I’m from the countryside; the Guayabo community in the Mayari River valley. My neighborhood is named after one of its tributary streams, which creates the highest waterfall in Cuba when it comes down off the mountains. There is really good land here, among the most fertile in the country.
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Cuba’s public water supply is one of our society’s most chronic problems, that has endured and spread in recent decades. It is in a critical situation nationwide, but I will only talk about what is happening in Mayari, Holguin, my town.
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My eldest daughter, who is only ten years old, doesn’t really live with me, although she is with me quite often. Awfully enough for her, her mom and I divorced when she was just two years old.
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You can feel the crisis in the air. In reality, it is a renewed “Special Period” crisis, which can still get a lot more intense. Market fridge-freezers and shelves are empty.
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The months of July and August coincide with the vacations of a significant part of Cubans. It is the longest school break of the year, which is between one academic year and another, and many workers and non-essential workplaces plan their vacations to coincide with their children.
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The news was well-received and came to everyone’s surprise. Pay hikes in the public sector came when people were least expecting it, and that’s because it’s the sector that mostly doesn’t produce anything.
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The Cuban system is entering a renewed Special Period crisis, at a dizzying rate. While the former never really ended, the current worsening of this calamity, after a more relaxed time with fewer shortages, makes us see it in a different light.
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There is a very high recurrence of cancer in Mayari, which doesn’t seem normal at all. And, there aren’t any leads for people to investigate. On the Internet, I only found out that it figures among the 72 municipalities classified with a Risk I level, of higher incidences, and that Holguin province is above the national average (and surely the global average) and is on the rise.
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Even though the majority of Cubans think that Granma newspaper is just an alternative for toilet paper; and even though the credibility and reliability of its information is low because it focuses on providing justifications and not objective news, I must admit that I always try and read it.
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Saturday is the day you’re most likely to find food at markets where we live in Mayari, Holguin. It’s normal for vendors to save a bit on the side so they can sell it on this day.
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