a foul smell and a lot of things floating around.”

Leidy fears the possible health repercussions of having been in those dirty waters: “It got above my waist, and I had to spend hours to take out the garbage, trying to put the furniture on top of each other. I’m still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, which can’t be very good for my health.”

“We neighbors are the ones who are cleaning the sewers with sticks, with brooms, with what we can; we are the ones uncovering the drains,” complains a neighbor of Old Havana where the water exceeded 3.4 feet in height.

In many corners of Central Havana, Old Havana and Cerro the panorama is repeated: mountains of garbage that the rain couldn’t carry away, a foul stench and water piling up. The sewer drains are clogged with plastic bags, beer cans, plastic bottles and debris.

The avalanche of garbage prevents the quick drainage of the water, as the drains are also in a very bad condition. Between 2:00 and 3:00 in the afternoon on Saturday, according to a report from the Forecast Center of the Institute of Meteorology, over two inches of rainfall was recorded at the Casablanca station in Havana.

14ymedio has documented in several articles this year how different garbage dumps remain piled high in key points of the capital and, also, how the mountains of waste in the corners of the capital keep growing.

The government authorities in Havana called on citizens to act “with prudence, discipline and responsibility,” as well as not to cross the flooded streets and take extreme hygiene and protection measures for their property.

Meanwhile, in the most affected areas, the residents are waiting for a supply of food to help them get through a day in which new rains are predicted. “So far they have not told us that they are going to bring anything. My grandmother is listening to the radio to see if they say they are going to hand out some cookies, bread or soda but they have not said anything. They are playing music and talking about the Humor Biennial, as if nothing had happened,” explains Modesto Amaury, a resident of one of the most affected areas near the Plaza de Cuatro Caminos.

Granma newspaper, the official organ of the Communist Party, does not seem to have heard about the floods in the capital of the Island either. Its cover this Sunday dedicates space to the official support for Palestine and a visit of Miguel Díaz-Canel to the municipality of Unión de Reyes, in Matanzas, but the scenes of water exceeding three feet of height in Old Havana, Cerro and Central Havana are conspicuous by their absence in Cuba’s main newspaper.

Other official news sites have problems, collapsed by the avalanche of readers who are looking for meteorological information or details of some emergency plan to distribute food, mattresses and other supplies that families have lost with the intense downpours that have been plaguing the Cuban West for more than two weeks and that, in recent days, have become stronger.

“Civil Defense did not say anything previously. The sewer drains were not cleaned, the garbage was not collected, and there was no information,” complained an elderly woman from Nuevo Vedado, in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, who has been practically confined to a high floor of her building because “the stairs are flooded and the elevator does not work,” she explains to 14ymedio.

“Mosquitoes have multiplied because there is a lot of accumulated water, especially in the area of the train tracks,” she says. Although the building where the woman lives was built in the 80s, “it has leaks, and yesterday I had to move the bed because a stream of water was coming through holes in the ceiling lights .”

The cloudy sky from very early predicts another day of precipitation for this Sunday. The weather forecast of the Forecast Center of the Institute of Meteorology warns again about the occurrence of numerous showers, rains and thunderstorms in much of the country, which will extend into the evening and can become strong in some locations.

The Center explained that there is currently a large low pressure center located on the southwest of the Gulf of Mexico which is generating a large area of disorganized rains and thunderstorms.

“You don’t know know what’s worse, that there is more rain or that the sun rises, because when this heats up we will see more [building] collapses,” says the elderly woman in Nuevo Vedado. While she puts containers and casserole dishes under the leaks, in other Havana neighborhoods, people try to clean the mud away and list their losses, especially those supplies and household objects that will not appear in any official report.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Woman Injured in a Building Collapse on the Lethal Stretch of a Street in Havana

The property seems abandoned, but more than a dozen families live inside.

Number 425 of Monte Street, between Ángeles and Águila, in Old Havana, this Wednesday / 14ymedio]

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 19 June 2024 — At noon this Wednesday, a yellow tape blocked the passage to the entry of the building at 425 Monte Street, between Ángeles and Águila, in Old Havana, where last night a partial collapse left a young woman injured. The adjacent property at number 423 had claimed the life of a man three years ago, when one of its side walls collapsed.

