Welcome to Havana, Cuba
A country where its people are constantly on the move, trying to get out
forward facing the certain tests that life puts us to each
which and making sometimes tough decisions but without a doubt we have to
take all of us who were born Cubans, those who decided to leave and those of us who are still here
In our daily struggle, a word that has many meanings for us here, where
everything important for the country is in the hands of the state sector we face
to rationalization that is nothing more than scarcity, an evil that corrodes our society.
What decision should those young people who have a future ahead of them make? Sit down
to wait or use the first chance they get to get to a better place?
We are in a limbo where we are forced to use too much of
our time trying to achieve things that could be achieved anywhere else
with just a few minutes. Economic measures that do not favor either the locals or the
from there. What we used to achieve with our national currencies today
we have to try to achieve it with foreign currencies, currencies that we do not charge.
Many who do not know Cuba wonder why so many people are wasting their time in the
Street? Among the answers is the problem of wages. Our youth don't want to be wasting
time solving problems that should already be solved, a youth that is
prepared according to the times we are living and with the willingness to get ahead
wherever, a youth that many times risks even their own life to live a little better.
In most cases the best option is to work in the private sector, it is very true that
you work more but you also earn more and the real world works like that. A private sector that produces
of deficiencies has to bite the bullet and on many occasions straighten those same nails
and reuse them, nails that in their countries are sold by weight here are sold by units, here
there is not so you have to get them on the black market and the machinery and tools in dollars.
We have seen that what is most abundant in stores in national currency is water and drink,
We have seen entrepreneurs who carry out such an important activity to save you
time to people, who cannot lower their prices due to the lack
from a wholesale market are fined because they cannot be in a corner.
A private sector that is affected by all these conditions and the same measures as the
regulate also affects the end customers that are us. The biggest concern a
Cuban is what it will bring to the table today and also what it will bring to the table tomorrow. So we have gone
getting used to things that are not normal anywhere but for us they are.
Retirees who have pensions between 1,500 and
1800 pesos decide to earn a living the way they can
and while some must go to the bank to deposit the dollars that their family sends them, dollars that
They will no longer be able to continue using in Cuba there are others who have bigger problems.
The stores in MLC (foreign currencies) do not have a stable assortment either, but they do have priority
before the stores in national currency that are out of stock, in
both cases people start queuing at 5:00 AM
many times without knowing if they will release the product you are looking for.
Those who have family and friends abroad can feel lucky.
they send money to Cuba. Life keeps moving on. But how does someone who does not have
friends or family? How do those people who worked all their lives and saved in pesos do
Cubans and after the economic order, those savings depreciated 3 to 5 times?
How do families do when their rice runs out and they can't pay for it at 60 pesos per pound?
Here in Havana the rice competes in price with the dollar and threatens to win.
It's frustrating to get up early and stand in line for 5 hours and have what you buy runs out.
Chicken, sausages, picadillo (leftover ground meat) mostly that is what is sold in national currency. The
variety comes for the stores in MLC. These foreign currency stores were
created more than a year ago in theory to supply stores in national currency,
great thing we are still waiting for. Imported and production products are sold here
national even trinkets for children are already sold in foreign currencies. Beer
national costs 1.40 USD. Many people have stopped drinking beer, an adult can
do it, but how do you explain to a child that there is no money to buy their candy?
Household appliances are not immune to dollarization either.
Transportation is now more limited, the traffic is more controlled
number of passengers inside buses. It also shows
a lower frequency and both together means more trouble moving.
If ambulances have fuel problems, public transport should too
have and is that in energy matters our country is very tied to what happens in Venezuela.
A while ago I was telling you that hotels are selling their food at the price equivalent to what
that they sold it normally but now in national currency . Here we have chicken marinated at 350
pesos, this is a practice adopted by many tourist centers that have no clientele
They sell their products to the people at the same astronomical prices but in national currency.
This queue is to buy picadillo (leftover ground meat). I have something recorded for you that I want you to see.
To put you a little on the price: these batteries are no longer
They can be found in state stores, you have to look for them on the street, and they cost five dollars.
What you are seeing here is what in our country is called jamonada
the word may come from ham - nothing. These are two pounds 54 pesos.
If you ask about the ham, the ham costs 64 pesos per pound with the state, on the street it costs 100.
But we will continue to see the products that are found on the street and the quality. This is
The peanuts and sesame seeds that I usually buy in the Egido Market, from 10 pesos have risen to 30.
But it does not end here, this peanut bar costs 25 pesos, look how thin, how flexible
and watch how it moves. Well we Cubans have learned to laugh
of all our problems. These are the famous explosive croquettes,
This is what we say to them because when they start to fry they explode, even after they have been taken out
Cauldrons also explode There have been many accidents reported on social media. The
The company that manufactures them says that we do n't know how to fry croquettes. Some other
Cuban has asked if planting the croquettes in the backyard of his house could create a minefield.
At 25 Cuban pesos the package with 10 ammunition.
Well, what you are seeing here is the famous cornmeal bread that is being made
in Cuba they already know that we have a deficit of wheat. - Don't laugh, little girl, you're serious! (laughs)
and then, well, around here it looks a bit ...
porous! here, because like that, when it is ground, no, there is no ... (-It does not solve well) (laughs)
Well, nothing, we continue. And so, for the good of some and for the bad of others we have
used to laughing at our problems as if we were children, children who do not know the
work that their parents go through so that when they get home after playing court
have a soap to bathe, have a plate of food and that tomorrow they can eat something else
different. Those that we wish would never leave our side, that we try to educate them so that
are better people than ourselves and who sometimes make the difficult decision to
leave, in the worst case to cross a jungle (Selva del Darién) or be with people for whom
physical attraction is not felt just because they represent a better future perhaps elsewhere.
It would be a pride that our children were architects to help repair our city,
but maybe they choose to be bricklayers because they will earn more, or they were doctors or teachers,
But they will always keep in mind that a policeman earns much more than a doctor and much more than a teacher,
or that the Indian builders they bring to work in the hotels
Cubans will earn 8 to 10 times more than them.
What is Cuba?
Definitely more than a political system, more than the problems we face on a daily basis, more
that the difficult decisions that we have to make, more than rum, mulatto, fun,
more than Varadero, more than the keys,
more than the amazement of tourists to see the beauty of Old Havana but
also the ruined buildings. Cuba is its people, its streets,
the experiences that unite all Cubans, it is this land that
she saw the birth that belongs to all of us, to all of us who are here and to those who long for her,
of those who want to come and cannot, or are not allowed to enter the country, and of those who do not want to
do it to avoid seeing with their own eyes what is left of what they left behind.
And in this way, walking near the Havana seawall with the sky totally cloudy,
and that mixture of mixed feelings that all Cubans have had at some time, we are ending
this video not without first thanking everyone who stayed until the end.
I want to ask you to let me know in your comments if anyone has a birthday this week
next, after having seen this video or if a relative has a birthday, your wife or
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