With Ordinary Cubans Sweltering In The Dark, Shouldn't The Government Follow Suit?

A store on Neptune Street closed yesterday so they wouldn't have to turn on the air conditioner after exceeding the strict plan of kilowatts consumed. In a five-star hotel they tell the tourists they're repairing the air conditioner but in reality they turn it off so the meter won't run so fast. In both places the employees breathe the hot stuffy air while few customers venture into the large market to buy, or remain in the lobby of the luxurious accommodation.

Fans appear everywhere in a savings plan that is costing the country a figure the press doesn't publish. The housewives avoid submerging themselves in the sticky atmosphere of the convertible peso stores; those wanting to make a deposit escape after half an hour inside the windowless bank; coffee shops see their sales decline; private money changers are having a heyday because the state currency exchange offices (CADECAS) close midday; and in the movie theaters one doesn't know whether to scream at the monster who wants to devour the protagonist or at the unbearable heat.

Obviously these measures originated in some office air-conditioned by "up there"; they occurred to those who, at three in the afternoon, didn't have to wait for a document in a place where more than twenty people were crowded together, sweating. I would like to throw out a proposal to the architects of this program, that they extend the cuts to certain untouchable sites where the thermometer still shows less than 25 degrees Celsius. It would be good, for example, to ask the members of the National Assembly, who are meeting on August 1st, to travel to their meeting on public transport so as not to waste fuel on their chartered bus. They should, keeping with the electrical restrictions we all live with, deliberate by the light of candles, drink warm soft drinks at the break, and limit their session to only a couple of hours, to avoid the costs of using the microphones and the TV transmitters. The unanimous approval and frantic applause which characterizes all their actions don't require much meeting time, nor the enjoyment of relaxing air conditioning.

Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English Translation.

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Comments

[EmanuelWazar]

As the son of a socialist, and a current political activist for social justice and against western imperialism, even I find these conditions wholly unacceptable. I'm sorry. There is no excuse, or justification for imposing such a low quality of life on the people of Cuba. Thousands did not die in the revolution so that their people could live in essentially a mass prison. A shobbly run one at that. And if the standard of care is measured by simply access to medicine, education, minimum diet, and allotted hours of rest and exercise, well, that is the standard of care we offer prisoners.

While I understand the undue pressures caused by the embargo, and the relentless attempts by exiled-Cubans to subvert any chance of prosperity for their own brothers, neither of these excuse the Cuban government from it's responsibility to offer it's Cuban citizens a dignified quality of life. And especially not in a communist Cuba. There is no excuse what so ever for "some" of the people to bear the burnt of hardships and others not, their previous supposed "aportes a la revolucion" be dammed. We either ARE in a revolution which requires sacrifice FROM ALL, or we are NOT. I steadfastly refuse to accept that we Dominicans, as a percentage of our population, have access and opportunity for a higher standard of life, despite our egregious socialital/economic faults, and yet Cubans do not. That is unacceptable.

[BARRISTER]

Okay, while you get on about airconditioners Ms. Sanchez, let us ask this question of ourselves: "With ordinary Americans sweltering on the brink of bankruptcy, struggling without healthcare, shouldn't the Congress follow suit and give up their Cadillac Health Insurance coverage paid for by the very same struggling Americans? Shouldn't our Government follow suit until they bestow upon us the equivalent Health Care? "

[sandokan1]

The shower shown in the photo will kill you. Here in the USA, anything like that would be prohibited. There is an irony here. In democracies, the people are in a position to demand a safe environment, sometimes we feel our governments overdo it, the so-called “nanny state.” And in a capitalist economy, where the people have freedom of choice, equipment is constantly refined and improved. Wherever communism takes over, health, safety, and the environment become massive casualties.

Of course, once Cuba was as green, fertile, and productive as Canada. It took socialism to bring it to its present plight.

[LMPE]

Screaming at the monster devouring the protagonist. Yes, it appears that Cuban cinemas are dominated by every dumb action flick that Hollywood cranks out, only occasionally showing a Cuban film. I've also read Cuba's TV schedule online, and they include Hannah Montana.

Really, if Cuba's government was 100% serious about resisting US imperialism, they would ban all the crap that Hollywood makes. I applaud Cuba's health care system, but shouldn't they avoid dumbing down the population with the American monoculture?

PS: Cuban media has only good things to say about China. I wonder how much of the junk that China makes for Wal-Mart has ended up in Cuba.

[Agentlady007]

I think we should be more interested in what America makes and where it is sent and why and what we get in exchange for it.

[AlinaM]

I do not remember having AC in my house prior to the revolution. I believe only my cousin who lived in a very modern home in Biltmore had AC. You would find AC in department stores like el El Encanto. However most of the population did not have A/C in their homes that I recall. This must be one of the improvements made by the Revolution...... We used to live more al fresco with plantation style windows or wide open windows if you lived on a second floo of an older home, as I recall. We used to go swimming at the beach or a social club to cool off in the summer and there was always a cool breeze after the hot afternoon and normal rain which lasted about one hour each day in the summer. I also do not remember any major hurricanes during the 12 years that I lived in the island.. I guess that we were blessed.