“At 5:30 pm I got to the Lázaro Expósito house. The door was open, but I rang the bell anyway. Twice. In a blink of an eye a young woman opened the door, she looked around 30 years old. ‘Good afternoon I am here to see Lázaro.’ ‘Lázaro just left.’ – She answered. – ‘Do you mind if I wait on him here in front of your house?’ ‘No that’s alright, I just don’t know when he is coming back.’ So, I waited for around 10 minutes, then Lázaro appeared in a very nice car, with air conditioning, and 4 people in the backseat, 3 men and 1 woman. All of them got out of the car. I approached Lázaro and told him: ‘I’m interested in a conversation.’ The 4 people from the backseat formed a circle around me. I was surrounded by his bodyguards ready to protect him. They told me that he can’t really attend me now in the moment and I should come back tomorrow at 8. So I did. // Lázaro was sitting in a yard with another man by his side who I supposed was his custodian. I sat down right opposite to him and his personal assistant who caught up with me sat down on his left. I told him I am gonna be very clear with him, and that I’m not there to tell him about my work or life. I am only going to tell him what my problem is and what I need, which was for him to get me an authorization for the National Bank of Cuba, so I can get a loan to resolve my problems. When I finished, he responded but I didn’t understand him. ‘Bzpsbzpsbzps.’ So I looked to my right at his personal assistant. He shrugged his shoulders and told me: ‘Imagine, he’s ill.’ But he didn’t even finish and Lázaro starts talking to the person on his right, his custody I reckon. For me, the message was clear. ‘You see that door? Behind it there’s milk, cheese, ham, and butter. Go and have breakfast, eat what you want.’ He said it just like this I understood everything. But when he started talking to me again, I didn’t understand anything. ‘Bzpsbzps’. There were no vocals I couldn’t understand anything. There were two messages for me. The first one: Anytime you come around here, you won’t understand me a word, I have nothing to tell you, don’t come again. And the second one: I’m super powerful, I have milk, chocolate, ham, cheese, butter, anything I want. But none of that is for you.”
“Starting as an electronic engineer, I don't think I ever did. For three years I was an electronic engineer in the Armed Forces against my will, it was forced. From there I went to Santiago. Well, first, before leaving the Army, they gathered us in a theater in Holguín. They asked who’s journalists and lawyers. They promised them all a job in tourism, the tourism in Cuba started 1993. All the lawyers and journalists were guaranteed a job in tourism. To the people specialized in other fields they said: 'Go to your corresponding provinces so that they can find a job for you. If there is no job, they will give you 100 pesos for monthly maintenance, or you can start another university career with a scholarship of 120 pesos.' How can I, just graduated, with three children in 1992, accept 120 pesos and study a new career? I just graduated and had three children... in the middle of the Special Period... to agree to get 100 pesos per month. It wasn’t even enough to buy daily bread."
“Well, until 1989 it was an average life standard. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either. My father’s salary was 346 pesos, which in that time was a lot of money. I mean, it wasn’t enough to buy us clothes every month nor every two or three months. I would inherit my older brother's clothes and the youngest brother would inherit clothes from me. But we ate well, especially on Sundays. Thirty, forty years ago, even beef meat would be available every eight or nine days. The tallow used to be ridiculously cheap in those days compared to how much it is now. It was really easy to get. In the restaurants, in the coffee shops you could always find cream cheese sandwiches, yoghurts... Now there’s nothing. The poverty is terrifying. Today’s children, the new generation, they don't have the slightest idea of how a person should really live. Most of us live in extreme poverty, it’s disgusting and embarrassing to say it.”
Roberto Govea Pino was born on 11th of September 1966 in Santiago de Cuba. He could have just as well been born in Venezuela, because his father was a respected electrical technician and in the early ‘60s, he was offered a job in this South American country. Roberto’s father turned down the offer and decided to live and work in Cuba’s second most important city. As a very talented technician, he helped with opening of several factories of diverse character. With his wife they had three sons and a daughter. The family lived in the Vista Alegre neighborhood. Since Roberto’s mom was a housewife, she played an important role in his education. His father was a reserved man. From the four siblings, one died of an illness in 2012 on an internationalist mission in Africa. Roberto was a curious child from a very young age and had good results in school. Because of this, he was able to enroll in the University “Marta Abreu” of Las Villas, where he studied Electronic Engineering. He met the current Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel there. Roberto has a theory based on what people say in Santa Clara about Diaz-Canel’s rapid promotions: he believes that the politician is Fidel Castro’s son... In the early ‘90s, despite having his university diploma he didn’t find any job. After completing his military service, he spent several months looking for a job until he ended up repairing electronic devices. Later he learned how to earn at least a bit more by making voltage converters. With that he was able to secure the basics needs of his family and other relatives. Today, Roberto lives alone in a poor house, struggling every day to survive. In the streets he is known as a soap and cigarette seller. He says that his university diploma is not even good enough to be used for the bathroom. On several occasions he interacted with high-ranking officials of the Communist Party in Santiago de Cuba. He met the former First Secretary of the PCC (Communist Party of Cuba) in the province, Lázaro Expósito Canto.
