Abuse and Violence in Today’s Cuba
HAVANA TIMES – Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of money on private transportation. I’m not talking about renting a car just for myself, but about standing on a nearby avenue and hailing a taxi that already has other passengers. This is very normal for Cubans, though it might seem strange to those who live in other countries and have never visited the island. However, in reality, it’s the fastest way to get around the city.
As usual, prices keep going up, and the “boteros”—as we call the drivers of these taxis or “almendrones”— are no exception. These are very old cars, generally made in the 1940s and 1950s, and perhaps Cuba is the only country where so many of them are still running. After waiting a long time for a bus and being pressed for time, I decided, once again, to bite the bullet and pay for a shared taxi.
When one of the many taxis passing by stopped, I told the driver my destination (which wasn’t far) and asked about the fare. He replied that it would be 200 pesos. I thought about it for a few seconds, which must have seemed like an eternity to the driver, but I eventually agreed and got in. Immediately, the other passengers started asking how much he would charge them, and upon hearing the driver’s response, which I quote verbatim: “Everyone knows it’s 200 pesos, and if you’re going beyond Vedado, the fare goes up,” World War III broke out inside that car, where people were already cramped, sitting uncomfortably close to each other, enduring the heat, and often loud and unpleasant music.
Crossing the Almendares Bridge, which divides the Plaza municipality from the Playa municipality in the capital, one of the women in the car asked the driver to stop so she could get off, as did the others. I took advantage of the stop to get out as well. I asked the driver how much I owed for the ride up to that point (which wasn’t my final destination), and he told me 150 pesos. I paid and walked the rest of the way. I preferred that to exposing myself to the verbal abuse from that man and the general mistreatment to which we are all, in one way or another, subjected.
I thought about how easy it is to abuse power when you have it, and others depend on someone as arrogant and lacking in empathy as that man.
We are living in an era of war, where, evidently, those with the most power squeeze the rest without caring at all. But one thing is true: to get around in this small yet vast city, we need some form of transportation. Public transport doesn’t exist, so we’ll have to keep biting the bullet and paying… paying more and more…