From our Bureau of Ubiquitous Idols in Socialist Latrine American Totalitarian Hellholes
If you want to sell anything as a self-employed cuentapropista, you’d better display a state-approved idol for your customers to venerate. So it was this weekend at a street food bazaar in Havana that had no food to sell.
Welcome to Hell. Welcome to Castrogonia, where the gods of the Revolution must always be within easy reach of your eyes. Saturation bombing of the eyes, mind, heart, and soul is absolutely necessary and unavoidable.
Abridged from 14yMedio via Translating Cuba
This Saturday morning, a portrait of Fidel Castro waited for the curious people who approached one of the kiosks at the New Year’s Eve fair on Zanja Street in Central Havana. Next to the image, a pair of tennis shoes, a poor copy of the Nike brand, cost 16,000 Cuban pesos, four months’ salary for a professional. Authorities instructed the merchants to place some slogan, flag or photo of the leaders of the Communist Party in each stall.
The Cuban capital’s authorities had announced the sale of agricultural products as a “salute to the upcoming 65th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution”, but at the Zanja Street Fair the supply of food, vegetables and meat was very scant. Some withered lettuce and some dirty beets made up the assortment to put on the plate. The rest were caps, clothing, footwear and personal hygiene products.
Under a photo of Raúl Castro, women’s handbags were displayed at prices between 1,500 and 3,000 pesos, depending on the size and the material.
Guarded by an image of Ernesto Guevara, cigar in mouth, a set of clothing for girls combined pink tones with the faces of Disney characters. Later, next to a July 26 flag, beach flip-flops were offered, also imitations of well-known brands, such as Adidas and Tommy Hilfiger. A few meters away, a Mipyme kiosk sold soft drinks and frozen chicken, all imported.
This Saturday, a few meters from the fair, the end of year summed up what Cubans are experiencing, trapped between inflation and the excesses of political propaganda.
But there’s no cult of personality or anything. It’s all the totally spontaneous love of “the people” for those who flushed Cuba down the toilet and are thus responsible for their beyond-miserable quality of life.
I thought this business of putting up photos of “historic” SOBs in totally inappropriate commercial settings could be imposed by the regime, but it’s nice to have it confirmed. There’s probably no actual law to that effect, since that would contradict the always denied cult of personality, but coercion works well enough.