In the midst of serious shortages and salary and inflationary crisis, the country continues to be held on the basis of the Remando.
Santiago de Cuba. – In Cuba, desires are usually postponed by need. At the gates of the new school year, it shows more: the backpacks, shoes and uniforms that should symbolize the September premiere reach the recycled classrooms of previous years.
But the problem is not limited to students: it reaches professionals from all sectors that cannot afford something new either.
Lisbeth Leyva, a 30 -year – The last salary reform In the health sector. However, although this salary is well above average –The average monthly salary in Cuba Round the 6,000 pesos (15 USD) -, the young woman had to go to a repairs workshop in the center of Santiago de Cuba, province where she resides, to fix an umbrella and worked bags. “First you eat and then you think about the rest,” summarizes with resignation. In that place, for 650 pesos resolved what, new, would cost more than 6,000.
If for Lisbeth pay that amount of blow is unthinkable, when assumes food as higher priority; What does an expense of this nature represent for a nurse who earns just over 9,000 per month (USD 22)? Libya Medina, apart from being a nursing degree, is the mother of two teenagers. Therefore, any expense, where appropriate, is multiplied by two. This year, he acknowledges, his children will return to classes with the backpacks and resume shoes, inherited from the previous course.
“I know that it hurts, me too. I myself, when I was a child, dreamed of premiere every new course, and many times I could not, despite being the only child. Now, with two children in high school, everything is more difficult. Only a backpack of regular size costs 7,000 pesos and some average quality tennis, from 10,000 up. It is impossible,” he confesses.
Official shortage, parallel business
According to the Ministry of Education, this year the marketing of uniforms began On July 15 in the schools themselves. However, only preschool, fifth and seventh grades were prioritized, leaving the rest of the levels in the hands of the informal market. As expected, little availability has become a business opportunity for this sector. Several MSMEs have been in charge of the production and respective sale of uniforms. In this area, each garment can cost up to 700 pesos, although official prices range between 23 and 61 pesos.
On the other hand, to the lack of uniforms is added the lack of notebooks and other school materials that are no longer delivered regularly. Many parents must buy them in the parallel market or even print textbooks on their own.
In the corner of Caballo Blanco, between Santo Tomás and San Francisco, a group of account propistas keeps the art of repairing alive. Pedro, a talabartero ex officio, says that July and August are the most intense months: “The backpacks arrive broken, without zippers, without lining. I give them another life. While a complete repair can cost 3,500 pesos, it will always be cheaper than buying a new one. People does not come for pleasure, it comes out of necessity.”
Vladimir Gutiérrez, watchmaker with more than 25 years of experience thinks about that: “The inventiveness, typical of the Cuban, has been a quality learned, forced by circumstances.” “Not for pleasure it is said that we invented it in the air.”
In this workshop around two dozen men who, each in their specialty, perform the work of restoring. “Although it is difficult for us to get the materials, it is always resolved. We buy them from those who import them from other countries and also buy broken, with the aim of taking advantage of the pieces. Anyway, the question is not to stop and satisfy customers,” says Vladimir.
Cubans try to repair and recycle everything they can in order to extend the useful life of the goods they possess and thus relieve family expenses. This proverbial ingenuity, forced by poverty, is evidenced not only in the maintenance of cars that, with more than half a century, still roll through the streets of the island, but also in the case of appliances, clothes, footwear, etc.
The country has become accustomed to sustaining itself on the basis of the Remando. Repairing not only means lengthening the life of objects, but also postponing indefinitely the possibility of decent consumption. While a doctor’s monthly salary is barely equivalent to 50 dollars, a backpack can cost a quarter of that income. The consequence is clear: repair ceases to be an option and becomes a daily condemnation.
