IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 5 ENGLISH | Page 19

fended: they may dance an unadorned
version of rumba there, but life is also
really tough. Life is tougher than one
might be able to imagine.

the Capitol o Cathedral Plaza; yet other,
sell clothing or cleaning products outside stores that handle foreign currency,
which at some point were part of La
Habana Elegante; or they travel great
distances, between Reparto Juanelo and
El Vedado, to sell their wares. The
youngest of them sell their bodies with
prices established according to whether
their clients are tourists or natives, at
any whatsoever, in order to be able to
support themselves and their infants.
Life is harder than it actually seems
here, but this is how it is for those who
represent our inner diversity, and are the
most excluded.

A serious feeling of insecurity reigns
here, as is the case for a large number of
Cubans anywhere on the island. People
spend their time figuring out how to put
a plate of food on the table, support
their families, and solve their daily
problems. This population is seen as
illegal, but it is accounted by the census.
Many nuclear families lack access to a
monthly ration booklet, which guarantees some basic foodstuffs. Young people are limited in their degree of social
integration, employment and education,
which affects their access to university
education. The lack of material goods,
teen pregnancy, the dropout rate, the
high fertility rate, and the limited role of
home education all produce very noticeable, structural aberrations.

Havana is also bodies
The failing Havana that is taking shape
right before our eyes is frightening. It is
a city in which many of our elderly have
no protection from everyday cruelties.
Many a summer as well as a cruel winter finds numerous seniors on any Havana street or in any Havana doorway,
under the rubble. At any time of day or
night, they can be found dumpster diving while searching for at least some
sustenance, or and object for personal
use that they might make a few coins by
selling it.

Most of the people who inhabit hidden
scenes of Havana’s geography were
born far away, in Holguín, Camagüey,
Las Tunas, Guantánamo or Santiago de
Cuba. Yet, others were born in traditionally black or mestizo Havana neighborhoods like La Hata, in Guanabacoa;
La Corea, in San Miguel del Padrón;
Cocosolo, or Pogolotti, in Marianao and
La Tima, and El Fanguito and La Dionisia, in El Vedado.

They are violated statues whose skin
has been mistreated by hunger and the
cold floor that penetrates their bones.
The illusion is gone from their eyes.
Many gave their youth, which were
quickly confiscated, while having confidence in a better future. Some participated in revolutionary, front line work,
Internationalist missions in Angola and
Ethiopia, in which they risked their
lives. Others did this through working
in harvests whose goals were in the mil-

The overwhelming feminization of poverty is a ha