The elderly save others long waits under the sun or rain and charge them 1,000 pesos for their service
14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 2 March 2025 –14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 2 March 2025 — They are just shadows in the middle of the dim light in front of the branch of the Banco Popular de Ahorro on the boulevard of the city of Cienfuegos. Every night they are there to stand in line so that, the next morning, they can withdraw cash from the ATMs. Sometimes the long hours of waiting end in frustration because of a power cut, lack of money, a technical breakdown or some other mishap.
“Anyone may think that we are fleeing the blackouts and enjoying a little cool air, but the reality is that we are standing in line for our customers,” says Ulises, an old man whose face is already part of the urban landscape on that stretch of the street. “This is a great sacrifice, and most of us are retired. I come every three days, and the people interested in my service contact me very early.”
Although Ulises has been retired for several years, he has had to look for a job as a custodian for a nearby State building to earn extra income. His potential customers look for him there during the day, and once he withdraws the cash from the ATM they give the elderly man 1,000 pesos for his service. A real roulette marked by chance if you take into account the continuous blackouts and technical problems that affect the city’s banking network.
Faced with such a difficult task, a group of coleros — people who stand in line for others — has been created that guarantees, at least, that those who can pay for their services do not have to spend a morning outdoors. “People complain that we take the first places in line, but what we do is a job, an occupation that helps other people who can’t spend all night like this,” adds the pensioner.
“We almost all know each other, and if someone has a problem and has to go home for a while, we’ll take care of their place in line”
The man lists what kind of people require his work. “There are families with small children who cannot leave them alone, people who take care of the bedridden who can’t leave, others who are in charge of an elderly person and have to collect the pension but cannot spend a lot of time in line at the ATM. Anyway, they need cash but they don’t want to be here all this time.”
The coleros watch each other’s backs. Early mornings on the boulevard can be dangerous, especially when you can’t even see your hands due to the blackout, something that happens more and more frequently in a city that suffers up to more than 20 hours without electricity every day. “We almost all know each other. If someone has a problem and has to go home for a while, we will take care of their place in line.” Solidarity is vital for a job that is prohibited and does not enjoy a good reputation among the users of the branch.
“The first places in line are always in the hands of the coleros; you definitely can’t go to that bank,” says a young engineer who has given up taking out cash from the branch, the closest to her home. “I try to do everything I can through electronic transfers but not all businesses accept them, and you always end up needing cash.”
She says that customers have repeatedly complained to the bank’s management about the difficulties in accessing the ATMs. The complaints are not only directed against the coleros, but also against those who try to use a single place in line to extract money from several cards. “You are fifth in line, and you think you’re going to get there, but the person in front of you does five transactions and it’s all over.”
Based on the complaints, the branch managers have imposed a rule that each customer can only withdraw money from one card. The device also has a limit on the number of bills for each operation that restricts the quantities. “You can only withdraw 5,000 pesos in each operation, but the cash they put in the AT is so little that sometimes they recharge it at nine in the morning, and by eleven it’s empty.”
The young woman has chosen to mobilize her family to be in at least three lines at the same time
The young woman has chosen to mobilize her family to be in at least three lines at the same time. “My husband is in the branch on Argüelles Street, my mother in the San Carlos bank, and I am in this one on the boulevard, but sometimes we don’t even manage to get money.” In her opinion, the coleros who have been in front of the office since dawn are only the result of a bigger problem: “The lack of money and the fact that everything costs a lot, hundreds and thousands, and they don’t want to accept the smallest bills.”
One of the most experienced coleras on the boulevard is Arminda, 68 years old and with a pension of 1,500 pesos per month. “I have spent early mornings without sleeping; I have been bitten by mosquitoes, and I have even experienced some scares, just so a bank employee can come out and say that they aren’t putting money in the ATM that day, or the power goes off just when it is time to open to the public.”
Her main goal is to stay in business, despite the risks and frustrations, in order to buy, in the informal market, the medicines and food needed by her daughter, a young woman with mobility problems who can barely get out of bed. “If the power goes off just as the ATM starts, then I have to stay there under the sun so as not to lose my place in line, until the blackout is over.”
Insects, the early morning cold and the noon heat are not the only things that make Arminda uncomfortable. “Bank employees come out, stop the line and put in three or four cards to get money for their friends or people who pay them for it,” she complains. The old woman says that every day there is a different fight; people get very aggressive because, of course, money is a delicate matter.”
Last week Arminda was somewhat lucky because she stood in three lines during the early morning. She managed to withdraw cash for her customers in about two days. But she knows that in the fragile business of guaranteeing a position in the front of the line, nothing is assured. Her occupation is as unstable and elusive as those bills with the face of Céspedes (100 pesos) or Frank País (200 pesos).
Translated by Regina Anavy
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