A woman in Manatí, Las Tunas resorted to a desperate method to preserve her diabetic son's insulin. Her strategy is to wrap the medication carefully and lower it to the bottom of a water well, where the temperature remains between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius.
The video was posted by Lili Romero on her Facebook profile. She had to take this measure because unopened insulin generally requires refrigeration for long-term storage. Excessive exposure to heat can reduce the effectiveness of the medication.
At the time of filming the video, the town of Manatí had been without electricity for between 25 and 26 consecutive hours. However, when posting the short video, Romero stated: "This was yesterday. Today we are still experiencing blackouts, 46 hours and counting."
"Here goes the creativity. My way of continuing to cope. This is so my son's insulin doesn't go to waste," says Romero at the beginning of the clip, while demonstrating how he puts the medication into the well.
"Every day it's the same story. If the insulin goes bad, how does a diabetic survive this condition?" he expressed.
The question that concludes the video summarizes the exhaustion of thousands of Cuban families: "Do you think this is life? Living in a way that feels as if we were indigenous. How long will this last, gentlemen? Oh my God! There is no possibility of change."
The comments on her post ranged from solidarity to irony. "Resistance with creativity, my friend," one person wrote. Another pointed out, "And thank God you have a well." A third person sarcastically remarked, "It's the fault of the blockade."
On September 9, Romero had already erupted on social media after 22 hours of blackout in Manatí. Two days later, she revealed that in her area they only receive an hour and 45 minutes of electricity per day.
Insulin must be stored between 2 and 8°C. Prolonged heat degrades it and can render it ineffective or dangerous. In October 2024, a 13-year-old girl with type 1 diabetes died in Havana under circumstances related to power outages and the possible loss of efficacy of her insulin.
In June of this year, a mother in Villa Clara reported that her 10-year-old daughter with type 1 diabetes was at risk due to a lack of insulin, depleted supplies, and a pharmacy refrigerator that was broken, with temperatures exceeding 35°C.
The Manatí well has become the starkest symbol of what it means to survive the Cuban energy crisis when a family member relies on a medication that the regime cannot guarantee is either cold or available.
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