A Cuban resident in Italy recorded a video in which she shows the dinner served to her daughter in an Italian public hospital, and she explicitly dedicated it to "shame Díaz-Canel and all his people."
The video posted on Facebook by the user identified as Valeri Havana garnered over 73,900 views in just a few hours.
In it, the woman moves the camera over a tray that includes pasta with tomato sauce, a generous portion of chicken with mashed potatoes, a vegetable salad, individual packets of oil, salt, vinegar, and cheese, wrapped bread, fruit, and water, all covered and presented hygienically.
"This is nothing out of the ordinary," she clarified, emphasizing that it is an ordinary center, "a simple little clinic." Even so, the contrast with the healthcare reality in Cuba is the crux of her message.
What stood out the most to the Cuban was that all of this attention was free: "Because of all this, we didn't pay anything, zero euros."
He compared the situation to that of the United States, where a similar income would represent a million-dollar bill. "In Italy, you pay zero euros and look at the great service. The doctors and nurses, very good service, everything is perfect," he stated.
In addition to showcasing the food, the woman toured the room and the bathrooms. "Díaz-Canel, this is living normally like people and not like animals. And look, the room is perfectly clean, the bathrooms are spotless, there’s water, disinfectant, gloves... What more can I say? Everything you could want," she emphasized.
The video is released at a time when the Cuban healthcare system is experiencing its worst crisis in decades.
In February, the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, acknowledged that the system was "on the brink of collapse", and just a week ago, the president Miguel Díaz-Canel recognized the magnitude of the health disaster.
The data is alarming: shortages in state pharmacies, with more than 70% of essential medications unavailable; over 96,000 surgeries remain pending -including more than 11,000 pediatric surgeries- and hospitals are operating with power outages of up to 20 hours a day.
Food insecurity in Cuban hospitals is a long-standing issue that the government has been unable to resolve.
In August 2024, family members of patients at the "La Colonia" Children's Hospital in Santiago de Cuba reported the poor quality of the food provided for hospitalized children. Two months later, the Northern Children's Hospital in the same city served hospitalized children white rice, watery peas, and a piece of sweet potato.
Pregnant women admitted to the Materno Sur Hospital in Santiago described their meals as "pig food": hard fried egg, watery peas, and banana fufú.
The irony highlighted in Valeri Havana's video is particularly sharp: Italy is one of the countries to which the Cuban regime exports doctors to support regional health systems, while hospitals on the Island operate under conditions that many people compare to conflict zones.
In July, Italy had about 200 Cuban doctors working in its territory, mainly in Calabria.
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