Tree Murderers in Havana

By Carlos Fraguela

HAVANA TIMES — It’s been a long time since I’ve written, I’ve learned that it’s better not to if your words don’t serve a useful cause. With every day that passes, I want to speak less.

Today, I got home late in the night and as I was walking down my street, I received a low blow when I noticed that they had cut down two extremely beautiful trees that lived alongside the pavement, half a block up the street.

I believe they were the most beautiful in the entire area, which must be why they cut them down, their separated trunks were found three meters away, I know that their roots were interwoven for a long time now. They were a hibiscus and a white oak. Those of you who know me, know how how much this pains me.

Every day when I came home from work, I used to walk under this double shadow, we don’t have winter here anymore and hibiscus flowers always helped me with colds. White oak flowers are wonderful. I don’t know why they say we Cubans are cultured. Nobody here seems to care that living beings are being killed around us.

Stupidity here knows no bounds, it increases everyday. On the news, they keep on talking about the same garbage. People are afraid of the hurricane and they’re not afraid of all the crap they have in their heads. They also systematically kill cats.

I imagine that somebody came to prune, but a neighbor asked them to cut down the trees because they were a danger to the lives of human beings who live nearby. There are only two young trees and a very old poplar on this block that they haven’t cut down completely, I don’t even know how, its kept at barely the trunk.

The idiots who work in pruning almost always kill instead of pruning. I hope that they can sleep well for the rest of their lives; I’m going to finish up because I think I’m going to die from the venom that I have just spilled. You can’t have peace here.