The Matanzas Business Fair: a lot of posters, little substance

Matanzas/The Business Fair opened its doors in Matanzas as almost all official events in Cuba are announced: with institutional enthusiasm, grandiose headlines and promises of productive chains that, at least on paper, seemed capable of boosting the local economy. For three days, the old Palace of Justice – today under the administration of the Office of the Conservator – became the venue for the third edition of a meeting that aspired to show business muscle and modernity. However, it was enough to cross the threshold for the narrative to begin to unravel.

In the wide corridors, the echo of footsteps was more eloquent than any slogan. The stands, lined up with a uniformity that bordered on laziness, offered little more than poorly printed banners, bottles of rum listlessly placed on decorative barrels, and tables where representatives sat waiting for an audience that had not yet arrived. The contrast between official discourse and reality was difficult to ignore.

“They gave participation to their companies and to a few private companies that respond to their interests,” he summarized. 14ymedio Karel, owner of a MSME dedicated to furniture manufacturing. Since the middle of the year he tried, without success, to obtain an exhibition space. He delivered documents, described his corporate purpose, met every requirement. The final answer was a bureaucratic phrase: all capacities were covered. When touring the Fair, however, it is difficult to understand what capabilities those were.

The province has 137 state-owned companies, more than 600 MSMEs, almost 300 local development projects and tens of thousands of self-employed workers. That diversity was not reflected in the event. “Who are you supposed to make alliances with here?” Karel asked as he pointed to an empty booth. “I can’t even hang a banner with basic information about my business. This is not a fair, it’s a stage set.”

The decoration included, of course, the companies and state entities that survive thanks to the official monopoly over some sectors. The Banco de Crédito y Comercio (Bandec) and the Banco Popular de Ahorro occupied visible spaces, although their presence was limited more to the promotion of digital platforms than to the solution of specific problems. “I came because I read that they were going to deliver magnetic cards,” says Ania, a resident of the historic center. “The only thing they do is install Transfermóvil and EnZona. I’ve had that for a long time. For that, it wasn’t necessary to set up a fair.”

The aesthetics didn’t help much either. The exhibition points seemed improvised, without a clear visual line or a minimum effort to communicate efficiency. “If they give awards for design here, they can give them to anyone,” said a university professor who was walking around the premises with a skeptical expression. The woman gave up calling her son to receive banking advice: “This is not the place to talk about serious credit.”

Initially scheduled for October, coinciding with the founding anniversary of the city of Matanzas, the Fair was suspended at least twice. This organizational back-and-forth left a trail of mistrust among those summoned. Some gave up participating; others came more out of curiosity than out of real expectations. The result was an event where you could walk comfortably, something unthinkable in any space that truly connects supply and demand.

Meanwhile, the “makeup” was evident. State companies with supply problems, financial deficits or impaired services were presented as efficient gears of an economy in motion. Not even that self-aggrandizement could hide that many are bankrupt and that others survive because there are no alternatives. In key sectors – banking, commerce, procedures – the client does not choose: he accepts.

At the closing, the provincial authorities described the Fair as a business success, but for those who walked those halls, the balance is different. There was no real variety of services, no effective interrelation between economic actors, nor signs of an expanding productive environment. There was, yes, a staging designed for the photo and the report.

The motto of this edition was “Matanzas, more productive every day.” The phrase hung in the air, without tangible support. On the outskirts of the Fair, the city continued to deal with blackouts, shortages, and businesses that survive despite the system, not because of it.