Fidela

The day begins in Old Havana and Fidela is already going to the port, at the Regla docks.

The bus from work is a relief but if not, Route 66 or the small boat is what is used to get to the other side and from there on foot. She pays attention to the clock on the same hand as the pulses of her religion, she cannot waste a minute because her work is important.

“Fidela Blanco Romero, native of Baracoa, Guantánamo – that's how she introduces herself, she is the head of the Tarjado Group – and I have been here in Havana since I was 13 years old. I have worked at the port since 1976. I retired in 2018 and started working again in 2021.”

The Tarjado Group is to which the tarjadores belong. In a port loading and unloading operation there are stevedores, machine operators, truck drivers, others and some who carry a clipboard in their hand. The latter are the cardholders, they are the ones who keep the record of all the merchandise that is moved and those who organize the loading on the means of transport.
Fidela is now the head of the Group with 60 members, but she started as a clerk, a stone cutter, there on the dock at the foot of the ship. “I rejoined because a chipper is the only thing I have learned to be and I like my job,” she says, laughing.

The work is demanding, as long as there is activity on the dock, the stone cutter is there. The schedule is governed by the pace of work. A good part of the town's food enters through these docks and this activity cannot be stopped. That this cargo reaches its destination and is well accounted for and organized is crucial.

Sister of three and daughter of a single mother, she had to help around the house. At the end of ninth grade, she took a course at the port to go to work. Until today's sun.

Anything else she would like to add? We asked him at the end. Reply:

“Well boy, I can add to you that you need to dedicate a little time to the port, there has been a radical change for some time now. That was lively...We need an improvement in snacks, lunch, an improvement in transportation that is sometimes not met.”

Fidela ends the interview in the position of port leader. She puts her purse back under her shoulder and: “Let's go so you can meet my boys who are working.”