A Cuban mother once again touched social media with a testimony recorded from her home, where she recounted the drama she is facing alongside her sick daughter amid blackouts, unsanitary conditions, and an epidemic affecting thousands of families on the island.
In a video shared on TikTok, the woman (@www.tiktok.com.azucar) revealed that she still feels weak after contracting the virus and that “I still lack strength in my hands even to style my hair.” She stated that her daughter, who had gone through the illness a week earlier with mild symptoms, became ill again “with a fever that won't go down with anything, not even Tylenol, cold baths, or compresses.”
Visibly exhausted, she explained that she spent the night without sleeping because the girl's fever won't drop below 39 degrees. “I’m on the verge of a breakdown; at any moment, I might go out and scream what I shouldn’t scream, because the filth in the corners won't go away, the blackouts... we have been without power for over 14 hours, it was just restored,” she said, in tears.
The mother, identified on social media as Azúcar de Cuba, stated that she is "about to go crazy" due to the lack of electricity and the poor sanitary conditions in the area. "Don't come here at all, this place is rotten. Don't come to Cuba looking for anything, this place is rotten," she warned in her message, in which she also denounced the accumulation of garbage and the lack of medical attention.
"I don't know what virus this is that hits you and then after 15 days you get sick again, or maybe I caught another virus. I don't know, because there’s no cold, no other symptoms, just a fever of 39, 39.5 since five in the morning and it won't go down," she lamented.
The video generated hundreds of responses with messages of support, advice, and prayers, as well as direct criticism of the Cuban regime. Many comments expressed helplessness and anger over the health situation, with phrases like "down with the dictatorship, how long must Cubans endure this" or "poor people of Cuba, this is not right."
Others offered home remedies, from warm water baths to vinegar compresses or coffee grounds on the feet, while several warned that "it must be dengue" and urged taking the girl to the doctor. Among the messages, there were also abundant expressions of faith and solidarity, such as "May God place His hand" or "Wishing the girl and her mother a quick recovery."
This is not the first time the woman has made her situation public. In another video shared days earlier, recorded from her bed, she reported that she was bedridden alongside her younger son, lacking the strength to get up, open a bottle of water, or take a bath. That day she called for solidarity with those who are facing the illness alone: she said she could not imagine “being alone, without medication, enduring this horrible virus,” and urged those who could help other sick people to do so.
Their testimony, then and now, depicts the healthcare abandonment suffered by thousands of Cubans: homes without electricity, without medicine, and without medical care, where relief relies more on the solidarity of neighbors than on the state healthcare system.
A testimony that reflects a widespread health crisis
The testimony of this mother coincides with an increasingly severe epidemiological landscape. According to the official data released on December 1, the Ministry of Public Health reported 33 deaths from mosquito-borne diseases — 21 from chikungunya and 12 from dengue — and more than 38,900 confirmed infections across the country.
However, independent reports published by the Cuban Conflict Observatory and the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba raised the number to at least 87 fatalities, nearly three times the amount acknowledged by the government. The report documents cases across all provinces and attributes the deaths not only to the virus but also to the collapse of the healthcare system, the lack of medications, the scarcity of serums, and government inaction.
In an update provided by MINSAP at the end of November, it was reported that 102 children remained in intensive care, 76 in serious condition, and 24 critically ill. Deputy Minister Carilda Peña admitted that the State can no longer carry out fumigation due to a lack of fuel, insecticides, and equipment, while hospitals operate without reagents or basic supplies.
The Canadian press has also alerted about the situation, after Ottawa issued a travel advisory due to the outbreak and poor sanitary conditions in Cuba, warning that "medical care is limited and public hospitals are in poor condition."
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