Public Works Projects in Old Havana
Fotorreportaje por Elio Delgado Valdés
HAVANA TIMES — If you are in Old Havana and notice many streets torn up it’s because the city is replacing its aged water, gas and electric lines. While detailed information on the effort was not available to HT we used our camera to bring you the work in progress.
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Moses could ask why the government is mainly made up of whites but the population is mainly non-white 🙂
Some might say that Marti has a lot to answer for in that respect, and not just the Castros… (see Ferber’s most recent book)
Not the only person to have noticed that.
Hi Michael. I checked them to. First of all thanks to the photographer, some of therm are just great I think, About Moses`remarks, first I thought he was just blind on one eye, unfortunately I have to realize, that he`s blind on both.
It is just that you turn each and every diary entry, feature story or interview opon which you comment into something negative. Incidentally, after looking through all 29 fotos, I find a fair representation of all racial groups typical of Cuba, not the predominance of blacks, amongst the construction workers depicted. I invite any reader to view all 29 fotos. You can count if you want to, but hardly necessary. Also, in Cuba, the delineation between blacks and whites is not as “either/or” as here in the States, where Barack OBama, the offspring of a white mother and black father, is considered a black, which would hardly be the case in Cuba, or much of the rest of the world.
Michael, both you and Luis fail to address the reality suggested in these photos. Given the demographic relationship of blacks and whites in Cuba, why are some jobs overrepresented by blacks and others weighted heavily by whites? Moreover, those jobs where personal comfort and access to tourist dollars predominate tend to ‘white’ jobs and those jobs that are more physical and usually paid in national money tend to be ‘black’ jobs. Why criticize me for making what is a fairly obvious observation from these photos? Instead, why not ask who makes the hiring decisions for these jobs? Who applies for these jobs? Those are the issues you should address, not flaunting your knowledge of obscure Swiss surrealists.
or perhaps like Meret Oppenheim, in tea cups and saucers!
This ‘person’ likes to ”search for fur in eggs’.
Profound statement. As ever.And you pretend to have been to Cuba 25 times. Maybe in a bar in Miami.
OTOH, to have hands-on experience and skills in construction, rennovation, plumbing, etc. will be ever more beneficial in Cuba’s new mixed economy, not only for such improvements in the public infrastructure, as depicted here, but also for the rehab of private residences and businesses. I suspect these skills will be in far more demand than sitting in an office crunching numbers. Also, I suspect the most talented of these skilled workers will graduate upward towards design and engineering positions. Moses, you should really see the “lemonade,” rather than just the sourness of the lemons, in each situation. Your dislike of the government blinds you to the positive aspects of Cuba’s future.
Except for two of the 29 photos, all the men in all the other photos are black. Coincidence or just another example of racism in Cuba? If we had photos of the air-conditioned construction office where the construction boss, the accountants, the supply managers and the other support staff work, would everyone also be black as well. I am guessing no. In fact, I bet just the opposite.