Iván Hernández Pérez, a Master in Medical Psychology known in his community as "Iván the psychologist" and "Iván the boxer," starred in a Facebook interview for Covers Enoc in which he candidly described what it means to be a professional in Cuba: years of effort and sacrifice that do not translate into the minimum living conditions that, according to him, anyone in the world should have.
When asked if he is satisfied with his life, Iván did not hesitate: "No, obviously not. My current life, nor my past life, nor my present life. And well, let's see what happens with the future."
His diagnosis of the system was even more straightforward: “A professional who has worked hard here in Cuba, who has always been among those who have done the most for life, for others, for all those things, and does not have the basic opportunities that any human being has in the world, I think that person is not happy, content to live here; I think they have somewhat been cheated.”
When the interviewer asked if the life of a professional in Cuba is worth it, the response was emphatic: "No, no, evidently the life of a professional in Cuba is like having lost all the years of study, having lost all the effort and sacrifice."
And he added a phrase that summarizes the situation of thousands of Cubans with university degrees: "A professional in Cuba only has the right to remain silent."
Despite this, he does not hesitate to respond when the interviewer asks if he feels proud to be Cuban: "Being Cuban is a great pride, to be the same as José Martí, Celia Cruz, Félix Varela, all the greats from here in Cuba, an immense pride."
The testimony of Iván reflects a devastating economic reality for those who chose to study on the island. Salaries for psychologists in the state sector range from 2,101 to 5,885 Cuban pesos monthly, according to data from salary reference platforms. The average state salary is around 6,930 pesos, which is equivalent to just 13 dollars at the informal exchange rate, which is between 420 and 435 pesos per dollar. Even the most generous offers from the state banking sector for psychologists do not exceed 10,600 pesos, about 25 dollars a month.
This gap between academic training and material reward has driven a massive emigration of young Cuban professionals aged between twenty and forty, primarily from the health, education, engineering, and technology sectors, to destinations such as Brazil, Spain, and Chile.
The case of Iván is not the first to express that feeling of institutional betrayal. A Cuban doctor who worked for a year in Venezuela received only 213 dollars at the end of his mission and also described the experience as "a scam."
Despite everything, Iván made it clear that his dissatisfaction is not with Cuba as a nation or with its identity: "Yes, yes, yes, I am proud to be Cuban. I believe that being Cuban is something, a very great pride. A very great pride, to be the same as José Martí, to be the same as Varela himself, Celia Cruz, all the greats from here in Cuba, an immense pride."
The distinction that Iván makes—between the pride of belonging to a nation with a rich history and the frustration with a system that does not reward effort—captures the contradiction experienced daily by tens of thousands of Cuban professionals who chose to stay on the island.
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