Vanessa Bauza. The
Sun-Sentinel. Published May 27, 2001
HAVANA · Few things strike fear in the heart of Nemesio Lazo like a
visit to Havana's vehicle inspection agency, where under the unforgiving glow of
florescent lights, his two-toned 1953 Chevy faces the rigors of computerized
tests.
The French-made instruments are so sophisticated that Cubans have dubbed
them the somatón or "CAT scan" for their ability to pinpoint
even the most minuscule defects.
"Being at the somatón is like standing before a firing squad. I
take both psychological and mechanical precautions before going there,"
said Lazo, a cabby by profession and mechanic by vocation. "These cars have
been on the road for 50 years, and it's been 40 years since any parts came
through here."
Once glamorous beauties -- their wide chrome grills like the grin of a
Cheshire cat -- Havana's classic cars are now mostly used as private taxis to
ferry folks to the city's far-flung suburbs.
Piling passengers in their spacious Studebakers or Cadillacs, private
cabbies can make about $10 a day, roughly the same as the average government
worker earns in a month. But they say almost half that money goes toward
maintaining their cars -- especially around inspection time, which is every six
months.
Two years ago, before the advent of the somatón, vehicle inspections
consisted of a visual once over. But since 1999, when the French inspection
equipment was imported, almost 50 percent of the cars fail the test on their
first attempt.
The inspection costs about $1.50. The cars are loaded onto vibrating pads
that test their suspension. A hose in the tail pipe reads the levels of carbon
monoxide, and rotating wheels test the brakes and alignment.
Cuba's highways are filled with cacharros (jalopies) that seem barely able
to hang on to their homemade parts, even when clattering along at 30 mph.
Now, for the first time, a new government law will require all vehicles --
not just taxis -- to undergo the somatón in order to have their license
plates renewed. Inspections began this month for foreigners and will continue
until next April.
Inspectors point to highway safety, a recurring theme in the local media
lately.
The government-run Granma newspaper last week reported 3,624 accidents
islandwide between January and April, including an average of three fatal
crashes a day. The paper blamed the accidents on increasing traffic, reckless
driving, lack of street signs and "generations" of vehicles that were
not efficiently registered and inspected.
"This is a museum on wheels, but we don't want it to lead to the
cemetery," said Alexis Darlington Dickinson, director of the city's
inspections agency.
Most classic American cars survive Cuba's pot-holed roads on the shear
ingenuity and tender affections of their owners. Beneath their rounded hoods
rattle Soviet engines, Polish pistons or Czech carburetors -- Frankenstein-like
hybrids born of necessity. Many of the legendary gas-guzzlers have been
converted to run on diesel fuel.
Still others get by on kerosene, coughing thick streams of smoke on the
highway.
A computer readout reveals the verdict: yea or nay. "This forces me to
keep up the car," said Hector Mazon, keeping a stiff upper lip after his
1949 Chrysler failed the inspection because of missing door handles and a leaky
fuel tank. "But you barely recover from one inspection and you have to get
ready for another."
Some speculate the new inspections will eliminate many cacharros from the
road during a time when a crippling transportation shortage forces hundreds of
people to rely daily on hitchhiking.
Others say the inspections are nothing a little bribe can't fix.
For many others who use bikes and jam-packed buses to get around, the
thought of owning a car is a distant dream.
"I wish I had to worry about passing the test," said William
Elias, a vehicle inspector. "I don't even have a car."
Vanessa Bauzá can be reached at vbauza@sun-sentinel.com
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