An Old Phone Saved My Life

By Nike

HAVANA TIMES – For quite some time now, my country has taken a turn for the worse, in every way possible. That doesn’t mean it was fine before; misery and need have increased, transportation almost doesn’t exist, which leads to an increase in violence and theft in the capital, Havana, and throughout Cuba.

Now, I will tell you about an incident I had a few days ago when I was returning home from work.

As I mentioned, transportation doesn’t exist, so I spent the weekend making some adjustments to my old bicycle to ride it to work. I left in the morning, and it went very well, super free and independent, without people bothering me on the horrible buses.

At work, I spoke with my boss and asked her to please let me leave earlier so I wouldn’t get caught in the dark, since I live quite far away, and I must cross three municipalities in Havana.

I was about a kilometer from home when I encountered a street full of potholes, so I got off the bike and walked with it to make progress and take better care of my means of transportation, as the tires and tubes are extremely expensive. It was around 3:40 p.m., and there was no one around, except for a young boy, about 14 years old, with yellow-dyed hair, which is very trendy among teenagers in my country. He approached me, showed me a knife he had in a bag, and said, “Give me your cell phone or I’ll cut you…” Scared, I said no.

He repeated, “If you don’t give it to me, I’ll cut you. I know you have a phone, I can see your earbuds.”
That was because I was listening to music and my earbuds were visible.
I kept saying I wouldn’t give him anything.

Then he came closer, yanked the earbud cable, and said, “Look, you have it there,” then he discovered my old, 2014 model flip phone, which I use to listen to music on the way.

As soon as he saw it, he said, “This is what you have? This is a…”, and he swore and walked away as if nothing had happened.

I got on my bike and rode away, very frightened.

Things like this are happening in Cuba every second in each of its municipalities, especially to honest people, workers, students, at any hour of the day or night.

We don’t feel safe in any way; there is no security in this country, only death.

This country is not compatible with life.

Read more from Nike’s diary here.