By Eduardo N. Cordovi Hernandez
HAVANA TIMES – My house got robbed almost two weeks ago. It was almost a robbery of oversight. But not so much oversight. There are a few factors to take into account: premeditation and nightfall.
The night always makes it easier. It works in the robber’s favor. It helps them to go unseen and, plus, if there isn’t enough street lighting, it’s an additional advantage. Socio-economic, socio-political or political/economic circumstances today mean the State is providing, giving room, or making it possible for common crimes to emerge and develop, even if they don’t mean to. It’s not about blame. It’s about responsibility. Preventing crime is their raison d’etre.
Premeditation as proved by how long a thief can actively be present in the home, and take things without violence against people. But it’s not about what was happening, they saw the door open, peered in, saw somebody absorbed in their work and had an epiphany: What an opportunity. In this case, it would be a simple theft because of oversight, according to legal nomenclature. No.
There is almost a meter space between the Yale locks – there were two-, and the window, plus the wall length between the pavement and the inside of my living room. A thin, tall person with long arms, large hands and a determination to succeed, can open it without making a squeak. Especially, if they know that there’s somebody over 70 living there who doesn’t hear very well, even luckier. It takes time to study, dedication, patience, courage and an array of virtues and talents to pick up this information.
In reality, the belongings taken or whatever we want to call them, only hold the importance owners give them. As a result, I won’t go into such details.
Even though I’m one of those people who sometimes identifies as: a cold-blooded person or somebody who doesn’t give a lot of importance to things; when I discovered what was missing, I was overcome by a feeling of insecurity and of being in the hands of someone who I don’t know, for now, but they know me and have access to my things, to take them away, without me knowing.
A few years ago, I did some blacksmith work. I made doors, windows, closed doorways and backyards with iron bars. I made and put in window and door protectors, and even stairways protectors made of this metal. I wasn’t very good in this profession, but there was a lot of demand, you earned a pretty decent living and you could get a hold of materials. There were four blacksmiths on my block. I left the business because they began to chase after raw material suppliers and things got heated. But I still have my inovated welding machine and some tools. So, I: rolled up my sleeves. I had to put in bars now! Anyone could come in without keys.
As I live alone, I’m afraid to go further than the corner of my block until I’m sure nobody can get in, because I don’t know if the person who came is waiting to take my laptop, blender, fan, paintings, paintbrushes, the shirts I like… I’m forced to work quickly, something I can’t really do either, because I have to cook, do things for the publishing house I work for and that I can do at home on my cellphone since I can’t use the Internet from home on my laptop because I don’t have a landline… Yes, yes! Somebody told me I can hotspot the Internet from my cellphone to the laptop. I’ve tried and it’s ridiculously slow, makes you want to cut your veins with a snooker ball.
Perhaps buying a new Yale lock would have been the best solution. But the Yale wasn’t the problem. They opened the window, I realized that later. I initially thought they’d used a picklock, a master key. A friend who knows about these things, told me that it’s almost impossible given the combination of cylinders. Some have five and even six pins.
I had a grate that I’d taken off years ago. It was sliding. I took it off because the system used some wheels off boxes with ball bearings, but it was so close to the ground that rain would make them rust. I’d also kept a system for it to roll hanging inside a rail that hugged them, but I didn’t worry about installing it. Then, the time came.
Two decades ago, a welding bar cost 20 cents. When I went to buy ten, they cost 30 pesos each. Four days later, I went to buy more at the same place, and they already cost 40. They cost 50 one block down. I’m guessing prices will go up again next Monday.
It takes me a long time to do because I cut everything with a saw which would have been thrown out anywhere else in the world. But I have to work with it, I won’t have money to eat, if I buy another hacksaw blade and other things. I don’t have a cutting disc either, such a monster is for someone who actually dedicates themself to this profession and will make back their investment. I have a polishing machine with a polishing disc, but I can’t cut with it. I made it myself with the spinning motor of a Russian washing machine, like others have.
So, I’m lucky there isn’t a blackout in the day. Other times, daytime blackouts have lasted over four hours.
Up until a few years ago, you needed something and you didn’t hunt around so much for it because it just couldn’t be found. Now, there are a few things, but they’re so expensive!
I’m talking about tools by the way. There’s almost no medicine in hospitals, many drugstores aren’t open during the night. Not to mention food…
I’m not complaining. I’m just giving you a News round-up, like Silvio Rodriguez.
Read more from the diary of Eduardo N. Cordoví aquí.
