A doctor from Sancti Spíritus expressed her indignation on social media this Tuesday as she shared her struggle to obtain a can of powdered milk for her daughter, whose price on the black market is equivalent to two months of her salary while she is on maternity leave.
Danielly Aróstica shared her testimony on Facebook, highlighting the economic crisis and the precarious living conditions on the island, particularly for healthcare professionals.
"I, a Cuban doctor with a basic salary of 5,000 Cuban pesos, and currently receiving 3,400 pesos due to maternity leave, need two months of work to buy my daughter a can of milk on the black market. A can that lasts less than a month if she drinks two 8-ounce glasses a day," he reported.
The doctor explained that, although her daughter had been assigned a special diet of two bags of whole milk powder per month, this was replaced by an occasional liter of liquid milk, which was often in poor condition.
"The higher-ups decided that it was too much," she remarked with frustration, referring to the authorities' lack of interest in ensuring essential food for the most vulnerable.
"Only to me and our family, and friends who have done everything possible to ensure she has what she needs, do we matter," the mother stated, blaming the regime for the lack of milk for her little one.
The case of your daughter is particularly critical due to her delicate health condition, as she suffers from autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, secondary hypertension with left ventricular hypertrophy, portal hypertension, esophageal varices, erythematous-hemorrhagic gastritis, severe splenomegaly, severe iron deficiency, liver cirrhosis, splenorenal shunts, bronchial asthma, and atopic dermatitis.
"We live in a country where we are worth nothing, where we are nobody because I don't have the money to buy what life is worth in this country," he stated.
In addition to basic food items, the family faces high monthly expenses for medications and transportation to hospitals, which dismantles the official narrative that healthcare and medications are free in Cuba.
The doctor concluded her statement by highlighting the dehumanization of a system that ignores the basic needs of its citizens and life itself: "We have the misfortune of living in a country where we are worth nothing."
His testimony reflects the desperation of thousands of Cubans who face a collapsing economy and a system that is unable to meet their most basic needs on a daily basis.
The scarcity and deprivation affecting Cubans hit children, particularly those battling illnesses, with particularly cruel consequences.
For example, the Government of Santiago de Cuba announced this Monday that it does not have enough powdered milk in stock to meet the needs of children aged 2 to 6, a situation that worsens the already critical food shortages in the province.
According to information shared by Lácteos Santiago de Cuba on Facebook, the current distribution is limited to children under one year old, who will receive an additional supplement of 10 days of milk, totaling 20 days for the month of November.
In October, over 11,200 children in the province of Matanzas were unable to receive milk during the last week, due to a blackout that left all of Cuba without electricity for five days, according to official sources.
The collapse of the national electric system hindered the distribution of milk in the western province, as it prevented the food from being refrigerated prior to its industrial processing, authorities revealed on Wednesday.
However, the problem is an old one, and it often finds convoluted solutions.
In February, the authorities in Ciego de Ávila announced that children aged three to seven, as well as those with chronic illnesses requiring a special diet, will receive only half a liter of milk and a quantity of vitamin-fortified instant drink due to the shortage of powdered milk.
In August, a group of Cuban mothers expressed their outrage that children's milk had not been distributed in the bodegas of Havana, despite the month nearing its end.
"Today is August 22, and in my warehouse in Cerro, only 700 grams of milk have arrived this month for children over three years old," said a woman in the Facebook group "Cuban Mothers for a Better World."
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