“We can’t even sleep here, all of us who live on this piece of street are in danger,” a neighbor who went to the place to get information about the injured woman tells 14ymedio. “We don’t know anything; we have called the Emergency Hospital [General Freyre Andrade], but they say that they don’t treat patients in Old Havana and they don’t have a trauma ward either.”

This newspaper’s attempts to know the state of the young woman, through the information numbers of the Calixto García Clinical Surgical Hospital, were also unsuccessful. A video of the moment she was evacuated shows the woman passed out and being put into a police patrol in the absence of an ambulance for her transfer. This Wednesday, among the neighbors, her situation was still a question mark.

“It’s been raining for many days and tragedy could be smelled in the air”

With the door closed, the facade in a calamitous state and the roof of the entrance propped up with thick wooden beams, the building where the collapse occurred seems abandoned, but inside there are still more than a dozen families crammed into small apartments. For years, the residents have feared that a wall or one of the middle floors will collapse. This Tuesday, part of the nightmare became a reality. continue reading

“It’s been raining for many days and tragedy could be smelled in the air,” said an old man who lives on Ángeles Street. In December 2021, the residents in the surrounding area heard a roar and, when they looked out of their doors, they saw that the side wall of the first floor of number 423, which is on the corner, had fallen, filling the entire passage with debris. Under those bricks, the body of a passer-by who lost his life was recovered.

The section of Monte Street where both affected properties are located is a very busy area and one of the most important commercial routes in the Cuban capital. Despite the “Don’t Pass -PNR*” signage that surrounds the building where the most recent collapse happened and the images of the accident that have been circulating for hours on social networks, this afternoon vehicle traffic and pedestrian crossing on the avenue were maintained.

The balcony of the collapsed building is full of vegetation that has grown between the cracks

Above the heads of passersby, the balcony of the collapsed building is full of vegetation that has grown between the cracks and through the bars. The trunks of bushes and weeds extend throughout the terrace. On the facade of the ground floor a colorful sign announces “Cell phone repair,” and there is often a line of people waiting to access the service.

After the previous collapse, less than three years ago, the corner building, 423, has been left with only a flat floor where there is currently a small sale that exhibits its goods on a table at the door. Moisture stains rise on the walls and columns of all the buildings on the block, and in the air the most persistent smell is that of sewer water.

The neighbors of the area fear that the deterioration is now so advanced that repair is not an option for some properties, most of them from the first half of the twentieth century but showing decades of neglect, lack of resources to carry out restoration and the overpopulation of families of up to three generations, who have had to divide the space with improvised walls and lofts that have added weight to the structures. [A set of photos of the site is here.]

In December 2021, 14ymedio interviewed several neighbors of nearby buildings and talked to some of the inhabitants of numbers 425, 427 and 429 of Monte Street. Aramirta Castan then warned that the danger continued: “Here in my dining room pieces of the roof are falling, everything is shaking, it seems that we are in an earthquake,” complained the woman, then 77 years old. “That door out there is in the air, everything is falling.”

*Partido Nacional Revolucionario

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A River of Sewage Water Surrounds a Polyclinic in Havana

The place intended to preserve health is, paradoxically, a source of potential infections for neighbors

Down the slope, a dark river with greenish parts carries waste from the Public Health department / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 18 June 2024 — Where there was hygiene, sewage remains. Those who walk in front of the Héroes del Moncada University Polyclinic on 23 Street, between A and B, in El Vedado, Havana, have been repeating the same ritual for days: go down the sidewalk, take risks among traffic on the avenue and avoid a spill through which flows waste from the health center’s bathrooms. The place intended to preserve health is, paradoxically, a source of potential infections for neighbors.

“At first, the stench didn’t let us live, but now I don’t even feel it,” admits a neighbor from A, where a dark river with greenish chunks drains downhill, carrying waste from the Public Health Department. “Children can no longer play on the sidewalk, and in many houses, people have had to put damp blankets with bleach by the door to clean their shoes before entering.” The grass in the nearest flowerbeds has grown “fed” by the sewage and a trash can seems about to float in the dark lake that has formed around it.

