In the state cafeteria “everything is bought and sold, even what one cannot imagine”
14ymedio, Julio Cesar Contreras, Cienfuegos, 20 August 2024 — At the cafe tables in the Tomás Terry Theater in Cienfuegos, all kinds of deals and business agreements take place, and the authorities turn a blind eye. From foreign currency and illicit substances to the body of a cienfueguera girl, in a place managed by the state-owned Artex, “everything is bought and sold on the premises, anything one can imagine,” whispers a bar customer.
Facing José Martí Park, a central area of the city, Terry’s cafe is not empty even when there is a blackout. Sitting at a table, tapping his foot impatiently, Adrián – who uses a false name so that he is not “booked” by the Police – waits for a foreigner who is looking to rent a room in a hostel. “This is my daily struggle: Getting tourists and hosting them in private homes, with a commission for me for each client I get,” the 26-year-old man tells 14ymedio.
Those who, like him, travel around the city looking for potential customers are known as “managers,” a name that gives more prestige to their profession than it really has. “The owners of the hostels charge between 15 or 20 dollars a night, and I take a percentage of that,” he says.
For a few months – Adrián has only been in business for two years – the difficulty in attracting foreigners has increased, and tourists hardly arrive in the city or prefer to stay in state hotels. Because of this, the business of the young cienfueguero has been “low,” and the customers who do stay in private homes are now, for the most part, those who have a very specific interest: to be out of sight of the authorities.
“It’s not that you like this mess of prostitution, but sometimes the opportunity presents itself and you have to take advantage of it, because things are very hard wherever you turn, and that’s one way to hook tourists,” he explains. Normally, Adrián says, the cost for a night with a jinetera is around 100 dollars or euros, but “when things are tight” and there are almost no tourists, sometimes they accept 50. The woman is given part of the take depending on the deal, reveals the young man. He prefers to settle matters because the “question” brings its own risks.
From the outside, life in the Terry seems to be quiet, although, from the prices, anyone can deduce that those who come to have a coffee do not live on a worker’s salary
From the outside, life in the Terry seems to be quiet, although, from the prices, anyone can deduce that those who come to have a coffee do not live on a worker’s salary. With espressos at 60 pesos – a year ago one cost a third as much – cocktails between 150 and 300, or a beer at 280, the place still maintains a menu that is obviously State but also expensive. The tricks to keep the business afloat happen behind the bar.
“To maintain the service you have to stretch the coffee powder as much as possible, because the supply is very scarce and the demand is very high,” an employee tells this newspaper. At the cocktail bar is thrown “a lot of ice and a little alcohol,” and to “fatten” the salaries a little, which do not reach 3,000 pesos, some workers resell on the left “what appears.” As to what happens inside Terry’s doors, the workers prefer to turn a blind eye.”
Appearances are deceiving, and while the music goes on through Saturday night and into the next morning, there are also those who are selling, buying and negotiating anything,” explains Mercedes, another of the unique customers of the cafe. “Right now I bought 80 MLC (freely convertible currency) from a woman who has just left,” says the cienfueguera. She pretends to be surprised at the fact that the Government is persecuting the foreign exchange black market at the same time that it lets it happen on its own premises.
While the music goes on through Saturday night until the next morning, there are also those who are selling, buying and negotiating anything
If it were not for everything that is “offered” on the left in Terry’s cafe, the place, with an illuminated sign that, between blackouts and technical failures, never works – in addition to the 100 pesos that are requested to enter any event – would always be empty. “I shouldn’t say this, but sometimes certain drugs are even sold here,” says Mercedes, who has seen customers “pass pills” while hiding among the crowd and the music. “In the end everyone just minds their own business,” the woman alleges, for whom it is also a relief that – paraphrasing the famous Las Vegas saying – what happens in the Terry stays in the Terry.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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