| Cuban
Provinces & Cities
|
 |
Walking
through this impressive city you notice the tough life of the Habaneros.
If you look closely,
walking in Habana Centro's Paseo de Marti you will notice between
2 beautiful famous hotels an intrance you'll see 5 families are living
in an old decay building. |
| Housing |
Most
of those neighborhoods in bad conditions are inhabited by migrants
from the interior, mostly from the former Oriente province, nicknamed
"palestinos", coming to the capital seeking better job opportunities
and greater availability of consumer goods. Internal migration is
a critical factor in the growth of Cuba's capital.
A lot of illegal inhabitans in illegal rented homes and overcrowded.
Young people settle into buildings that have been declared uninhabitable,
or movie theaters, stores or hotels that have been shut down.
As a consequence of
this deterioration and huge shortage in housing construction a significant
amount of overcrowding has taken place with very negative social consequences.
Entire families are often forced to sleep in the same room. It is
very common to see what was initially a single family dwelling unit
being subdivided into two or three family nuclei. The increasing domestic
violence appears to be directly connected with this situation as well
as the extremely high divorce rate. Yet, many divorced couples must
continue living together, although they marry again, subdividing the
already restricted dwelling. |
|
| Blackouts |
|
Usually,
blackouts have taken place throughout the day, but particularly during
the "peak hours", between 5:30 and 9:00 p.m. But this has
not only been in Havana; the situation has been similar in other cities
along the Island. It is important to point out that there are areas
where blackouts do not occur, --important hotels, hospitals and the
exclusive residences of the new class in power. A popular measure
to find a remedy when electricity is cut off, has been returning to
the ancient "oil lamp of the fields" -- popularly known
as "chismosas" -- made in a very primitive manner: A glass
bottle with an empty tube of toothpaste inside, to hold a wick, frequently
homemade. Another more ingenious form of coping with the energy crisis
has been the building of "energy plants." These are really
sets of batteries (mostly obtained in the underground economy) of
different types, and arranged with great ingenuity that can provide
electricity at night, at least to see the extremely popular TV soap
opera and illumination. |
| Privacy |
| The
young married couples are those who have suffered the most because
of the dwelling deficit. In the majority of cases, just-married couples
must live at the house of one of their parents. Or, even worse, if
the living quarters are already congested in both families' houses,
then they may have to continue living separately, each one with his/her
respective family. The situation is such that, very often, married
couples have to go to the "posadas" love nests or rooms-rented-by-the-hour
places now managed by the government, in order to enjoy some privacy.
But, in order to rent a room in those places, due to their scarcity,
in many instances they have to form a line in public, frequently during
a long period of time and even making payments "under the table"
to the managers to get a good room or speed up their turn. Recent
reports indicate a drastic reduction of the posadas in Havana. |
|
| Coal
and Gas |
 |
Coal,
gas and kerosene for cooking or warming anything are also scarce.
Habaneros have to order gas at least 25 days in advance, it is just
not available… |
| Animals |
No
surprise entering a house and you will meet with chickens and pigs
in a regular Habanero home, without a garden or some outside place.
They just keep them inside for the food.
This, of course implied serious sanitary consequences |
|
With special
thanks to:
Juan Clark, Ph.D., Sociology Professor, Miami-Dade Community College,
Kendall Campus
|