The disgusting current knows no limits or locks. It passes under the stately fence that surrounds the polyclinic, extends along the most important avenue of the modern center of Havana and sticks to the wheels of the shopping carts of those who await in line at the nearby rationed market warehouse. Everyone who passes by takes away something of its essence, be it part of the stench, some fragment of waste carried by the current, or the look of disgust on their face. continue reading

“At first the plague didn’t let us live, but now I don’t even feel it anymore” / 14ymedio

“In the mornings, people who come to get their blood drawn for some lab analysis line up right here”, says another resident nearby. “There are pregnant women, children, people with chronic illnesses and old people who can barely lift their feet to walk and they carry all of that stuff stuck to their shoes. Anyone who falls into those waters will come out with an infection, for sure.”

The property’s employees are also at risk. In the morning, they dodge the stinky puddles to get to their jobs and in the afternoons, they gain momentum again and jump so as not to take the detritus home.

On the bright green façade of the building, a sign warns that it is a University Polyclinic, a reference location for training new doctors in direct patient care. In addition to preparing them for clinical diagnoses, the place is designed to train them to practice the profession in the midst of hygienic and epidemiological chaos.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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In Cuba the Lowly Cucumber Is Becoming More Expensive Every Day

One of the cheapest vegetables in produce markets has gone from 50 to 300 pesos in the span of a year.

This week, cucumbers at the produce market at 19th and B streets in Havana’s Vedado district rose to 300 pesos a pound. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, May 26, 2024 — Appreciated by some and disdained by others, the cucumber can cause a pitched battle at the dinner table if there are any of its staunch detractors are there. But, until recently, it mostly went unnoticed. And then its price spiked.

This week, cucumbers in the produce market at 19th and B streets in Havana’s Vedado district rose to 300 pesos a pound. Available in medium and large sizes, the shiny specimens on display at one of the best stocked markets in the Cuban capital garner attention for reasons other than their attractive presentation. “I don’t know if I’m here or in Dubai, because, at this price, it doesn’t seem like we’re in Cuba,” a customer complained on Friday.

“I don’t know if I’m here or in Dubai, because, at this price, it doesn’t seem like we’re in Cuba,” a customer complained on Friday

Just a year ago, the price of cucumbers at this same market was 50 pesos a pound. Why is it that it now costs six times more than it did just twelve months ago? The answer points to the country’s pervasive inflation, which has raised the cost of living, especially food. “With the price of vegetables these days, you can’t afford to eat healthy,” says the woman. continue reading

“In the past I’ve bought tomatoes when they were in season. And at my house we really like avocados in the summer. But lately I’ve been switching over to cucumbers because for me, they’re a better deal.” According to this consumer, they offer some practical advantages that make cooking easier. “They last a long time if you store them properly in the refrigerator. You can cut off one piece to make a salad and save the rest for another meal.”

Still, the cucumber has ardent opponents in virtually every home. “My son doesn’t like it because he says it gives him digestion problems,” the woman admits. “My grandmother showed me how to avoid this by first cutting off the ends and rubbing them against the cucumber. You also have make some grooves in it with a fork,” she explains.

Along with sweet potato and pumpkin — the most complete and cheapest food items provided by many private businesses — the cucumber is the item most often left uneaten on dining hall trays and in cardboard boxes. While diners are quick to devour “congris,” the very thin pork cutlet that looks like it was cut with a laser rather than a knife, they disdain the slices of the squash with the very white seeds.

Graphic showing the cost of cucumbers in the produce market at the corner of 19th and B streets in Havana’s Vedado district / 14ymedio

Though they may avoid it when it shows up on their plates, many people use it on their faces, prepare concoctions with it to hydrate their skin, or put it in pitchers of water to drink when dieting. Self-care has elevated it to the category of a miracle drug that both removes bags under the eyes and makes dull hair shiny.

“I buy it for my mother but nobody else in my house will eat it,” admits a young man who has just paid 370 pesos for three cucumbers at the market known as La Boutique. “You can’t buy tomatoes because they’re very bad at this time of year, lettuce and chard season is already over and avocados are just starting to come to market so the price is sky-high. All that’s left is the cucumber.”

“My mom sometimes makes pickles. Recently she has been obsessed with the idea that we have to prepare food that doesn’t require refrigeration because, with these power outages, everything spoils,” the young man says. “I don’t like it, because when I was I was at school they gave it to me in the morning and in the afternoon. But I will eat it in a pinch.” He adds, of course, he prefers it with some oil, vinegar. “And if you can put a few slices of onion on top, even better.”

