Loss of Values ​​or Adaptation?

From atop Loma de la Cruz, where once only the whisper of the wind through the laurel trees could be heard, now a different hum can be perceived. It is the sound of a city reinventing itself. Holguin, the City of Parks, famous for the warmth of its people and its hospitable traditions, has been waging a silent battle for years. That is redefining the character of its inhabitants: the slow decline of its moral values.

There’s no need to look for sensational headlines. The evidence is on the corner of the central streets of Luz Caballero and Arias, where “struggle” has replaced work as a virtue. Where a young man calls out, “Chicken for sale!” from a half-open door. While calculating profits that a professional doesn’t see in three months.

Merit, that idea that drove generations of Holguin residents to study at the University of Holguin or the Pre-University Vocational Institute of Exact Sciences, now competes with the cunning of “hustle.” “What good is my degree?” asks a retired engineer, looking sadly at his daughter. Also a graduate, who dedicates more time to her “business” of selling imported soaps, perfumes, and makeup than to her profession.

The issue is survival. “Before, if a neighbor didn’t have coffee, you’d bring them a small cup. Now, you sell them a whole package for 250 pesos,” remarks an older woman among the many echoing conversations on public transportation.

Solidarity, a value so deeply rooted in the Cuban people, has become transactional. People help, but with a cost-benefit calculation. Honesty is treasured like a family heirloom. But it’s not always a luxury that ordinary people can afford. Double standards run rampant. People criticize those who “steal” at work, but buy the stolen goods because they’re cheaper.

They speak ill of the young woman who goes out with a tourist in Guardalavaca, but not of the money she takes back to her family. In a land where pride and dignity are paramount, necessity has created a flexible morality. Capable of stretching to justify what was once inexcusable.

Education, which brings pride to the province, is nevertheless suffering the same decline. It is lamentable that, for many students, the role model is no longer the doctor or the teacher. But rather someone who owns a car and can travel to Havana to bring back merchandise. The subliminal message is clear: knowledge is no longer the primary path to prosperity.

Some argue that Holguin is not losing its values, but rather adapting them. That the famous inventiveness of the Holguin people, the same ingenuity that allowed them to create unique solutions in times of scarcity, is now forcing them to navigate a sea of ​​hardships. Perhaps but this is not about the blatant decline of a city, but rather the decline of a good people forced to survive amidst a very adverse scenario.

It’s the crack in a park statue, the fading light in the eyes of someone forced to choose between being “honest” and being a provider. Holguin, the City of Parks and Traditions, is slowly losing its soul in the forced exchange with reality. And that, perhaps, is the most painful decline of all.

By: Arlenis Betancourt Yañez

Radio Angulo
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