{"id":272373,"date":"2023-07-05T17:59:34","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T21:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=272373"},"modified":"2023-07-05T17:59:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T21:59:34","slug":"of-russians-the-heat-and-domino-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/of-russians-the-heat-and-domino-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Russians, the heat and domino games"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat\u2019s up, journalist, have you already started studying Russian?\u201d Eugenio tells me as soon as he sees me appear next to him at the <\/span>domino<\/span> table.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is close to 6:00 p.m. and, like every late afternoon, several of my neighbors spend time on the corner playing, joking and discussing all sorts of issues. A glass of rum goes from hand to hand, despite the sweltering and sticky heat that pervades Havana.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRussian?\u201d I ask Eugenio, pretending not to understand, although I know exactly where the matter is leading. Today in Cuba, with so many visits <\/span>between Russia and the island<\/span><\/a>, so many signing of agreements and business rounds, it is impossible not to know.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Da<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>tovarishch. Russkiy<\/span><\/i>,\u201d he answers with an accent that surprises more than one on the corner and causes a few smiles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWow, you still remember,\u201d says L\u00e1zaro, his partner in the game, while he slowly slides the double seven on the table as if lifting a great weight off his shoulders.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Konechno, tovarishch<\/span><\/i>,\u201d answers Eugenio with an air of pride: \u201cI didn\u2019t spend so many years studying in the Soviet Union for nothing. It\u2019s still got to be of some use to me!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what are you going to do? Are you going to offer yourself as a translator to one of those Russian delegations that are coming?\u201d Osmany attacks sarcastically and puts the seven-five right at the end where L\u00e1zaro had doubled.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, maybe,\u201d replied Eugenio. \u201cThose people are fully entering Cuba and, by the looks of it, soon we are going to be speaking Russian on the street and paying in rubles instead of dollars,\u201d he says and hammers the five three on the table while fixing his eyes on Yunior, who for the moment has not said a word and looks at his dominoes uneasily.<\/span><\/p>\n

The boy knocks on the table slowly, resigned, and Eugenio bursts into a euphoric laugh. \u201cThere\u2019s a two for you!\u201d he tells Yunior and passes him the glass of rum: \u201cTake advantage, Havana Club. Pretty soon they\u2019ll start exporting everything to Moscow and we\u2019re going to have to drink vodka from the Russian markets that they say they are going to open.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Russians returned to Cuba<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n