This Tuesday, Liliam and Jorge went for the third time to the office of the Directorate of Identification, Immigration and Foreigners (DIIE) in Centro Habana and their passport was not ready even though they have tickets to travel to Nicaragua next Saturday. The massive exodus, coupled with the economic crisis, is delaying the deadlines for delivery of travel documents.
“We managed to reserve the tickets, paying more than a thousand dollars for each one, but if they don’t give us the passports in the next few days we can lose that money,” he explained to 14ymedio the mother of two children, who will also travel to Managua. “They should have given us everything on October 25 and nothing yet.”
The delay in deliveries is confirmed by an employee of that office located on Calle Castillejo, corner of Jesús Peregrino. “We don’t make the passports here, we have to wait for Sepsa (Specialized Protection Services Company, SA) to bring them, but they don’t have fuel for their vehicles,” she tells this newspaper.
“They must travel in this type of secure vehicle because we are talking about very sensitive documents, which must be safe and guarded until they reach their destination,” he adds, such as money from banks or exchange houses.
“This has prolonged the period between when the passport or identity card is requested and when it can be collected,” adds the employee. “Now it is taking about 30 business days, where before it was two weeks, but that may be more depending on how the transportation issue behaves and the number of requests for new documents.”
“Now it is taking about 30 business days, where before it was two weeks, but that may be longer depending on how the transportation issue behaves”
The place is full of people every day and in its two floors it is difficult to find an empty space to sit due to the avalanche of applicants. Most of those who go to the office do so to start the process for a new passport, although there are also those who seek to make the mandatory extension of that document every two years and others who need an identity card.
“I just retired and I have stopped all the pension procedures because I lost my identity card and although four weeks ago I applied for a new one, I still haven’t received it,” lamented Rodolfo, a resident of nearby Salud street who is still waiting for initiate various official procedures. “They gave me a piece of paper that supposedly replaces the card but in many places they don’t accept it.”
As soon as the doors open, a worker in Castillejo’s office sends the first group through. Those who enter are placed in rows of seats until they are called, one by one, to go through a table where another employee in front of a computer writes down the person’s data to call them later. On the upper floor are the areas for fingerprinting and photography.
“They can have everything very well organized, but what is it worth if the delivery times are not met later,” Rodolfo complains. “Since I arrived today I have even seen people here crying because they had everything ready to leave the country believing that they were going to deliver their passport on time, but they have found themselves in a situation where there are serious delays in delivery.”
In front of the premises, Idania looks from her window at those who begin to enter the second round of calls, after the forced break from 11 in the morning to 1:30 in the afternoon to save electricity in the state premises. “I’ve lived here since I was born and I’ve never seen so many queues. Whole families come to get their passports and emigrate,” she tells this newspaper.
“And it’s not just here, the office on 17th Street, in El Vedado, is in the same situation: with a permanent queue and delivery dates of more than a month and counting”
“In these days that there is so much delay in preparing the documents, I have seen people who have even tried to give money to speed up the process, but the employees cannot do anything,” he says. “This is not the place where they are made, they have to wait for it to be brought to them, and if there is no gasoline for the cars, there is no way.”
“And it’s not just here, the office on 17th Street, in El Vedado, is in the same situation: with a permanent queue and delivery dates of more than a month and counting,” he says. “There are people who come from other municipalities with the illusion that it will be faster here, but it is a general problem, no one is spared.”
Idania estimates that every morning, when the DIIE office begins its opening hours to the public, there are already “more than a hundred people outside waiting to enter.” Throughout the day that number can continue to multiply several times. “In this place, calmly, they are serving more than five thousand people a week and if only half come to ask for their new passport, then we are talking about a lot of people.”
In silence, so as not to bother the employees or get into problems that delay the process, fifty people wait on the ground floor, already seated and with the primer read by a worker in a martial tone: “Here you can not use the cell phone , to call or receive calls they have to go out. They must be aware of the person in front of them so that their turn is not missed and they are not allowed to speak out loud”.
After the instructions, there are a few minutes of silence that are broken when a young man comes down the stairs and shouts with annoyance: “I’ve been in this for more than a month and nothing, another day lost and without a passport!”. A murmur of indignation runs through the room and several people go out to the sidewalk to use their cell phones. “We are not going to be able to leave on Friday. They are still not delivering the passports that should be in the second half of October,” one is heard saying.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
