HAVANA, Cuba. – To travel from one province to another in spite of the restrictions on mobility is not as difficult as it seems. One only needs to bribe the person in charge of these matters at the municipal or provincial government to obtain an official permit, or, if one is in a hurry and wishes to skip this step because it usually takes a few days for the process to be complete, one can hide inside one of the many state or private vehicles that are allowed to pass the police control stops along the roads.
For this, too, as with the other options, one has to pay. As it gets closer to November 15th, the date that Havana will open to international tourism, government road permits as well as passage obtained via bribes, are in higher demand, and, as a result, get more expensive.
If only two months ago, to obtain approval to travel, for instance, between Ciego de Ávila in central Cuba, to Havana cost between 1,200 and 2,500 Cuban pesos (the equivalent of between US$ 20 and US$ 40 at the informal market exchange rate), today that cost has increased above 5,000 Cuban pesos. In fact, to get to Havana from provinces located further away, like Guantánamo, Granma or Santiago de Cuba, the cost can reach 10,000 Cuban pesos.
The number of individuals that depend directly or indirectly on international tourism in Cuba is so great, whether legally or illegally, that being able to arrive in Havana before November 15th has become a real race against the clock, for different reasons. There are those who aim to be in Havana already when the first “yuma” -American or foreign tourist- sets foot on Cuban soil so he or she can be cornered for exclusive access. This is especially important to tourist hustlers, people who engage in informal and extra-legal work, not necessarily linked to prostitution or fraud. Then there are those who want to find cheap living quarters (an impossible feat in this period of inflation) in a timely fashion. For all, the goal of rekindling their network of contacts after almost two years of inactivity is a priority, in order to give “better services” (corrupt policemen, suppliers of tobacco, rum, drugs, works of art, medical services, and, of course, everything sex).
Liensay, a 20-year-old young woman from Holguín, who just arrived in Havana through clandestine channels, tells us why she was in a hurry to be among the first people to get here, and what she expects from the reopening of tourism on November 15th:
“I tried to get here with the official permit, but I couldn’t get it; someone spoke to me about a truck that made the journey to Havana on a weekly basis, to pick up steel materials, and I spoke to the driver to ask him that he hide me in the cargo, and take me with him. He wanted to charge me 8,000 Cuban pesos, but I didn’t have that kind of money; I had to sell a television set and I also gave him a young pig that my mother was raising for end-of-the-year celebrations. Of course, it’s worth doing it because, when more people start arriving [in Havana], competition will increase. The struggle has always been hard here, and now it’s going to be merciless, do or die. Before [the pandemic] I used to make US$ 100 in one day. Assuming that things don’t go well, if I can make US$20 a day, I will make it better than over there [in Holguín]. The situation over there is poverty all over. Havana is like the U.S. in comparison. If we get another pandemic, I’m not leaving Havana. I will leave only if it means going to the other side [the U.S],” Liensay stated.
For Andy, a 22-year-old young man from Las Tunas, who shares a rental with Liensay in Old Havana his fear was not so much getting to Havana before the competition in order to catch a foreigner, but to not being able to find a cheap and well-located rental.
“I arrived at the end of August, when things were at their worst. A friend of mine told me there were rumors that tourism would reopen for high season [November to April]. I paid 5,000 for a permit plus 3,000 for the car that brought me here. I had to scratch here and there to gather that amount of money. When I was told for sure that the trip to Havana was taking place, I sold my motorcycle. I was in a hurry to find a place to rent; very few people are renting out spaces for Cuban pesos, and the tiny rooms you find that are cheap have no bathroom, no decent conditions. Here, I can bring a foreign client without any problem. True, I’m spending a little more money, but first impressions count. The tourist sees this room and says: ‘This guy is a decent fellow, he’s not a crook.’ If I take him to some dump instead, he will want to pay me pittance. Sometimes you have to invest in order to earn more,” explains Andy.
For his part, Sergio, a 34-year-old man also from Las Tunas, decided to return to Havana much sooner than November 15th, so that he could “prepare the ground” because, as an illegal resident of Havana at risk of being deported back to Las Tunas, he has to make new contacts with the police and identify officers who can “let him off the hook if he gets in trouble” because “the streets are dangerous” after the July 11th protests last summer.
“Almost all the cops that I knew have been replaced. The streets are dangerous, the Black Berets –trained MININT security brigades- are out to get anyone, they’ve been assigned to every street corner. I go out every day so they can see me, so they know I am from the neighborhood, that I’m OK. Sometimes I bring them drinking water, I buy them cigarettes in order to soften them so they can let me off the hook when and if the time comes. I paid 10,000 [Cuban pesos] to get the permit to travel to Havana, 6,000 for the actual transport, and another 4,000 at the Camagüey road inspection post because [the guards] got a little difficult,” states Sergio.
One year of closed borders, plus the curfews and the militarization of the streets, have dealt a severe blow to Cuban men and women who depend financially on tourism. With the announcement of the country’s reopening next November 15th, expectations rise for those who are looking to take advantage of tourists, their only remedy amidst the dismal poverty generated by the Cuban economy.
Read in spanish here.
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