Thousands of Cubans from the country’s interior come to Havana every month to catch a flight out of the country
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 7 October 2024 — The road is dark but the flashing lights on a small “for rent” guide a young man to the entrance. The one-story house, which has a small garden, is in the Santiago de las Vegas neighborhood, very close to the Havana airport. The man knocks on the door. As soon as it opens, he says the magic words: “I want to book a room for the night; I’m leaving early in the morning for Managua.”
The young man, who is carrying only a backpack, has just gotten off a bus from Las Tunas, a province in southern Cuba. He will barely sleep a wink during the few hours he has his head on the pillow in one of the many rental houses that have popped up around the airport terminal in recent years. The boon is fueled by the thousands of Cubans who arrive every month from the countryside to catch flights out of the country.
“In the past, most guests were foreign tourists who were coming or going and wanted to be close to the airport, but that has completely changed,” says 68-year-old Sylvia, who runs a two-bedroom guesthouse for Cuban nationals. “I have never kidded myself. The only thing that’s attractive about my house is that it’s near the airport. Nothing else.”
The house has been built piecemeal over the course of thirty years. A plain and simple structure, it does not have the presence of the expansive mansions with their central courtyards typical of Old Havana or Central Havana. Nor does it have parking or a terrace like so many old mansions in Vedado. Still, Silvia feels lucky. “Right now, they’re trying to attract customers while my house is full every night.”
Though she had a license to rent out her home to Cuban guests, Sylvia was reluctant to provide short-term accommodations. “Some people in this neighborhood rent out their rooms by the hour. But since I live alone with my mother, who is very old, I always thought this would attract the type of person who could cause a lot of headaches.”
“There is no one better behaved than the person who has a ticket to board a plane out of here. The Cuban who has already managed to secure a seat on a flight, who has sold his property or left his family behind in hopes of getting them out later, is not going to get into any kind of trouble. He is focused on his goal.”
Like others with rooms to rent in the same area, Silvia works with informal agencies that sell tickets to Managua, Guyana and other intermediate destinations. These trips almost always end with the migrant at the southern border of the United States. “Sometimes the package includes a night at my house so the travelers don’t have any problems when they get to the airport.”
“For 12,000 Cuban pesos, or thirty-five dollars a person, they get an air conditioned room, a nice breakfast and a safe transfer”
The range of services may include transportation from the bus station, or any other point in Havana, to Silvia’s house, then to the airport. Though the departure terminal is within walking distance, it is better not to go there on foot after nightfall due to the risk of being assaulted. The house’s windows and doors have also been fitted with metal security bars to ensure safety.
“Most of our guests are young, single men but there have also been entire families. Late last month I had a couple with two kids who were doing the ’volcano route.’ The youngest wasn’t even a year old,” she says. Sylvia has some items for sale that migrants might find handy. “If they need a purse, a backpack or a small carry-on bag, I can sell them one. I have diapers, baby bottles and shoes that are good for getting them through the mud and the desert.”
Other families in Sylvia’s neighborhood are in the same line of work. “For 12,000 Cuban pesos, or thirty-five dollars a person, they get an air conditioned room, a nice breakfast and a safe ride to the airport. If it’s a couple or a family, we can adjust the price,” says a neighbor on the same block with three rooms to rent, one of them in what used to be his garage.
“We provide our guests with security, which is very important because many times these are people traveling with large sums of money — two, three, four thousand dollars — they need for the coyotes, for room rentals or for transportation through several countries,” he explains. We look after them until we drop them off at the airport,” he says.
Most of these people come from small towns, have never been to Havana, and are scared”
The owner of this small hostel proudly shows off his security cameras. “Ever since these rooms have been available, no one has lost so much as a pin,” he points out, a very important consideration for people who what to ensure that both their money and their documents are safe. “Most of these people come from small towns, have never been to Havana and are scared.”
“We have rented to people who were leaving sugar plantations in Holguín or Granma (provinces) for the first time. They got here, spent the night, then left for the airport… Staying far from the airport is dangerous for people like that because they don’t know the city, the taxi could leave them stranded, they could be scammed or they could miss their flight.”
Rooms-for-rent listings aimed at migrants are proliferating on social media and classified ad sites. “Don’t worry. Your on-time departure is guaranteed. Stay at our house, close to the airport and close to your new life,” reads one in a Facebook group where thousands of Cubans come looking for everything from a plane ticket to advice on what to do once they get to Central America.
The owner of a hostel near the Havana airport’s Terminal 3 doesn’t mince words with those arriving soon. “If you were planning on making a reservation, better hurry because almost everything is full these days. In my house I have three bedrooms to rent and they are only available for two weekends in October so act fast,” she warns.
“No need to worry about blackouts. Spend your last night in Cuba with electricity and air-conditioning”
Within minutes she is flooded with inquiries about her house, the price of each each room and whether 24-hour transport to the airport is included. “Transportation and safety are 100% guaranteed. Start your new life here because we work as if we were out there, with quality and respect for the client.” Those who have been in the business for awhile go further, offering migrants contacts for rental rooms at certain points on their journey after leaving Cuba.
“No need to worry about blackouts. Spend your last night in Cuba with electricity and air-conditioning,” reads another ad for a house in Río Cristal, an area also close to the airport, which notes that it has its own generators and fuel so guests “don’t have to light a candle.”
Areas with little tourist appeal such as Santiago de las Vegas — a neighborhood surrounding the psychiatric hospital commonly known as Mazorra— and Calabazar are among those parts of the city that have seen the most dramatic growth in room rentals and transport services. These days the departure business seems to be more profitable than the arrival business.
“People want to be close to the runway, not to the Cathedral, not to 23rd Street, not to the Malecón. The most popular attraction right now is an airplane,” reads a post in a WhatsApp group where people post all variety of ads for one and two-night stays in rooms very close to the airport. “But sleep is the last thing they’re going to do. Who’s going to sleep when when they’ll be leaving here in a few hours? No one can sleep with anxiety like that.”
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