Category: Translating Cuba

Is it perhaps that there is not a great concentration of victims in Cuba? The problem for Cubans is not the tensions of a storm, but the poverty-stricken daily life that awaits them after its passage. I was tempted to share this image with the Dominicans, but these kinds of discussions already exhaust me.

Tomorrow, when the waters return to their level, they will steal something, or buy something stolen, or – if they are fortunate enough to have a family member in exile – call them to resolve their problems. Today the sea is chest high, tomorrow it will be reality that causes the same feeling of suffocation.

That is why they can’t think of anything better to do than to sit in the water and shuffle the dominos.

“There are no cookies nor milk powder, nor are they selling candles and the bakeries have had very long lines since dawn,” Humberto López, a resident of the town whose home lost its roof during Hurricane Matthew, lamented on the phone, adding that he did not want “that monster come here.”

The Cuban economy has suffered since the beginning of the economic crisis in Venezuela. This year Raúl Castro’s government announced a cut of US $1.5 billion in imports in the first half of the year, with a direct effect on the retail market.

Despite an increase in remittances and tourism, the Cuban economy depends to a large extent on contracts signed with Caracas, which supplies some 60,000 barrels of oil a day in exchange for thousands of Cuban specialists camped out in its territory.

Cuban authorities have declared a hurricane alert for the center and east of the country, the step that precedes the hurricane alarm, just as the winds begin to beat the island. So far this century, Cuba has faced about 15 hurricanes with losses of more than 26 billion dollars, according to official figures.

In the market at 3^rd and 7^th streets, in the west of the Cuban capital, the number of customers has not yet increased significantly, but in the the stores refrigerators this Wednesday there are only chicken pieces, hotdogs and a few packets of ground meat. The most cautious are, for the most part, owners of private businesses who don’t want to run out of supplies.

“There is no toilet paper, there are only small bottles of water and milk there is nothing for days,” laments Yusnier, a young entrepreneur who helps his mother rent three rooms to tourists. “We have to guarantee the foreigners breakfast every day and this hurricane puts everything at risk.”

If Irma were to hit the island as a category 5 storm on the Saffir Simpson scale, it would enter the record books as one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the largest of the Antilles; since records have been kept, starting in 1791, only three hurricanes of this intensity have reached the Cuban coast.

According to data from the Institute of Meteorology, 115 hurricanes have hit Cuba since 1791. Of these, 14 hurricanes had an intensity in the winds between 130-156 mph, corresponding to category 4 an the scale and about 16 reached category 3 (111-129 mph).

In the main agricultural markets of the capital, people’s anxiousness to store food is already apparent. A pound of black beans, which costs the official salary of a working day in places such as San Rafael Street or 19th and B in Vedado, were selling like hot cakes as of yesterday afternoon. “It’s something that does not spoil and that can withstand rain and wind,” said a customer this morning in front of a display of chickpeas.

On a tour of hotels near the coast of Havana it is not yet possible to see the warning signs. “The city has not yet been formally put on alert so we do not have the authority to allocate resources to cover the windows or take other protective actions,” an employee of the Deauville hotel, who preferred to remain anonymous, told this newspaper.

The cays located in the north of the island, one of the main tourist centers of the country, are among the most affected. At a time of increases in tourism, Irma could force the authorities to carry out mass evacuations of travelers from the areas in greatest danger and move them to other tourist centers, in a country with a hotel capacity, as of the end of 2015, of only 63,000 rooms.

The authorities have warned that the main dangers associated with Hurricane Irma are wind, rain and sea penetrations. In 2008 the penetration of the sea in Baracoa, the first city founded in Cuba, completely destroyed its malecón and the first row of houses of that city. That image was replayed with the scourge of Hurricane Matthew and could be repeated with the approaching passage of Irma.

So today’s fire adds to the mysterious tendency of “spontaneous combustion” that is becoming viral in State stores, which most suspicious Habaneros tendentiously attribute to the offensive the Comptroller General has been carrying out In different companies and that are exposing numerous pilfering, shortages and corruption, especially in centers dealing in Cuban convertible pesos (CUC) or the Cuban pesos (CUP) equivalents.

