Cienfuegos/Nothing shows that this Friday is a festive day among the Cienfuegueros. After several days of blackouts that exceed 20 hours a day, residents in the city face Valentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day with little enthusiasm and limited consumption offers. The sails that are listed tonight will not be to create a romantic atmosphere but to alleviate the darkness of the electric cuts.
“My wife and I have the tradition of celebrating it because, in addition, we met on February 14 at a party organized by some friends,” Alejandro, 45, tells this newspaper. “We were normally going to eat a restaurant, we bought roses and then we spent a while for the city, but this year what we have to stay at home, not spend because everything is very expensive and lying early.”
The economic crisis has deflated passion around the date. Since the month began, merchants have also maintained caution with sales of all kinds of gifts and accessories. If a few years ago the tables, shops and particular kiosks were filled with stuffed animals, artificial or natural flowers, chocolates, heart -shaped accessories and all kinds of red or pink baratijas, this 2025 the offer is reduced.
“This year the initial investment came out at a very high price and we have no guarantees to recover it”
In the traditional artisanal fair that overflowed the San Fernando Boulevard since the beginning of February, the merchants have now opted for caution. “At this time, my husband and I always took a special production for sale, but this year the initial investment came out at a very high price and we have no guarantees to recover it,” explains Gina, a Cienfueguera goldsmith that manages a point of sale in the city center.
Instead of its own thematic productions from steel, copper and beads, it has preferred to maintain at its premises a majority of timeless products, which “the same thing serves for the day of lovers than for a birthday,” he acknowledges. “Many people approach, ask the prices and with it they leave without buying anything. This misery has taken people to the desire to love.”
His commercial experience warns him that those shopping peaks around special dates are already history. “The seller who depends on the celebrations is at risk of not even being able to get the cost of the investment made,” says Gina. Inflation pushes families to cut expenses in gifts and festivities to concentrate almost exclusively in survival.
The nightly scene does not motivate your hand in your pocket. “You can find a restaurant that has a plant and spend a nice time but then, how are you leaving for your home? In the midst of darkness? That is a danger,” says David, 28, who on Wednesday came out in the middle of your workday to buy a present for your wife.
After having toured the shops near the Villuendas Park, the young man noticed that his goal would be complicated. “A simple postcard costs 300 or 400 pesos. As much in love with your pocket, it can’t stand those excesses.” After a long journey, David ended up spending more than 300 pesos on two bread bars that managed to buy from an informal seller. “The bread is lost, so put to choose from I opted to be able to have breakfast tomorrow.”
In David’s home and his partner most likely tonight, he frugally ceases in the dark of a blackout and the larger fun is “see some videos on the Internet if we have battery and connection at that time.”
