IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 9 ENGLISH | Page 12

Race, Class and Gender

Ingratitude as
reward
José Hugo Fernández
Cuban Writer and Journalist
Resident in the United States

S

an Rafael Boulevard in Havana
has become a showcase of the
futility, idleness and indolence of
the Castro regime. Just walking the few
blocks is enough to form an opinion on
the drama of the elderly left to their
faith in the streets, without family
support and without the slightest
government auspice, except the
occasional intervention of the police for
stacking them like mangy dogs in caged
vehicles.

Likewise, a glance is enough to realize
that blacks and mestizos are the
remarkable majority among the
Havanan elderly who come to this
enclave —and to many others— for
begging or for offering services at
appallingly low prices. Begging,
alienation, dejection, helplessness and
the rigors of eviction have usually the
same color of mourning, especially for
the elderly, on which the heaviest social
burdens are discharge.

Waiting at a side door of the Great Theater of Havana (Boulevard San Rafael) and
posing for photo with tourist in the Historic Center in Old Havana.

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