Fans of Mathematics cannot avoid the temptation to relate fires directly to the offices of the comptroller, as summarized in the following axiom: “An increase in in controllers is directly proportional to an increase in state-owned businesses fires”

True or not, the causes of these strange fires have not been clarified by the authorities thus far. In fact, these fires have not even been reported in the national media, perhaps because they are attributed to an accidental and “local” character, or because – in the midst of all the material deprivation and social discontent- it is wiser not to stoke the flames.

Some residents of the buildings adjacent to the fires point out that firefighters and other specialized forces that have acted in these cases have offered them the questionable explanation that it’s possible that the buildings’ aging electrical systems have not withstood the overload caused by the “high consumption” of these establishments, which sparked the initial fire in the wires. This explanation does not convince anyone, especially taking into account that the wiring of foreign exchange stores is independent and much newer than the systems for the municipality’s residential sector and, in theory, was previously calculated on the basis of electricity usage for this type of premises.

Additionally, the plan of rigorous savings in electricity that has been applied to the foreign exchange stores for a little more than a year suggests the opposite: a decrease in consumption. For example, it is well known that all stores are required to comply with a plan of “energy indicators” which the stores cannot surpass, under penalty of losing certain bonuses. This forces store employees to turn off the air conditioning equipment according to a schedule previously established by management, and as a result employees and customers alike have to withstand the suffocating heat in the stores, which are not well ventilated, since they were designed for the constant use of air conditioning.

The chronic shortages in these businesses of late has also lightened the burden on consumption, since many freezer/refrigerators, where frozen products were once stored have been turned off and are out of service, which also tends to weaken the version of the “electrical overload “as the cause of fires.

But it happens that, in addition, there are notorious antecedents that reinforce the malicious comments at the popular level, and are feeding the rumors. No one has forgotten that a few years ago there was a big fire in the “La Puntilla” store, and it was well known in the street that the incident was initiated by a few employees who were involved in an enormous embezzlement. Setting fire to the store was the swiftest recourse they found to have the evidence for the crime disappear.

A similar case, equally silenced by the authorities, was the fire which some sources considered intentional that took place about a year ago in the basement of the popular Yumurí store (formerly known as “La Casa de los Tres Quilos” [The House of the Three Pennies] located at the corner of Reina and Belascoaín Roads, also in Centro Habana, right in the marketplace department.

One does not have to be overly surprised. Cuba’s own history shows more than one example of how the displeasure of criollos has been expressed by flames. Thus, we have episodes like the Bayamo fire by the Independence Forces, the one in the city of Cárdenas, by Narciso López, and the incendiary torch that ruined the economy of not a few property and land owners in the 19th Century, among other notorious events, fruit of the pyromaniac national tradition.

In summary, whether or not the rumors are true, the fact is that several state businesses from different parts of the capital are suffering in these days a kind of fiery epidemic. If there really were a relationship between fires, embezzlement and bad management, the whole island of Cuba would be close to burning from one end to another.

Just in case, it would be advisable that, going forward, controllers begin to consider the possibility of carrying out their rigorous controls while supported by teams of firemen, cisterns and fire trucks… to see if at least they are able to do it before the flames.

“If he manages to fix the economy of the United States, that will help us as well because there will be more money and tourism from there,” said Victor Manuel, a 28-year-old pedicab driver in the Fraternity Park area of Havana. The young man thinks that “Trump campaigning is one thing and it is something very different when he is in the White House.”

Not as nice as the Disney character with the same first name nor as addictive as the similarly named fast food chain, the magnate-become-president also incites passions on this island

In 2015, remittances to Cuba reached a record $3.35 billion, according to The Havana Consulting Group. The new relationship between the two countries has mainly favored this type of transfer. Limiting them would be a very unpopular measure among nationals.

Trumpmanía has come to the island and has many ways to express itself: if two months ago carrying an American flag could be read as a nod to Uncle Sam, today it can be a much more personal message and addressed to one man.

“That’s the guy that we needed, so he can put things in their place,” said Eduardo Mesa, who on Thursday connected on the wifi of the Latin American Stadium to inquire about the fate of two friends stranded in Colombia on their way to the United States.

Obama contributed to Trump’s popularity on the island in recent days. A few days after the White House tenant eliminated the wet foot/dry foot policy that benefits Cuban migrants reaching US territory, the popularity of the outgoing president has fallen to its lowest in eight years.

“He deceived us, he came and behaved like one of us to end up hurting us,” says Román, 27, a resident of Guanajay, who had his raft ready to launch into the sea to try to reach the American shores.

