Identidades in English No 3, September 2014 | Page 14

The Other Cuba:
A Deep Look into a Havana Unknown

class and gender in Cuba and the world

Interview by Leonardo Calvo Cárdenas in the Casablanca squatter settlement

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eonardo Calvo* (Interviewer): This settlement is called Casablanca, but what
it’s really called is a llega y pon neighborhood, a squatters’ shantytown. It may not seem
so, but we are very close to Havana’s historic center. The Cuban government projects a very different image and perspective of what Cuba, real,
deep Cuba, is really like, and what really, deeply
hurts her.
Upon entering one of these many marginal and
unhealthy settlements are lots of people, most of
them black, who live in very difficult conditions.

This reality is not reflected on the tourist image
that Cuba projects to the outside world. In Casablanca, many people, including many children,
are considered “undocumented” (illegals), because they have moved here from other places
without the required government permission to do
so. Because of this, they lack legal residency and
addresses, and therefore do not receive the other
guaranteed “benefits” (food rationing nor followup medical care) like other citizens. Let’s open a
door onto Casablanca, one of these squatter settlements.