14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 2 October 2024 — Being a pedestrian in Havana is a high-risk sport. To the gaps in the sidewalks and the balconies that threaten to fall on the heads of those who pass by must be added the deterioration of the traffic lights. To cross the most important avenues of the Cuban capital you need a quick glance, a good dose of courage and fast feet that allow you to take advantage of the opportunity between one vehicle and another. More than the traditional green, yellow or red from those boxes with bulbs and circuits, only the darkness caused by breakage and blackouts is now exhibited.
With the signals out, not only due to lack of electricy, the traffic light in front of the opulent López-Calleja Tower, known as the Tower K, that stands in the heart of El Vedado sets the standard for the environment that surrounds the tallest building on the Island. While the colossus rises above the city and is covered with glass, the neighborhood shows the crisis that affects the whole country. “It’s been broken for months, no one cares,” murmured an old man on Wednesday who moved to the nearby corner of L and 23 to try his luck and get to the other side of the street. “They’re probably waiting for the first guests to arrive at this luxury hotel to repair the traffic light,” he said, disgusted.
Almost two decades ago, the official press was filled with headlines about the devices, of Chinese origin, which would be installed on some important streets in Havana. Manufactured by the Lopus company, and distributed in Cuba by the Cuban-Chinese marketer GKT, those traffic lights had a digital clock to control the light changes and that indicated to drivers and pedestrians how much time they had left to cross an intersection. Local media reported that the devices could be programmed according to traffic in the area. But the lack of maintenance and spare parts made them go out little by little.
Along 23rd Street, the sophisticated traffic lights stopped working and generated true chaos for road and pedestrian traffic. At the end of last year, at the intersection in front of the Habana Libre hotel and the Coppelia ice cream parlor, the authorities had to place a conventional device to try to control traffic. But the constant breakdowns had already made people lose the habit of waiting on the sidewalk until they see the little green man and they may throw themselves into the crossing.
“It’s lucky that with the lack of fuel there are far fewer cars circulating,” acknowledged a señora who, with a fan and sun glasses, made a diagonal to get from El Quijote Park practically to the Yara cinema. “That and the fact that there are fewer and fewer people in this country,” she added.
On her way, she passed in front of the traffic light that went out right in front of the López-Calleja Tower hotel, which, at that time of morning, shone on its four sides with the obscene reflections of the sun on its windows.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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