New Year’s Eve Fatalities

New Year's Eve Fatalities / Rebeca Monzo
Posted on December 30, 2015

Rebeca Monzo, 29 December 2015 — We are now almost at the end 2015 and
outside one can detect a distinctive feeling of sadness. People wander
the streets, going from poorly stocked farmers markets to stores in
their daily search for food. If they cross your path and you wish them a
"Merry Christmas," not only do they not return the greeting, they look
at you stunned, as though you were an extra-terrestrial.

Very few hard currency stores are decorated with lights or Christmas
trees. The others — the ones that price goods in the misnamed Cuban
peso, a currency that is almost worthless but the one in which salaries
and pensions are paid — do not even carry normal every-day light bulbs.
Their shelves are either unabashedly empty or are filled with the same
product. Their display windows are broken and grime covers the floors
and glass.

There is no media coverage of traditional celebrations, only stories
about the latest anniversary of the triumph of a revolution, which from
the beginning was already showing signs of what it would ultimately
become: a complete failure.

Never has the Cuban family been so divided and dispersed as it is now.
Christmas Eve passed without notice. The streets were as deserted and
dark as usual, and there were none of those enticing aromas of
yesteryear wafting from neighborhood kitchens that gave hints of a
pleasant meal to come.

If this is the socialism the government says it wants to "perfect," may
God help us!

Source: New Year's Eve Fatalities / Rebeca Monzo | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/new-years-eve-fatalities-rebeca-monzo/