Havana/A bus that transported private merchants from Sancti Spíritus to The Cavethe largest informal market in Cuba, located in San Miguel del Padrón, in Havana, suffered an attempted assault in the early hours of last Thursday, when several unknown persons threw a barrier with spikes onto the road that destroyed two tires of the vehicle.
Although the vehicle suffered serious damage to its tires, the passengers managed to avoid the assault by getting out armed with machetes and other objects, according to what they told 14ymedioon condition of anonymity, one of the passengers.
Before reaching Jagüey Grande, the travelers saw how a spiked strip was thrown onto the asphalt. The bus was going 90 kilometers per hour and the driver was unable to stop or avoid it.
Before reaching Jagüey Grande, the travelers saw how a spiked strip was thrown onto the asphalt
“It was like a ribbon, like spikes, but very big,” he says. After going over the dangerous barrier, the vehicle suffered serious damage to its wheels and had to stop.
The bus stopped and the passengers, alarmed, began to get off. “The driver warned them to be careful, that he was seeing people on the sides of the highway,” says the woman. The driver “took out a machete and got out.” Several men traveling in the vehicle also got out and carried objects to defend themselves. “They stood around the bus in protection mode,” he explains.
The unknown people who were next to the road, about five or six, although the passengers could not specify the number, ended up fleeing.
The strangers who were next to the road, about five or six, ended up fleeing.
The source points out that, generally, no more than ten men travel on these excursions and the rest of the passengers are women who buy goods to resell them. However, that night something different happened. “On this trip, it just so happened that there were more men than women,” he says. This circumstance could have contributed to the assailants giving up.
The sellers usually transport large sums in cash, up to “two million or two and a half million pesos for each one, to be able to buy merchandise there and bring it here. And that’s how they all go because things are very expensive,” he points out.
The occupants of the bus removed the spiked tape from the road and managed to reach a checkpoint with the damaged wheels, where they informed the authorities. “We gave that tape to the Police, but it all stayed there,” according to the testimony collected by 14ymedio.
“We gave that tape to the Police, but it all stayed there”
With the help of acquaintances in the area, the travelers bought “a pair of rubber tires and continued on their way.” The return, already daylight, passed without new incidents, although the passengers remained apprehensive.
The merchant fears that the episode will be repeated: “If they tried it once, they may do it again,” she says and adds that “they are considering paying for security, which will make the trip more expensive.”
The so-called “guaguas de La Cuevita” have been operating for several years as round-trip transportation for small private merchants in the interior of the country. The service usually makes two weekly departures.
The so-called “guaguas de La Cuevita” have been operating for several years as round-trip transportation for small private merchants in the interior of the country.
“He leaves at eleven at night, half past eleven, starts picking up everyone and arrives around six, six thirty in the morning,” the source describes to 14ymedio. Travelers have a few hours to make their purchases before returning. “At eleven thirty they tell everyone that they have to be ready to return, leaving at twelve. They don’t wait for anyone. If they have to leave you stranded, they will leave you stranded.”
The price of transportation has increased with inflation. “The first buses cost 4,500 pesos. Later they went up to 8,000 and right now there are some, depending on comfort, that cost 12,500 and 16,000,” he recalls. Already in June, the merchants of Sancti Spíritus They paid 18,000 pesos for traveling by bus to La Cuevita.
