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FROM
CUBA
Havana for sale
HAVANA, January (Lucas Garve / Freedom
of Expression Foundation / www.cubanet.org)
December 30 the streets were full, as opposed
to the days around the 24th, when commercial
activity in the streets was decidedly lackluster.
Some said people were not in the mood to
celebrate; others opined there simply wasn't
any money to be spent.
"The money is in hiding, man,"
said a pedicab driver outside the Plaza
Carlos III, one of the city's fanciest dollar
malls.
But in the next to last day of 2003, thousands
of Havana denizens poured into the streets
as if answering the call of a bell. Most
were selling something, in spite of police
hostility. Main thoroughfares, such as Galiano,
Monte, and Neptuno, seemed to have been
taken by storm.
"Most people out in the streets are
selling something today," said a woman
who was getting a pedicure.
Since early on the morning of the 31st,
there was a noticeable urgency in the streets.
On the outskirts of the city, where I live,
people have a little room around their houses,
enough to raise a pig or two, and on that
day, were displaying cuts of pork at 20
pesos (about .75 dollar) a pound.
Around the corner from the dollar-denominated
store, several women were selling a little
bit of everything.
But shortly before noon, I came across
the most unusual sight. A thin man, wearing
old shorts, a stained undershirt, and plastic
sandals, was walking toward me holding an
owl in his hands. He was trying to sell
it for 40 pesos, and said he had two more
to sell at home.
The man explained he had found them nesting
in a palm at his home, and had felled the
tree to get them. "It's really hard
to be without money on the 31st," he
said.
"A woman down the street gave me 10
pesos for just a tail feather," he
said. At this point the owl screeched and
onlookers cautiously backed up a step.
A young man in the crowd pointed the seller
toward someone he said bought animals. The
seller in turn asked him if he thought 80
pesos would be a good price for the owl.
The other one shrugged in the affirmative.
A woman trying to sell sundries herself
counseled that he be wary of the police,
although she wasn't sure whether selling
owls was forbidden or not.
Versión
original en español
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