|
FROM
CUBA
Earning their daily bread
Cubans engage in unsuspected occupations
Carlos Serpa Maceira, UPECI
NUEVA GERONA, March (www.cubanet.org) When
it comes to making ends meet, Cubans have
had to be resourceful in recent years, engaging
in traditional occupations as well as in
some unsuspected ones, to cope with prices
at present day levels with official salaries
that are stuck at 1959 levels.
Roberto Cantalapiedra, 40, for example,
who says he used to earn 162 pesos a month
as a mason with the government's building
and maintenance company in the Isle of Youth,
had to quit his job to be able to earn enough
to support his 12- and 14-year-old sons.
"Now I freelance doing masonry, electrical
work, plumbing, carpentry, and welding.
I feel better and I make enough to support
my family."
Emilio Zaldívar delivers and installs
liquefied natural gas tanks for his neighbors
on his Chinese-made bicycle. When times
are slow, he also refills their 55-gallon
tanks of drinking water, charging 5 pesos
for his services.
A man who gave his name as Martínez,
said he rids houses of frogs and toads.
He explained that there are people who are
afraid of the critters and are willing to
pay him to get them out. He charges 20 pesos
for four frogs in up to two houses.
José Manuel Vigil hits the Malecón,
Havana's oceanfront boulevard, at night
with his guitar. "Here, singing, I
make between 150 and 200 pesos a night.
Weekends the take is better. I get 5 pesos
a song. Mostly I do boleros," he said.
Versión
original en español
|
