This sign says it all: “Transfers are not being accepted, connection problems”
14ymedio, Havana, 30 August 2024 — The employee moves the mouse with agility. He connects the hard drive that a client has brought and begins to copy folders with movies, music and video games. The heat and successive operations activate the computer’s internal cooler, and a purr fills the small place, one of the many points available to buy the paquete semanal [weekly packet] in the neighborhood of Cayo Hueso, in Central Havana. In the midst of so much technology and digital files that come and go, a sign stuck on the computer lands in a more analog and rudimentary world: “Transfers are not being accepted, connection problems.”
The Cuban government’s attempt to extend electronic payments, a fundamental pillar of the so-called bancarización — banking reform — runs into countless obstacles every day. To the suspicion of merchants, who see in virtual money a strategy of the authorities to have greater control and surveillance over their income, are added the difficulties with the mobile phone data service, indispensable for any operation of this type. “The inspectors come and want to fine us because we don’t have the option of shopping through
