A Cuban named Armando Marín, residing in Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus, is in a situation of extreme vulnerability and without access to the medications he needs, according to a video posted on Facebook by the community page "El Trinitario de a Pie".
A member of the project visited the gentleman's home in response to the neighbors' call regarding his precarious situation.
The material highlights the poverty in which Armando lives, despite holding a degree in Accounting and Finance, as evidenced by a diploma hanging on the wall.
"Upon leaving there, hearing his cries left us with a heavy heart," recounted the author of the post, who called for civic solidarity: "Today Armando needs everyone. If we can come together and contribute our bit to help him, let’s do it."
The post details the medications that the 61-year-old man needs to take but cannot obtain: Atenolol and Captopril, both for treating high blood pressure and protecting the heart; Clopidogrel, an antiplatelet agent that prevents thrombosis and strokes; Metformin, for type 2 diabetes; and Haloperidol, an antipsychotic used for disorders such as schizophrenia.
This pharmacological profile reveals that Armando suffers from at least hypertension, diabetes, and possibly a cardiovascular or neuropsychiatric condition, and that his life depends on medications that the Cuban healthcare system does not guarantee.
His case is just one among thousands of Cubans in a state of extreme vulnerability, who come to public attention thanks to complaints on social media, where citizen solidarity tries to fill the gaps that the state is unable to provide.
The province of Sancti Spíritus operates with a shortage of more than 300 medications in its basic inventory, as acknowledged in June by Elier Melendres de Armas, director of the Major Wholesale Drug Unit of Droguería Sancti Spíritus.
The state-owned company Biocubafarma acknowledged that it could not guarantee nearly 300 of the 395 medications promised to the healthcare system, attributing the situation to the U.S. embargo and a financing gap of over 250 million dollars for raw materials.
The situation of the elderly in Cuba is particularly dire. A recent street survey asking them how they envision their old age and how they live it today gathered responses that are shocking: hunger, abandonment, pensions that are insufficient for anything and the certainty that the best thing their children can do is leave the country.
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