Dangerous Current

Dangerous Current / 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez

14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 8 February 2017 – In Central Havana
where people live in very close quarters, popular speech develops at a
dizzying speed and the illegal sellers have their kingdom among the
corridors and passageways. But this part of the city is also among the
few areas with an underground electrical system, an installation that
has the great advantage of not suffering damages due to the collapse of
polls or the effects of strong winds.

In the emerging Cuban real estate market, being located in an area where
the wires run under the street adds a lot of value. The sellers boast of
this detail, pointing to it with the same pride that others declare the
high quality of their house because it was "constructed under
capitalism," or – and it's the same thing – before 1959.

At the central corner of Galiano and Dragones there was once a discreet
rewiring, barely perceptible, that has now become a public threat. This
mess of connections was probably conceived as a temporary solution that
has now become permanent. Passersby avoid it, the neighbors up above
avoid throwing water from their balconies and parents make haste to warn
their children, "don't touch it."

Maybe someone should hang a sign that says, "Dangerous Current." Not
only to warn of the risk of accidental contact, but also to point out
how usual and common these kinds of scenes have become in the capital. A
detail that no owner will reveal in the sugar-coated descriptions they
publish to sell their house.

Source: Dangerous Current / 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez – Translating
Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/dangerous-current-14ymedio-marcelo-hernandez/