The Health Crisis in Cuba
HAVANA TIMES – In every corner of the island, daily life unfolds under an alert triggered by the buzz of the mosquito — no longer just a nuisance, but a constant reminder of a threat that has gained strength. The spread of Chikungunya, along with Dengue, Oropouche, and Zika, has exposed deep flaws in the country’s health infrastructure and in the State’s ability to respond, revealing a crisis that extends far beyond the presence of the mosquito.
Pain With a Name: Arbovirosis
Chikungunya, a word in the Kimakonde language meaning “to bend over in pain,” is not a passing discomfort. Those infected describe a burning sensation that travels through bones and joints, immobilizing them. The Pan American Health Organization warns that many patients develop chronic joint pain that lasts months or even years. In a country with an aging population and deteriorated nutrition, the aftereffects become an almost unbearable burden.
The Failure of Fumigation: Fuel That Evaporates
Fumigation, presented as the government’s main tool, has become a meaningless exercise. The fuel assigned to it is very often diverted to the black market, leaving brigades that fumigate irregularly and with diluted products. It is a symbolic, not effective, defense — something that satisfies a statistic but protects no one.
Systemic Breeding Grounds: The Great Lie of Individual Responsibility
The official campaign insists: “Cover your tank, turn over your bucket…” But shifting the blame onto citizens is a strategy designed to hide state responsibility. The real massive breeding grounds are structural. First, micro-dumps — mountains of garbage that remain uncollected for weeks. Second, leaks from broken pipes create permanent pools of water that are perfect for mosquito reproduction.
A bucket can produce hundreds of larvae. A micro-dump, by contrast, millions. Yet the individual is still indirectly blamed under the pretext of raising awareness — a way to avoid acknowledging the real and most powerful cause of the generation and expansion of this health crisis, disguising the State’s inability to maintain basic services.
All of this is accompanied by uncertain diagnoses: in Cuba, the necessary tests to identify the type of arbovirus are not done due to a lack of reagents. Every diagnosis is clinical — an approximation that hides the true scope of the epidemic. In parallel, medicines are found only on the black market: steroids, IV fluids, painkillers, etc., have disappeared from state pharmacies. Their prices in the informal market are unaffordable for the vast majority. Another undeniable factor worsening the health situation is the accelerated loss of professionals, which has left technical and human gaps that the system can no longer fill.
Bureaucracy Above Pain
Going to the doctor does not guarantee treatment; it only guarantees a work certificate. Bureaucracy demands paperwork even when no relief can be offered. People with high fevers stand in line to justify an absence from work.
Official reports are scarce, incomplete, and late. Most sick people never appear in the statistics. People prefer to endure the illness at home, self-medicating. A parallel epidemic has emerged — one the State does not acknowledge, but which lives and hurts in every Cuban household.
The arbovirus crisis in Cuba reflects a deeper deterioration: structural failures, mismanagement, and the abandonment of basic functions. While the State urges people to cover tanks and turn over buckets, the population faces alone an epidemic that is, in reality, the visible consequence of disastrous state management.