IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 37

It doesn’t seem possible, but this disastrous situation really exists: the building
belongs to the State. Thus, everything
that happens goes on most naturally before the eyes of government functionaries who come to “visit the neighborhood” every month. Their misnamed
goal is to solve the problems, but all they
do is take photos, write who knows what
in their agendas, and end by saying that
the store’s repair will be included in next
year’s budget. It’s the same thing every
year, which causes general discontent.
The population no longer believes the
promised made by the Municipal Government or the Party, who are primarily
responsible for making sure the pending
job gets done to the last detail. Rolando
García Zambrano, the elected delegate
for Zone 72 of the Popular Council 15,
in which the store is located, has re-

ceived multiple complaints via his accountability reports for his voters, but
nothing has come of it. He says the case
has been dealt with at the different levels
and that the solution is not in his hands.
Whose hands is it in, then? Neighbor
Feliciano “Chano” Labrada warns that
the roof will cave in at any moment, but
nothing happens because “the communists don’t give a shit.” There are
many similar comments and people’s
inconformity with the situation is more
than obvious, as are citizen dissatisfaction, discontent, and worry. I am almost
certain that this situation is generalized
all around the country. I wish I could
move about freely, camera in hand, all
around this wonderful island in search of
cases similar to those at the Las Novillas
store, and citizens who are awaiting a
repair than never comes.

II
I am now seated at home, at midday, in
front of the TV, after having come up
with a way this morning to feed my family, something that is quite difficult
nowadays. Young journalist Catiuska
León reports for the N ational TV News
about the capital repairs being done to
the Fe del Valle GynecologicalObstetrical Hospital in Manzanillo. She
rattles off an endless list of achieve-

ments, from the remodeling of the sanitary equipment and recently improved
rooms to make stays more comfortable
for patients, to new cribs and beds. I did
not believe any of this general provisioning of the old medical installation and
decided to reveal the disgusting lie the
regime’s information services were
propagating.

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