Without even trying, the young man has assembled a list of ingredients that would now cost any Cuban home in the three figures to prepare. A dish worthy of someone on a Dubai budget.

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Nothing At the New Ten Cent Store in Havana is Available for Ten Cents, Only for Hundreds or Thousands

Curious locals waiting outside the store / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, May 20, 2024 — The new store at 704 Carlos III Street in Central Havana has been causing quite a stir. It opened today with an array of merchandise worthy of New York or Los Angeles and with prices to match. Though it is managed by a private company, it shares its premises with a state-run pharmacy.

With Cuba in the middle of a sweltering heat wave, the clean windows, newly installed signage and the promise of air-conditioning were enough to attract some curious onlookers this morning. In a nod to one of the most iconic Havana stores of the 1950s, the store’s management company, Mexohabana, has repurposed the Ten Cent brand name for its storefront.

In addition to a wide assortment of cheeses — they range from the well-known gouda to mozzarella to the exquisite parmesan — the store also sells oatmeal cookies, chorizo, Iberian ham and numerous products labeled “made in USA.”

“It’s obvious this is for people with money,” said a neighbor from a nearby building who had been eagerly anticipating this day. Local residents have been waiting for the store to open for two months, since the beginning of March, when word began to spread that the existing state-owned establishment would be sharing its space with a private one.

“It came out very nice and it looks like they invested a lot of money on the decor. If feels like you’re entering another country,” said the woman, who ultimately left empty-handed. Near her, a man was buying two one-kilogram packages of rice, some sliced ham, some ground cumin and some wheat bran crackers. For the few items that easily fit inside his medium-sized shopping bag, he spent more than 4,500 pesos. continue reading

“Nothing here costs ten cents. It’s all hundreds or thousands,” said another customer, who was buying a small lighter for 400 pesos. Those with more money to spend received a complimentary Chupa-Chupa* on opening day. But as one of the employees pointed out, it would cost 50 pesos if they wanted another.

“It all looks very American. There are lots of jams, dressings, sauces and cookies,” one woman told her friend, who preferred to wait outside because the place was already packed with people. “The service is good,” she reported back, “but from the moment you walk in they start asking you if you want something. I was feeling a little pressured. I’d rather have more time to look around before I decide.”

What was obvious to anyone entering the store was that the the Ten Cent name is just a marketing gimmick. This establishment bears no relationship to the low-cost subsidiaries of the North American parent company, F. W. Woolworth Company, that were so popular in Havana in the first half of the 20th century. The only thing that remains of their attractive prices is the memory.

The part of the building that still operates as a drug store seemed like the far side of the moon on Monday compared its neighbor. While the pharmacy’s employee responded with a negative monosyllable to anyone who dared inquire about medications for blood pressure, allergies or nerves, a sign at the adjoining private business urged customers to “eat and drink for life is short!”

Their respective clientele were also very different. While the people mulling outside Ten Cent sported imported clothing and footwear, sunglasses and even a hint of perfume, those headed to the dispensary were in much more modest clothing and carried worn-out bags over their shoulders. A few inches apart, the social differences were all too glaring.

“And what’s this?” asked an elderly man as he happened upon the new private-sector business. The man, who had not walked through the building’s wide covered arcade for months, was amazed at “the resources devoted to this.” But even astonishment was not enough motivation for him to check it out. “Why go in only to leave empty-handed?” he asked.

Two teenagers passing by could not resist the temptation. For a few brief minutes inside Tent Cent, they were able to escape the intense heat outside. They cast their eyes over the well-stocked shelves and salivated over the steaks and ground meat, which they had probably never seen in quite this way in their entire lives. The also laughed at a slice of blue cheese that was worth several thousand Cuban pesos.

*Translator’s note: A Spanish-brand lollipop.

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A Massive Exodus Leaves Cuba with an Abundance of Secondhand Clothes and Home Appliances

“What’s for sale now are the belongings of local people who are leaving and can’t take everything with them”

When garage sales became legal three years ago, it allowed many business which had been operating on an informal basis to do so legally.