“I had the hydration salts, the engine, the canned food and a GPS bought clandestinely” to start the trip, but the departure date was scheduled for January 14, two days after the immigration benefits were suspended.

Lucia Pereira, a retired teacher and resident of Havana’s Lawton neighborhood, believes that Cubans will always remember Obama as “the American president who helped both countries reconnect and leave behind so many useless hatreds.” After the thaw, her son living in Miami has visited twice.

Norma is among those disappointed with the outgoing president. The 76-year-old woman has come to the parish of Calle Reina to buy a new bible because she gave the previous one to her daughter, who is on a medical mission in Venezuela. “She did not want to benefit from the [American] Parole program for doctors, but a very close friend yes,” they should do it, she says. The elimination of the program that benefited Cuban doctors who applied for residency in the United States was, in her opinion, “an Obama prank before saying goodbye.”

The elimination of the program that benefited Cuban doctors who applied for residency in the United States was, in her opinion, “an Obama prank before saying goodbye.”

Outside a church, Manolo, who asks for alms with a small image of San Lazaro, doubts that his luck will change with the new tenant of the White House. “Here poor people will remain poor, because it has nothing to do with what the US president does,” he told 14ymedio.

Dressed in a gray uniform and attentive to all who climb the steps of the University of Havana, a custodian, who prefers not to give his name for fear of reprisals, seems uninterested in the details of the government of the northern neighbor. “It does not matter, Obama or Trump is the same,” he says reluctantly. Nevertheless, he thinks that that difficult times are coming for Cuba because he doesn’t see any progress. “Trump can be good or bad, but what we need most is for the ones here to loosen their hands and take a breather, because we are drowning,” he concludes.

“Here poor people will remain poor, because it has nothing to do with what the US president does”

The island’s businessmen and merchants are feeling concern about the decisions of the new White House tenant.

At the market at Infanta and Manglar Streets the new president generates some expectations. “Last year we had many problems with the supply of products,” says an employee, “but if this man is as entrepreneurial as they say, he will improve business with Cuba and more products will arrive.” Among the “made in the USA” goods customers there prefer are “the frozen chicken, corn, beans, vegetables, tomato sauces and oats,” she details.

At the exit of El Presidente private restaurant, in the centrally located G street in the Vedado district, Christian was waiting on Thursday afternoon for a friend to eat together. “Havana is full of tourists thanks to Obama, but with Trump that can come to an end,” the German traveler visiting the island for the first time fears.

But there are those who cannot avoid looking at the internal key and turning their eyes into the Island. Yunior, 41 and unemployed, reflects: “The only thing I know is that since I was born I have seen eight American presidents and only two Cubans. Why is that?”

Yoani Sanchez: What were the main emotional supports you had in your days of confinement?

Karina Gálvez: I confess I had moments when I felt emotionally broken. I had never slept in a cell before. The anguish of being unaware of what was happening outside, of being cut off, was quite strong.

At one point I asked God to give me a sign that he was there with me and a few minutes later Major Odalys came in and brought me a bible that my sister had brought me. I was very shocked by that moment.

It has been one of the most difficult things I have ever experienced, although I felt sure of solidarity

It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever experienced, although I felt sure of solidarity. I knew a lot of people were watching over me and that my family was not alone.

Yoani Sanchez: And on leaving did you confirm that impression?

Karina Gálvez: I fell a little short in my calculations… last night when I left I found out that the solidarity had been immense. Support has gone beyond friends. I have to thank all those who supported me and tell them that all the energy of knowing that people were with me helped me a lot in there.

Yoani Sanchez: What were the conditions of the place where you were detained?

Karina Gálvez: I can not complain about my treatment, because it was – within the injustice that I was there – respectful and without offense. But the material conditions were difficult. Especially the bathrooms, water and food, which are difficult anywhere in Cuba. On the other hand, in an situation of anguish I found it difficult to eat. Although I was willing to so as not to get sick and to preserve my health.

Yoani Sanchez: The arrest took place a few days before the second part of a meeting of the Coexistence Studies Center, this time in Miami. Will you be able to participate?

Karina Gálvez: No, because I have a pending case I cannot leave the country.

Yoani Sanchez: Have you been unable to access your home from where you were arrested?

Karina Gálvez: The house is still “occupied,” with a seal placed on the door and almost all things that are inside are also “occupied.”