2024-02-15 18:29:46
The logo of a company, the refrigerated packaging of a restaurant or the typical colors of a home delivery service are enough to unleash greed. In a country ravaged by the crisis, couriers transporting goods to customers’ homes have become the target of assaults. Easy to detect, some on bicycles or others on motorcycles, they are increasingly frequent victims of robberies and attacks.
With one arm in a sling, Ismael, 21, tells 14 intervene his story. “I picked up a menu of several main dishes and some beers at a restaurant to take to a client in the municipality of Playa, it was not late but it had already gotten dark,” she details. “When I was near the iron bridge over the Almendares River, a guy came out of nowhere with a pipe in his hand.”
During the assault, Ismael interposed his forearm to prevent him from being hit in the face and ended up with a fracture to his ulna. “They took the backpack with everything it had inside,” he laments. The contents of the thermal container, identified with the logo of a famous home delivery service, “cost more than $80 paid in advance through the platform’s electronic gateway.”
Impatient around the table, the buyers waiting for Ismael contacted the portal managers, but the response took hours to arrive.
Impatient around the table, the buyers waiting for Ismael contacted the portal managers, but it took hours for the response to arrive. “We are very sorry, our courier has been assaulted and is now in the hospital. We will try to make up for the damage caused with a new delivery but it will have to be for tomorrow, because at this time we do not have any other employees who can go there” .
Home delivery services are increasingly common in Cuba. Some distribute the merchandise that emigrants buy for their families, which include everything from food products to hardware supplies to household appliances. The best known are portals such as Supermarket and Katapulk.
“They can afford to move in panelitos [camionetas]which are always safer, but even they are in the eye of criminals,” acknowledges Vladimir, who for three years worked for Supermarket but, after fixing his own vehicle, is dedicating himself to delivering remittances for a company based in Miami that informally sends the cash to the Island.
“In my time in Supermarket things were not so bad on the streets and you just had to be careful to close the vehicle doors properly to avoid occasional thefts, but we are not talking about that anymore, we are talking about being let out of a corner and they will attack you with a blunt object, because they know that you are transporting valuable things.
As “of value,” Vladimir defines “a box of frozen chicken,” “a rice cooker,” or “a package of cassava.” Right now, “it is best to move in cars that do not have the service brand or make it clear that they are dedicated to home deliveries. If it is seen that you are carrying valuable products, the risk is greater.”
This week, Annia and Pascual’s married couple waited more than ten hours for a messenger to arrive carrying some drill bits.
This week, Annia and Pascual’s married couple waited more than ten hours for a messenger to arrive carrying some drill bits to open some holes in one of the walls of their kitchen. “The only thing we need to complete the renovation is to open those holes in the slabs and we need some very specific tools. We saw that they were selling them in Revolico and we agreed to have them brought to us,” says the woman.
In the early morning and after a day of frustrating waiting, the couple received an audio from the messenger. He told them that he was on duty at a hospital because they had attacked him and stolen all the merchandise he was carrying. Between the drill bits, a hammer drill and some hydraulic parts, the thieves took goods worth more than $300.
“Luckily we had not paid anything because we only had to deliver the money when the courier arrived with the order, but this theft paralyzed our work and also left us worried about the boy, very young, who received a severe blow to the head. At least they didn’t kill him, because as the situation is, they will take your life for anything,” explains Annia.
Regarding the role of the Police, an article published this Sunday in Granma explained that the authorities have increased security “through operational and police actions in different processes of the country’s economic and social life, including the transportation, storage and distribution of food.” Of course, they talk about state assets. Outside of filing a complaint or hiring private security agents, individuals have few options to confront crimes.
“We are always hiring couriers, but now we prefer, for deliveries at night, those who have a car,” acknowledges one of the managers of a popular home delivery application in Havana. “We have had several cases of assaults in recent weeks and everyone loses: the customer who does not receive the merchandise, us, who must replace the cost of what was lost, and the courier, who bears the brunt.”
“I no longer use the backpack they gave me at work, I prefer to carry a discreet backpack because where some read ‘Mandao’, others read ‘rob me'”
What until recently seemed like the ideal occupation for people who had their own vehicle, whether it was a bicycle, a motorcycle or a car, has become a risky profession. “I no longer use the backpack they gave me at work, I prefer to go with a discreet backpack because where some read ‘Mandao’, others read ‘rob me’,” concludes Richard, who has also defined his new work schedules with the private company. .
“I do not deliver at night, I do not deliver in neighborhoods on the outskirts of Havana, I do not deliver inside buildings, but on the street, I do not accept that the client changes my address once the order has been placed,” he details to 14 intervene. His long list of “no’s” continues: “I don’t work on Saturdays, because they are the most dangerous days and there are many people wanting to make easy money and I don’t stop at traffic lights or train crossings, if I see that I’m going to catch the red one, I walk around until I can pass or I go down another street.”
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