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If you live in Havana, there are two places you don’t want to go through: a bank or a store. Of the second of these cases enough has already been said. Meanwhile, in the other, disorder is the special guest, which makes almost everyone forget that they also have to take care of the coronavirus there.
The customary queues at traditional CUC / CUP stores, already extended to those of Freely Convertible Currency (MLC), have been transferred to banks, where since July 20 the opening of MLC accounts has been carried out and the magnetic cards associated with them for the purchase of food and toiletries.
As recognized by the capital’s own authorities, there is not enough staff to meet the demand, nor the necessary infrastructure for the delivery of cards. Undoubtedly, the increase in the number of MLC cards requested and the amount of cash deposited in the last two weeks has nearly collapsed the Havana banking system.
In fact, the provincial government has called to review the hours of operation in banks due to the high flow of people who are going to them, which is coupled with the shortage of plastic to make cards, so its issuance is developed with slower than expected.
Customers arrive at the bank from four in the morning. And as befits any socialist entity, they command inefficiency, bureaucracy, and apathy. Two cashiers work there, where there should be seven; a table works, where it would be necessary to have three or four; and they serve about 30 people although there are 300 in the queue.
Inside the air conditioning is conspicuous by its absence, the connection fails at times and the procedures take longer than established. Meanwhile, outside there is a queue for the box, a queue for the table (almost always to request cards), a queue to collect cards, a queue for the disabled and social cases, a queue, a queue, and then another queue.
Although the creation of an MLC card does not require the deposit of money, the elimination of the 10% tax that the island government imposed on the US dollar since 2004 is a stimulus for those who go to banking facilities wanting to have an account in foreign exchange. In addition, it is greatly influenced by the fact that in MLC you can find lost merchandise for months from the shelves in CUC / CUP.
Since last October, it was possible to buy products with MLC cards, but the options were limited to household appliances and automobiles. The inclusion of cheaper and more demanded merchandise in MLC establishments, such as food and hygiene items, has increased people’s interest.
Despite the fact that the Banco Metropolitano has made an email available to those who want to create an account supported by a magnetic card, customers have more faith in the face-to-face request because in Cuba it almost never works what anywhere else on the planet is a technological advance that avoids waste of time and unnecessary crowding.
In one way or another, card delivery is slower than expected. The banking system, apparently, cannot take it anymore.
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