If a walk through the ATMs in Havana demonstrates the shortage of pesos in the country, another by the exchange houses (Cadeca) illustrates another lack: that of dollars.
This Wednesday, at the Cadeca de Belascoaín, in Centro Habana, they only attended to 10 people. Taking into account that, according to the official provisions in force since last August 22each individual acquires a maximum of 100 dollars per day, the branch only sold 1,000.
The premises, located in the municipality with the highest population density, cannot meet the demand: to date, the policemen in charge of “ordering” the queue have a waiting list of 4,000 people. “Next century I will have to buy,” lamented a young man this Thursday as he walked away from the place.
At the El Vedado exchange house, located at 23, between J and L, the picture is slightly more encouraging: every day, about 30 buyers manage to be served, which means a maximum sale of 3,000 dollars. However, more than two weeks ago they targeted 700 people and, by this Wednesday, they were only going for number 275.
At the El Vedado exchange house, located at 23, between J and L, the picture is slightly more encouraging: every day, about 30 buyers manage to be served, which means a maximum sale of 3,000 dollars
“From what I see there are new faces, who don’t know how this works. I always start with the most important part: discipline.” The policeman in charge of the Cadeca de 23, who with his words denotes that day after day he usually attends to the same people, is proud of the good progress of that branch.
“Here has to reign order, citizen tranquility, respect for the person. From here to there there will never be a lack of respect,” he continues. “From there to here it has to be the same. I say this because other citizens from other municipalities, such as Arroyo Naranjo or Diez de Octubre, come here imposing. Nothing is imposed here. I do not impose what we are doing Everything is working fine.”
The officer warns that “fraud cannot exist here” and that citizens who come to “propose” must be denounced. “I’m going for fourteen scams here to clear up,” he says, while assuring that “we have disappeared” those suspects, and clarifies, referring to the Havana prisons: “in the best sense of the word, of course: Valle Grande, Combined from the east…”. Thus, he refers that they have detained six people.
The idea of aiming for 700, he says, occurred to him two Saturdays ago, when such a riot was organized that the authorities had to close the street. “275 people have passed. We have about 425 left. When am I going to write down again, that is what interests you the most?” , 150, or 200 and up to 300″.
“And this is the best Cadeca, the rest is to die for. At Monaco [en Diez de Octubre] there is no list, you can go to sleep from one day to the next and you don’t classify”
“300! That’s a fantasy,” replies, with a loose laugh, a woman who has been approaching the exchange house for several days in a row, to which the policeman reprimands: “Discipline, compañera, discipline.”
The reason, explains the agent, is because he has to “play with the availability that the colleagues from the Cadeca have and what the colleagues from the Ministry, from the Directorate, guide me.” Indeed, as indicated by the regulations approved in August, each branch will only be able to sell the few currencies that it bought from customers the day before.
Normally, they let between 30 and 40 numbers through, but one day, suddenly, they managed to get 60, which caused many to lose their place on the list. “Whoever missed his shift, he lost,” says the officer, who also warns that no one can take more than one shift, even if he comes with someone else’s card.
“The problem is that if you don’t know how many shifts there are going to be, you have to come every day,” laments an elderly man in the queue, once the policeman has left. “This is the debacle,” interjects a middle-aged man, who, however, concedes: “And this is the best Cadeca, the rest is to die. In Monaco [en Diez de Octubre] there is no list, you can go to sleep from one day to the next and you don’t classify”.
“I’ve been two weeks and I haven’t been able to sign up, and I see how the list stays there,” complains another woman, who immediately takes things with resignation and sarcasm: “It’s what it’s about. Imagine: we’re happy here” .
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