After almost two years away, I was happy to walk on Havana’ streets again. When I
left, Cubans had barely started to embrace the possibility of buying and selling stuff without fear of breaking the law.
To be allowed to sell things, to part ways with possessions and properties you no longer wish to own, is something one might think intrinsic to human nature. Yet several generations of Cubans did not learn to have a healthy relationship with our belongings. We did not have the power to decide on matters of ownership: they were marked to be ours for life.
Houses, bread, cars, appliances, services… Everything, absolutely everything is for sale in Havana today. As it should have always been, I think.
I first learned about garage sales in Havana from a the Facebook post of a friend in Havana:
“Seeing how many people want to buy and sell their stuff and don’t know how or where, I think we should take on the idea [of garage sales]. We could use the entryway of a house or someone’s garage, or if we manage to get a permit, we could do it at a park. Or we can also post here what we have available to sell as well as what we are looking for. This space is open… “
Although I knew about the roller coaster growth of websites devoted to buy-sell in Cuba, it was only when I saw with my own eyes the many posters all over Havana announcing sales that I became fully conscious of the phenomenon.
Image 1 and 2 from Venta de Garage
Over time, people are becoming more savvy. Today, you find not just the rustic hand-lettered, misspelled cardboard signs , that were often with misspellings, but technologically sophisticated announcements, including large color-saturated printed posters.
More sophisticated are also he chanted verbal announcements used by street salesmen, which use more complex slogans. Now, in addition to the classic “maní, maní!” [peanuts! peanuts!] of the peanut vendor, we hear “pan, panadero, tu pan amarillito pollito aqui!” (bread, baker, your yellow bread here!), or “el tamalero llegó, compra tu tamal que no te arrepentirás!” (the tamale-maker has arrived, buy your tamale, you won’t regret it!). Another one I heard a saleslady singing was “el buen pollo frito aquí, dale, el arroz frito y también el pan con queso!” (good fried chicken here! come in! fried rice and also cheese sandwiches!). This one caught me by surprise: she worked at a state cafeteria. Evidently even the state is taking seriously the idea that the more you sell the more you earn.
Maybe people buy and sell their knicknacks as a sort of dress rehearsal. Or perhaps the act of getting rid of their property feels liberating. On top of it, obtained money from these transactios is, in any case, healing.
— Sandra Abd´Allah-Álvarez Ramírez
(Trad. Ariana Hernandez-Reguant)
Sandra Abd´Allah-Álvarez Ramírez returned to Havana in June, 2015. She is a gender studies scholar with a degree in Psychology by the University of Havana. In Cuba, she was chief editor of the Cuba Literaria Web as well as of the acclaimed hip hop magazine Movimiento. A self-described Cyber-Feminist, she is a member of the Afrocubanas Group, and the blogger behind Negra Cubana Tenia Que Ser. She is also Cuba Counterpoints’ webmaster.
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