Cuba changed and they continue with the blah, blah, blah

"Something has happened in my sister's life," a Cuban, resident in Spain, uncle of a young man imprisoned in Havana, writes to me.following the July 11 protests across the country.

According to what he tells me, as in the news published inCyberCubaRegarding the arrest and disappearance of his nephew, we published the address of the house where they live in Havana, two people have gone there and offered to take his sister to see her son in prison without charging her a cent for trip.

It is not an isolated case. From Santa Clara a young woman wrote to me to contact the family of a man imprisoned after the massive demonstrations in Caibarién. She told me that if the detainee's parents, who are already very old, needed to do anything at the provincial capital, she would be happy to do it for them for free.

I have seen drivers offer their cars for free to transport sick people in their city. I see the comedianLimay Blanco going out of his way to help those who need it most. I know that every time we publish news about an elderly Cuban abandoned by the State, there is always someone who is "outside" and offers to send help without publicity.

I know of a girl from Miami who is after the phone of a man in Holguín, who has a very bad foot due to lack of antibiotics.

I know that there are many emigrants who do not have enough money, but who live without shortages outside of Cuba, eager to help.

On the opposite side of the scale is a well-known Cuban YouTuber who I heard say the other day that the world cannot be changed with small gestures. That is for pleasure and pa' na, food for today and hunger for tomorrow. Poor thing, she has a lot of followers and doesn't know what she's talking about.

But today I don't want to talk about the deniers of the power of kindness. I want to talk about the Cubans who have managed, with millions of small gestures, for Cuba to change.

If I had not lived through the Special Period in Havana, if I had not eaten it completely, I would believe that we have always been like this. But I would be lying if I said that these outstretched arms, altruistically and collectively, were our daily bread in the nineties.

Unfortunately that is not what I remember from that terrible economic crisis. At that moment, at least in Havana, each of us castled ourselves with our little ones in a very tough every man for himself.

But Cuba changed and I am sure that Cuban emigration has a very important role in that change. I'm not just referring to the Cuban migrants who send their family remittances, who recharge their loved ones,but those who did not do well or did not like living on this side and repatriated.

They have helped us import on the Island the feeling of brotherhood that is experienced when one is outside. It is from this part of the photo that you understand that it does not matter whatthe Cuban who speaks to you whether from Cienfuegos or Pinar del Río or Mayarí. We have had to go out to understand that we are all Cubans. Children of the same land. Same. Siblings. That our people hurt us.

If those of us who live in a country that is not ours, but for which we are willing to give everything in order to be grateful for the return of our dignity, have learned something, it is that material things are perishable; that sharing makes the giver feel better than the receiver; that we are people with a very big heart; that we are Cubans.

Cuba changed before July 11 and that is why Cuba is different after 11J. There is no choice but to laugh at the Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil Fernández, when he confessed this Wednesday at the Round Table that he and his gang are still immersed in finding the way to "move forward."

How old he is! It reminds me of people who gain a lot of weight and 10 years later still keep clothes in the closet for when they lose weight.

Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández was betrayed by his subconscious. That is why he had to clarify that this time they are going to move forward. This man's face does not drop with shame when he says that at this point in the film they are looking for a way to make the state company efficient. He promises us that it is now, but he doesn't explain why not before.

Cuba, minister, has already changed and you continue with your blah, blah, blah. This is a matter of time. As my blessed grandmother, may she rest in peace, used to say: "Either you change or whoever brought you takes you."