The Cuban comedian Tigresa Tóxica, who claims to have also been a doctor in her professional life, went viral with a video on Instagram in which she made ironic remarks about doctors' salaries on the Island.
In her video, the artist begins by saying: “I’m a doctor in Cuba, and I'm going to show you that with my salary, I live like a queen… Yes, I live like a pressure cooker: under pressure and about to explode.” Then, with sharp humor, she compared a doctor’s salary to “your ex’s penis: a tiny thing that doesn't measure up to anything.”
The doctor spoke about her colleagues' vocation and stated that "social recognition" alone does not cover the cost of living: "How many eggs can I buy with the 20,000 applause I have left over from the pandemic?"
In her monologue, the Tigresa Tóxica delivered a cutting remark that directly criticized the official rhetoric, particularly calling out the recent statements made by former Labor Minister, Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, who denied the existence of beggars in Cuba, claiming they were “disguised”.
"What are you and I? Doctors disguised as beggars? Oh! Who said that!?" said the doctor in a mocking tone.
His satire arrives in a context where, according to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), 89% of families in Cuba live in extreme poverty. This situation did not prevent Feitó Cabrera from claiming that people who search for food in the street or in the trash are “not beggars,” but rather “wanderers” who have found an “easy way of life.”
With her characteristic irreverent tone, Tigresa Tóxica dismantled the official narrative, laughter after laughter, reminding everyone that a doctor's vocation doesn't cover the avocado priced at 200 pesos or the oil at 1,000, and that many of her colleagues have left the profession to survive.
Beans with a Purpose: A Doctor's Shopping Cart in Cuba
The satire of Tigresa Tóxica is supported by realities documented by other Cubans. In mid-March, a TikTok video by the user @sheyreyes03 showed what can be bought with a doctor's monthly salary, which is around 10,000 pesos.
With that amount in hand, the young woman set out to buy food, and this is what she found: 10 pounds of rice, some pounds of peppers and tomatoes, a jar of snack spread, two packs of hot dogs, a bottle of sunflower oil, and 10 pounds of ground meat. The meat was left off the list due to its high price.
The contrast between the use of public health and its professionals in the regime's propaganda and the evidence of their precarious situation in the face of the country's uncontrolled inflation is causing growing discontent among the Cuban medical community and fueling the outrage of many citizens who see how state salaries are unable to meet their most basic needs.
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