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FROM
CUBA
The city prepares for carnival
SANTIAGO DE CUBA, July 25 (Rosa M. Montoya,
APLO / www.cubanet.org) - Events leading
up to last week did not seem auspicious
to the upcoming carnival celebrations: a
near-epidemic of hemorrhagic dengue fever
had local hospitals limiting admissions
to emergencies only; drinking water had
been in short supply for the last 21 days
in spite of the frequent rains, and power
blackouts had increased in frequency to
levels not seen in recent months.
Evidently, at the last minute, local authorities
mobilized and the signs of the approaching
carnival became apparent by its start July
21.
Street kiosks have been set up along Avenida
Paseo de Martí, Trocha and Santa
Úrsula Streets, as well as Reparto
Sueño, although the prices are appreciably
higher than in previous years. A disposable
plate with a meager helping of rice and
beans, some threads of pork and two pieces
of bread retails for 20 pesos, or close
to a dollar.
A plastic soft-drink container cut off
at the top, full of beer, is 9 pesos. A
pork sandwich, more sand than pork, five
pesos.
New this year, what the street has quickly
dubbed "the clothes' lines"; precisely
that, pieces of rope strung between two
trees displaying clothes offered for sale
by private parties. The clothing comes from
Venezuela and Curaçao, according
to one of the improvised merchants and is
sold in either pesos or hard currency. Jeans
are going for between 25 and 30 dollars,
or its equivalent in pesos at the 25 to
1 exchange rate; women's undies 40 pesos,
except the newer ones, called "hotties"
at 80.
There has been violence: one man was seriously
wounded with a machete at Martí and
San Joaquín, and a pedicab driver
was wounded on the side of the head with
a machete during an attempted robbery.
As far as the outbreak of dengue fever,
the Clínico Quirúrgico hospital
reported a substantial number of cases with
more, all children, at the Children's hospital.
A public health official said there had
been no deaths reported so far from the
disease.
Public health authorities ordered all waste
be put out by the curb 15 days ago, but
its pick-up has not started yet.
The city, in the midst of carnival, looks
like an immense dump.
Versión
original en español
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