IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 13

room. The sanitary facilities are collective
and very scarce, have no running water, and
labyrinth-like inner halls as the only
corridors. One need not go too far: a brief
visit to La Cuevita would be enough to open
the eyes of those who still refuse to see. It is
no coincidence that today La Cuevita is
located in the most seditious (and also most
attractive) place among the terrain of the
capital city’s self employed, which explains
why it is frequently leveled by the police.
The 400 self-employed vendors who worked
there in teeny shops built with the grace of

God have been diminishing in number
thanks to the government’s repressive
actions. Many of those who have remained
have had no choice but to carry on in secret.
Yet, they are there, have a defiant attitude,
and reveal their innate and indefatigable
business spirit. It made them able to create a
sort of free market or zone for poor people.
Meanwhile, the regime’s leaders devote
themselves to giving foreign investors the
runaround regarding the Bay of Mariel (with
its future super port status).

They work in improvised, hole-in-the-wall
places all along the length of the kilometer
or more where they are. They are sometimes
crowded on dirt paths, in tenement yards,
corridors, porches; one hears many furtive
cries, haggling, and announcements. The
activity in La Cuevita is dizzying. While it is

not tense, the atmosphere reeks of
impatience in awaiting the ephemeral,
something that could be over in the blink of
an eye. Yet, there is also joy there, and the
enjoyment of the buyers, who visit there by
the thousands, every day, from neighboring
areas and any of the island’s corners.

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