A Cuban identified as Maikel RodRem reported this Thursday on Facebook that the bank located at 23 y J, in Vedado, Havana, installed a power inverter at the end of October to improve customer service, but the outcomes were contrary to what was expected.
"At the bank on 23 and J, they allegedly installed an investor since Friday, October 30, to improve the issue of people being able to withdraw their money. Everything is worse; they have only worked for 3 hours in a week, attending to 30 people, of which 25 were from the line-cutters," wrote RodRem.
The paradox is that at the time of the complaint, the bank did have electricity, but it still could not operate. The very inverter installed as a solution was failing. "Right now there is electricity, but they can't attend to customers because the inverter is having issues; the solution is part of the problem," the complainant pointed out.
"The money you earn in Cuba is not yours; it belongs to the queuers and to the communist dictatorship," concluded RodRem in his post.
The situation is not limited to that branch. A commentator in the same publication described an equally chaotic scenario in other parts of the city: "It seems to be in vogue now for banks to fail their services for one reason or another. It turns out that at 44 and 41, the cables from the panels were stolen, and during the robbery, they broke the connection cables. Now at 29, something similar happened; there were issues with the server… You see, people line up early to withdraw money. How could they have stolen it with those waiting in line outside the bank? This is surrealism and audacity."
On October 31, a branch of Banco Metropolitano at the corner of Prado and Ánimas served only 25 customers in seven hours of operation, with just one employee at the counter.
On October 25, a bank in Havana suspended its services citing a server crash, but resumed operations just minutes after a journalist arrived. On the same day, it was reported from the branch at 23 and Malecón that intermediaries were controlling the queues, charging 1,000 pesos to organize ten daily turns.
In September, users of the Metropolitan Bank reported wait times of over eight hours to withdraw cash, while in July the parallel business of "bank waiters" was already operating with commissions ranging from 30% to 45% of the amount withdrawn.
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