A man dressed as Santa Claus on a street in Havana, December 21, 2023 in Cuba (AFP/YAMIL LAGE)
With his big red bag slung over his shoulder, a man dressed as Santa Claus distributes sweets to children in the streets of Havana, on an island where the economic crisis forces parents to use the D system in the hope of giving gifts to their family.
On a small card, a child lists the objects of his dreams. “Dear Santa, for this Christmas, I would like you to give me a remote-controlled car, soap, jam, a cart, a telephone, a ball, markers (…) and a pair of flip-flops”.
Few of his wishes will be granted in Cuba, a country plunged into crisis, but the illusion must be maintained, according to this Santa Claus who wanders the streets of the capital.
“Some will have a better Christmas, others a worse one, but the important thing is that there are dreams and that they are not lost,” this ex-actor who does not wish to give his surname.
A man dressed as Santa Claus on a street in Havana, December 21, 2023 in Cuba (AFP/Yamil LAGE)
Aged 49 and already a grandmother, Lin Vania Alonso knows she will have to make choices.
“I buy either the toys or the clothes or the food and the clothes and food is better than the toys,” she says as she passes informal stalls in the city center selling shoddy toys. quality from abroad.
– Nostalgia –
Lin nostalgically remembers his childhood, when toys were distributed according to “ration books” provided by the communist regime so that every family had basic necessities.
A man dressed as Santa Claus on a street in Havana, December 21, 2023 in Cuba (AFP/Yamil LAGE)
Each minor received coupons entitling them to three toys during Children’s Day, celebrated in June in Cuba.
“They gave me dolls, skates, fake kitchen utensils and even a bicycle,” Lin recalls. “At that time, I received a lot of gifts but it’s not like that anymore,” she says, regretting the disappearance of this mechanism at the end of the 1980s.
Despite economic difficulties, Yanisleydi Alonso, 22, assures that she will do everything to give her two-year-old son a gift for Christmas.
A child gives his letter to Santa Claus in a street in Havana, December 21, 2023 in Cuba (AFP/YAMIL LAGE)
“I will try to give him a gift, even if it will not be a very expensive gift, but I will try to give him something,” said the young mother, with her baby in her arms.
The toy stores that opened when the coupon system disappeared are now abandoned and parents must now turn to Facebook or WhatsApp groups in order to hope to find gifts within their budget.
– Cuban Gepetto –
In 2020, during the Covid pandemic, Yulién Granados, a 35-year-old small entrepreneur, faced this problem and looked for a solution.
Yulien Granados, creator of wooden toys, during an interview with AFP, December 18, 2023 in Havana, Cuba (AFP/Yamil LAGE)
Confined with his family, he could not find ways to entertain his five-year-old son and so he started making wooden toys with his wife.
Since then, his company has designed and marketed 19 educational toys. “It changed my life” to be able to offer “good quality wooden toys (…) made in Cuba,” he says with pride, holding geometric figures in his hand that stimulate motor skills and color combinations.
Before, these kinds of products for children were very expensive to buy abroad, says this Cuban Gepetto, who collected old scrap metal to design a wood-cutting machine.
“To remain inventive, as they say in Cuba, you need a dose of emotion, not to give up and to say to yourself that you are moving forward for the children because there is really a lack,” explains -he.
In Cuba, the spirit of Christmas was somewhat lost in 1970 when the revolutionary regime decided to no longer make December 25 a public holiday.
However, the government reversed this decision in 1997 after a visit by Pope John Paul II to the island.
© 2023 AFP
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