Walled in New Apartments for Cuba’s Military

Walled in New Apartments for Cuba's Military
September 25, 2013
Luis Miguel del Bahia

HAVANA TIMES — According to the official discourse, we are a poor,
blockaded country with few resources at our disposal, and are unable to
build all of the houses the people need. That said, our country is also
just: we refuse to have a society where a few have a lot and the
majority has nothing.

A good part of this is a lie and I am going to prove it. The photo you
see here is of a new residential area, built in less than a year in
Havana's Camilo Cienfuegos neighborhood.

And who are to benefit from this architectural wonder, which has
absolutely nothing to do with the Soviet style which prevailed in Cuba's
mono-block building era? None other than the military.

In no time, they have mobilized workers, construction machinery and
materials to erect this building complex. All the while, people who have
been living in shelters for decades continue to wait for decorous housing.

If these military officers did not already have homes, the whole thing
would be less shameless. However, I know that some of the future
residents of these new buildings are already living in more than
decorous houses. They are living with their parents and grandparents,
true, but so are we all in Cuba.

Why does a military officer have the right to live comfortably with
his/her spouse and kids while others are forced to live in sub-human
conditions? Because they defend the country? But wouldn't such a war be
an "all the people's war?"

Food for thought:

Someone told me that, once, people in a shelter moved into one of these
residential areas without authorization and there was no way to get them
out. This time around, they built a wall around the area to prevent this
from happening again.

Source: "Walled in New Apartments for Cuba's Military" -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=99027