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 18 April 2024 — Women’s purses, babies’ shoes and several small home appliances are piled up on one of the tables. “These items have just come in and I haven’t had a chance to organize them yet,” the saleswoman tells a young customer, pointing to the Oster blender in a corner of a store operating out of a garage in Havana’s Vedado district.

“If you want, I can show you the cookware catalogue,” the vendor adds as she opens some black bags containing children’s books, household accessories and a huge teddy bear with a red heart in the middle of its chest. “Give me your number and I’ll send you photos through WhatsApp. We have flat screen TVs, Bluetooth speakers and a couple of microwaves. All used but in good condition.”

Cinthya, a 38-year-old woman who has been selling secondhand goods for three years, has never had so much merchandise. “I’m not accepting anything else until I can get rid of what I already have. Business is very slow. What used to sell in a few days now takes weeks or even months,” she says.

“I have a network that alerts me when a family is getting ready to leave”

Cynthia and her husband, who drives a Ural motorcycle with sidecar inherited from his father, visit houses to evaluate everything from pots and pans to bottles of water that she might be able to sell later. “I have a network that alerts me when a family is getting ready to leave. But I only take on serious clients, people who have been recommended.”

There has long been a market for secondhand goods in Cuba, a country that has lurched from one crisis to another for decades. This type of business has not always been legal, however. When authorities lifted restrictions on privately run garage sales three years ago, it allowed many businesses which had been operating on an informal basis to do so legally. continue reading

“People associate secondhand goods with out-of-date clothing like what used to be sold in ‘trapi-shopping’ stores,” says Cynthia, referring to state-run retail outlets common throughout the island in the late 20th century that sold low-quality, government-imported clothes. “What’s for sale now are the belongings of local people who are leaving and can’t take everything with them.”

“At first, I accepted everything I saw and lost a lot of money. But now my husband and I only buy what we know will sell,” she explains. “We make sure to test the appliances. They can’t have dents or scratches. And no equipment cobbled together with pieces from here and there.”

“Modern televisions, bedding and towels in perfect condition, cutlery, pots and pans, clothes”

Cynthia notes in her catalogue that she prefers “modern televisions, bedding and towels in perfect condition, cutlery, pots and pans, clothes.”

“People start out wanting to sell their house and everything in it so they can leave the country. Then they realize it would take too long if they wait for the house to sell first and then auction off the furnishings and equipment later,” explains Cinthya. “That’s when we come in. We go and evaluate what they want to sell.”

Other vendors buy secondhand items from markets in nearby Panama, Mexico or Florida for resale on the island. “Nowadays, it’s really hard to turn a profit in the used-goods business,” admits Leo, a young “mule” who lives in Taguasco, a town in Sancti Spíritus province.

“I have my contacts in Panama and a few years ago I got a visa that allowed me to take frequent shopping trips. I was able to ship back some secondhand goods as unaccompanied baggage. But now there is so much stuff for sale here that I’d rather focus just on clothing and new shoes,” he says.

“The owners themselves try to sell everything before they leave they leave [the country] on the [humanitarian] ‘parole’ program or by some other way,” says the Sancti Spíritus resident, who prefers to remain anonymous. There are a lot of people in this situation, trying to get rid of a washing machine, a refrigerator or children’s clothes. I knew some people who even sold a toilet bowl before getting on the plane.”

“The most problematic items are mobile phones, computers and other electronic devices”

Leo believes that, although secondhand electronics are cheaper than comparable, brand-new products sold in MLCs — the island’s hard-currency retail stores — buyers remain very leery. “They know that the person who sold you the audio equipment won’t be here next week when it stops working and you want your money back.”

“The most problematic items are mobile phones, computers and other electronic devices that require skill and knowledge to figure out if they have a problem invisible to the naked eye,” he explains. “I tried doing this myself for awhile until I had an issue with a tablet I bought from a someone who left for Nicaragua. I sold it to a neighbor and it didn’t even last three days. That’s when I got out.”

“In addition to what I bring back from Panama, I deal in secondhand restaurant and business utensils. Mainly prep tables, table and chair sets, forks, spoons, knives, glasses. I’ve even sold bar counters.” As Leo points out, all these objects have one thing in common. “No cables or light bulbs so no surprises. What you see is what you get. You don’t have to worry that it won’t turn on one day.”

