Paula Henriquez

Have you ever tried to track down some kind of product, house appliance, disposable diapers, medicine, etc. using the phone in Cuba? Have you ever had to call a pharmacy to track down some kind of medicine?

On the average, Cubans are paid just a little bit more than what a pair of shoes cost (around 20 CUC) per month. Some people earn a little bit more because they get their lunch paid for, that is to say 0.60 cents per day for every working day.

Walking through there is almost impossible, not because something is blocking the way physically, but because breathing is an unbearable task. The riverbed is becoming narrower, not because of the plants that normally grow in its waters exactly, but because of the piles of garbage.

Walking through Havana is becoming a less gratifying experience every time I go. I remember when I was a little girl and a teenager how I used to love wondering through its neighborhoods.

The speech is always the same, just the voices and names of those giving them change. That the new academic year will start and schools will be ready, that teachers will be waiting with a smile for children in their classrooms.

In Cuba, the service of having your birthday cake made when the special date arrives, which I remember from when I was a little girl, continues to endure even today.

A friend of mine lives in Central Havana where the conditions are more unsanitary than they are in any other neighborhood on the outskirts. Most of the homes suffer a serious irregularity in the drinking water supply.

The pension retirees receive here in Cuba is ridiculous. Who can live on 400 pesos (20 usd) a month? And whoever has this much can give themselves a pat on the back, as my grandmother would say, because some people don’t even get 200 pesos.