HAVANA TIMES – This summer, I wanted to treat myself by visiting a place completely unknown to me: the Guisa Botanical Garden. This garden belongs to Bayamo and is very close to it, just a few minutes away by car. So, as soon as I arrived in Bayamo from Holguin, I took a small truck to my destination.
Transportation, which is private of course, isn’t too hard to find. It accommodated about 15 people, seven on each side and one in a separate small seat at the back. Along the way, it picks up a lot of people, because some get off and others get on, so the number can add up.
At one of the stops, almost reaching Guisa, the driver’s assistant, who opens and closes the door and is responsible for collecting fares, said to us: “If the police stop us at the next intersection and ask how much you were charged, you say 20 pesos, got it?” Everyone was stunned, sitting in their seats. We had been charged 200 pesos, a difference of 180 pesos, which for anyone is a huge difference. No one protested, despite their astonished faces. We know how to complain, but not how to demand our rights when they are violated. This unhealthy attitude has been ingrained for decades.
Only a few expressions came to life: “what abuse,” “this is outrageous,” “how much longer will this go on”… But that was as far as it went. I’m sure that if we had been stopped, which never happened, and a policeman had asked, we would have complied with all the anger that such an experience might entail.
The fact remains that transportation in this country never improved. And corruption hasn’t been overcome either. It is clear that public education and extensive political speeches about solidarity, honesty, and commitment to a socialist world —the best of all possible worlds— are not enough; they do not solve the human problem. Cuba shouts th
