In Havana neighborhoods like Lawton, residents are setting fire to corner garbage piles, possibly due to fuel shortages or as a form of expression. This occurs amid urban deterioration, transport scarcity, and widespread tension. The author portrays an atmosphere of uncertainty and anxiety in daily Cuban life.
Eduardo N. Cordoví Hernández, in his diary entry published on Havana Times, describes the situation in his Lawton neighborhood in Havana, where sprawling garbage piles at corners are being set on fire. He notes uncertainty over whether this is a government directive due to the fuel problem or a popular initiative to express that 'everything is going up in smoke.' It is reported to be happening in other Havana neighborhoods, though the author has not witnessed it personally.
This action unfolds against a backdrop of the city's ruinous deterioration, poor road conditions, and nearly non-existent transport due to a lack of buses and fuel. Hernández likens the daily situation to 'sitting on a barrel with a lit fuse, while no one knows what’s in it.' He depicts a warlike atmosphere filled with mosquitoes, where the smoke fails to vent tension and may even reflect a suicidal spirit or pose health threats.
The smoke arises from printed paper, painted wood, plastic containers with detergents and chlorine, electrical and electronic equipment, fluorescent tubes with mercury vapor, and lithium or lead-acid batteries, releasing unhealthy fumes unchecked. Hernández places this in the context of Cuba's 70-year state of alert for a potential U.S. invasion, and recent events in Venezuela that have raised voices calling for similar changes in Cuba this year, within months, weeks, or days. He references declarations by the U.S. President and Secretary of State on maneuvers resembling the initial siege of Venezuela, though he acknowledges unseating the prevailing socialism is not so simple.
Despite many yearning for an end to the current form of socialism, insecurity and indecision dominate, with fear of reprisals preventing actions like banging pots during blackouts. Hernández concludes that while 'what will be, will be,' the urgency for immediate change persists amid apparent conformity.
