A Cuban has been waiting for three months for a birth certificate

Aminael Rodríguez Castillo, a resident of Old Havana, has been waiting for three months for a birth certificate that she requested from the Civil Registry of her municipality.

The document was supposed to be processed by the Mayarí office in Holguín, where Rodríguez Castillo is registered; however, they justified the delay due to power outages, according to a letter sent to the column Acuse de recibo of the official newspaper Juventud Rebelde.

Upon learning that she could not carry out the process through the new digital platform enabled by the Ministry of Justice, as it only covers the provinces of Havana, Artemisa, and Pinar del Río, she wanted to know if there was any alternative available.

The official who attended to him said that "she was not there for that," which Rodríguez Castillo described as a lack of professionalism and inefficiency in the service.

"I have to take care of all these matters during working hours, so that day I need to be absent, wake up at four in the morning, and wait in a rather complicated line, where many times they only serve until noon due to a lack of connectivity," he lamented.

For Rodríguez Castillo, the update of Cuban regulations and laws is incompatible with the actions of some workers at the Ministry of Justice, "causing discomfort and dissatisfaction among the population due to repeated failures and inefficiencies in the services provided."

This is not the first time that this reader of the state press has sent complaints to the section coordinated by journalist José Alejandro Rodríguez.

In September 2018, he reported the difficulties he was experiencing at that time to pay with a magnetic card at a state-owned store of the Caracol chain. Two years later, he complained about the poor quality of a tomato paste sold at the old Ten Cent store at 23 and 10, Havana.

In this instance, the complaints about bureaucratic delays in issuing a document such as a birth certificate arrive at the worst time for Cubans, who are suffering the consequences of power outages, high prices for goods and services, and a lack of institutional professionalism.

Independent reports indicate that with the approval of the Democratic Memory Law in Spain, there has been an increase in requests for birth registrations in order to apply for Spanish citizenship. Additionally, the Ministry of Justice offices have delayed legalization processes, claiming that the backlogs are due to external factors, such as Hurricane Ian or any other issues unrelated to their staff.