A few steps below Leo’s operation, arranged very informally, are items for sale that have been with Cuban families for generations. Coffee cups that belonged to the clan’s matriarch, pillows on which dozens of heads have rested and living room sets in need of some glue and new rattan.

Countless belongings, once destined to remain with their owners for the rest of their lives but which, because of the migratory stampede, have ended up in garage sales or ads on some digital website. They carry descriptions that reveal their histories and their owners’ desperation to make some money off them before they leave, or rather before they are able to leave.

“I am selling an orange juicer, twelve ceramic plates brought back from the GDR [German Democratic Republic] in the 1980s, a glass tray that is used for the oven and an electric toaster, all for 10,000 pesos,” reads a Facebook post. “The tableware is very pretty, with plates and bowls. It has sentimental value for me so I hope whoever buys it will take good care of it.”

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‘The Pastry Chef Quit So I Closed the Business’

Deciding not to rely on a hired employee puts limitations on private businesses / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, April 10, 2024 — Regular customers of a privately owned bakery on San Lázaro Street in Central Habana were surprised this week to see the owner of the business both kneading dough and working the counter. “The cook left the country so this is now a one-woman show,” explains the entrepreneur, one of many who have been hit by the exodus affecting Cuba’s private-sector economy.

“This is the third cook I’ve lost since I opened,” says the woman, who owns a shop specializing in breads, desserts and cookies. “He was making money here but, of course, it doesn’t compare… He had signed up for the US humanitarian parole program* last year and they just told him that it had been granted. From the time he found out until the time he left was less than a week. I didn’t have time to look for someone else.”

The employee’s departure has had a very negative impact on the bakery’s profits. “I can no longer take orders for weddings or parties because I can’t keep up. Also, I have had to limit the types of bread that I sell. I’ve lost thousands of pesos in a few days compared to the sales I had in previous months.” continue reading

To avoid unwelcome surprises after training an employee in the ins-and-outs of their operations, many small and medium-sized business owners prefer to rely on their own family members. “Here we have my wife, my two daughters and me,” says Luis Mario, owner of a shop specializing in birthday buffets in Havana’s Cerro district. “I feel more secure because nothing happens from one day to the next without me finding out about it.”

Last year, we hired a courier. If he made ten deliveries a day, it was a lot. One day, I come into work only to find out that he had left [for Nicaragua] on the ’volcano route’”

Last year, we hired a courier. If he made ten deliveries a day, it was a lot. One day, I come into work only to find out that he had left [for Nicaragua] on the ‘volcano route‘,” he says. “I had to make the rest of the home deliveries that week, and I then decided that I wasn’t going to hire anyone else who could leave me in the lurch overnight.”

He notes, however, that his two daughters are awaiting approval of their “humanitarian parole” application from the United States, but that he will find out “well before they get on the plane.” If the two young women do manage to emigrate with their respective husbands and children, he and his wife will join them later. “When that time comes, I will liquidate everything and close up shop. But initially, when my daughters are no longer here, I will have to limit the number of orders I can accept.”

The strongest impacts of this massive flight occur when the émigré fulfills a specialized role: technicians in assembly or repair of equipment, chefs, nurses, pastry chefs, designers and other positions that require training and experience. “The pastry chef and the accountant left me, so right now my business is closed,” laments Yusimí, owner of a cafeteria in Nuevo Vedado, municipality of the Plaza de la Revolución.

“The pastry chef was very good and young, the truth is that it seemed like a miracle that he was still in Cuba and now the miracle is over.” The employee who was in charge of accounting and invoices was a friend of the owner of the establishment since they were teenagers. “I can’t even be annoyed with either of them because I completely understand that they want to prosper out there and achieve their dreams, but I recognize that this has sunk me. I don’t know if I will be able to reopen.”

“Do you plan to leave the country soon?” they asked María Eugenia, 57, when she went to a home in El Vedado for an advertisement to care for a bedridden elderly woman

Among the questions that have been repeated most frequently in job interviews for months is, inevitably, the one that inquires about emigration: “Do you plan to leave the country soon?” María Eugenia, 57, was asked when she went to a home in El Vedado for an advertisement to care for a bedridden elderly woman. “I don’t like to lie, so I told them that my son had started the family reunification process for me to go to the United States,” she explains.

