Author: Rosa Martínez

The city of Guantanamo has changed in recent times. People from other provinces say the whole of Cuba is changing. I hope that’s true. A short time ago I met a millionaire who was neither Italian, Spanish nor American. He was born and raised in Guantanamo.

As you know, I have been without work for some months now and, like any self-respecting unemployed person, am looking for a job (or pretending to do so, at least). I fear I will start liking this business of slacking off and begin living by my wits, as many Cubans do.

Ana is 27 years old. She is a typical mulatto woman with big brown eyes, long curly hair, a penetrating gaze, very white teeth and a broad smile. From looking at her, one would say this young Cuban woman has a whole life ahead of her, that the world could be at her feet.

It is not my intention to debate whether the irregularities of local, inter-municipal or inter-provincial transportation are to be blamed on the blockade imposed on the island. What I want to share with you today is what happened to me yesterday…

I have a friend who’s been living on an island in the Caribbean for four years now. From what I see in the pictures I found on the Internet and the ones she kindly sent me so I would see the place she’s spent the last few years in, it is a beautiful place.

In June this year, I joined the ranks of Cuban workers who, for one reason or another, have been left without a job. In my case, it wasn’t because of a “payroll reduction”, as the restructuring of the workforce is referred to in Cuba, the equivalent of “getting fired” in other countries.

Professional drivers often complain in Cuba about the steep and frequent fines that traffic police give them everywhere, forcing many of them to spend long periods of time without being able to work (as these fines are cumulative and soon invalidate driver licenses).

It’s clear not all Cubans have the same economic situation, but what’s certain is that the vast majority have salaries that last them a mere 8 to 10 days, and that, the remaining 20 days of the month, they have to what I do: work miracles to acquire essential products.

The African continent is again making news and these are again far from good. The world is talking about a new outbreak of the Ebola virus in Western Africa, the worst since the disease was discovered near the Ebola river, in the Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), in 1976.