The divers
By Varela
I’m not going to jabber on about education, sports or health.
I’ll hit hard and without gloves.
Cuba has reached the level of other developed countries. It has street scavengers.
The development has hit Cuban society hard, along with the streetwalkers and the muggers who accost you for “your bag or your life” (because everyone in Havana walks around with a bag in his hand and I’m about to ask them what the heck they carry in those things.)
Those who scavenge for refuse in the dumpsters are known as “divers.”
I have a friend in the capital who sports a beard and, because he’s getting bald on top, he has braided the rest of his hair into a ponytail to even up his head. He spends the day in shorts, shirtless (because of the August heat), doing mechanical work, coated in grease, and that’s how he goes out, in flip-flops, to buy cigars at the corner store.
The other day, he walked past a diver and told him, “Don’t bother with the trash can outside the house at 21, ’cause it’s got nothing. Things are bad today.”
At the corner store, the clerks are changing shifts, and when they change shifts the country stops on its tracks. It’s a major event. It seems as if they add up the sales with their fingers and they check and recheck just so there won’t be any fraud. And the customers line up but the clerks ignore them big time.
So, my friend headed for a high-class restaurant and, as he walked in, the “maitre-dee” told him “We have nothing to give away just yet. Come back after we close and use the back door.”
My friend answered, “No, brother, what I want is to buy an H. Upmann – with CUCs.” “Oh, pardon me,” said the maitre-dee, a bit embarrassed.
The way things are going, I expect that the Ladies in White, after all their prisoners “of conscience” leave for all the hostels in Madrid and the hospitals in Miami, will devote themselves – as they promised – to help people like the divers. Because, from what I see, the government is still concerned about education, sports and health.
Laura Pollán could give someone her hat, someone else her parasol and someone else the white tennis shoes she wore during her marches. And if she’s serious, she could give away her patterned blouses so the folks can keep warm in winter.
Because neither the U.S. Interests Section nor the USAID nor the European Common Stance fully understands this worldwide phenomenon. They blockade Cuba to create misery and provide money to bribe scoundrels.
Those institutions are more concerned about people who get free food, free clothing and free medicine but are in prison.
As a concept of freedom, it’s a bit abstract.
Because, as my beloved Yoani says, prison is another step.
(From Havana, August 2010)