“And then the interview was over,” she concludes. “They were kind, but they told me that they couldn’t hire me because the lady was going to get used to me, she was going to get attached to me and, in the end, I was going to stay a short time.” But María Eugenia believes that this requirement is excessive: “Who right now in Cuba, at the age of being able to work, does not have some plan to leave here?” and she herself answers: “It could be a crazy plan, but you have one.”

“The best team is the one that is made up of only one,” says Fernando, a technician in installation and repair of air conditioning and refrigerators. “I worked for a couple of years with my son but now he is living in Las Vegas, I haven’t wanted to hire any other assistant because this is almost like a marriage, you have to adjust to the other person, synchronize yourself. If they leave you later, you’re lost.” Deciding not to have an employee brings limitations.

Fernando concludes: “There are jobs that I cannot accept or I have to ask the client who hires me for help, but I prefer to go through that and not spend a day taking the tools on my motorcycle, a previous commitment to install air conditioning and an assistant who doesn’t arrive because he’s at the airport waiting to get on a plane.”

Translated by Anonymous and Regina Anavy
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The Mountains of Garbage Cause Distress Over the The State’s Inefficiency

In the neighborhood of Luyanó, residents scattered the garbage until it blocked the street; in other areas of Havana they have set fire to the mountains of trash

Blocking the passage of cars with the trash from the garbage dump on Reforma Street, corner of Rodríguez in Luyanó, has been a way to draw attention to the matter / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 9 April 2024 — A narrow path for motorcycles and bicycles was all that was left this Monday on Reforma Street, at the corner of Rodríguez in Luyanó, Havana. A neighbor, annoyed by the trash that had been accumulating there for weeks, spread it around until it created a barrier that prevented the access of vehicles, one of the many ways in which Cubans are protesting the collapse of the garbage collection system.

From the balconies, some encouraged the man to place branches, boxes and bags of waste to totally block traffic. “Do it, go on, let’s see if they’ll come now!” a woman shouted indignantly, adding: “This has never happened before in this neighborhood, not even in the worst times!” The exclamations of other people reinforced the situation of despair that has taken over the habaneros, who have been living amidst dirt and trash for months.

“The cars have to turn because when they approach the corner they realize they can’t get through,” says Adela, a neighbor who watched everything from the door of her house on the ground floor. “This is not against anyone in particular. There are people who live on this block and have not been able to get their cars out. Maybe they’ll listen to us and remove all that crap.” continue reading

Part of the garbage dump on the corner of Estancia and Conill, in Nuevo Vedado, Havana, was reduced to ashes / 14ymedio

A few meters from there, a day before, “they set fire to the garbage on Rodríguez and Villanueva Street,” a resident tells 14ymedio. The blue wall behind the hill of trash was scorched this Monday after the flames burned for a long time and reduced part of the trash to ashes, especially the dry leaves, pieces of wood and cardboard. “After a while the firefighters and even the police came, but the Communal Services Company never came to pick all this up. They asked if anyone saw who lit the match, but no one said anything. People are very pissed off, and even the most decent person may be the one who started the fire, because we are all desperate.”

In Nuevo Vedado, the garbage dump on Estancia and Conill Street also went up in flames on Saturday afternoon. In that same block, on the opposite corner, the hill of debris and trash that has not stopped growing for more than a year and a half was set on fire last January, although the Comunales company has made some sporadic attempts to eliminate it.

Among those who live nearby, the shared opinion is that neither of the two incidents was accidental. “Setting the garbage on fire is a way to attract attention,” says a neighbor of nearby Marino Street. “They only come to pick it up when a fire is reported; they arrive after the firefighters, if they arrive at all, but for sure they won’t come if nothing happens.”

Among those who live nearby, the shared opinion is that neither of the two incidents was accidental

In Holguín, this Sunday night the panorama was similar. When it got dark, a fire started in the garbage dump of the Villa Nueva 3 neighborhood, where mainly officers and members of the Ministry of the Interior reside. “My wife called the firefighters, and they told her that the fire was already reported. We could see five different points where it was burning,” says Luis, a resident in the area.

“The stench was the worst part, but people seemed almost happy, because they thought that now the problem would be solved,” he explains. The next morning, the huge garbage dump was still in place, blackened by the fire but intact in its smell and size.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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