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There is a curfew in the millionaire city of Havana between 7:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. Only people with special permits can stay outdoors. The regime has also introduced strict rules for those infected with the coronavirus and their neighbors.
When four people were found infected in a Havana neighborhood a few months ago, the regime’s blue buses picked up the neighborhood residents and took them to special accommodations on the outskirts of the capital. No one was allowed to leave the building for nine days.
The drastic measures of the regime stopping the spread of the infection has caused only 117 people to die from covid-19, according to official statistics. The number of infected found is less than 5,500. Still, Cuba has a population of 11 million.
On the other hand, the lack of tourism and the closure of society have created the worst humanitarian crisis since the so-called “special period” in the early 1990s. Later, the fall of the Soviet Union caused the bankruptcy of the communist regime in Cuba. Many lost their sight due to malnutrition. Others starved to death.
– It was a terrible time, remembers Andrea Rodríguez, 42 years old.
She was a teenager During the “special period” and with his siblings, he spent his days looking for food for the family.
– Now the same thing is happening. To get my portion of minced meat, I have to queue for eight hours, says Andrea Rodríguez.
With lines to a grocery store in Havana, the regime has banned residents from traveling outside the city, due to the coronavirus.
Photo: Yamil Lage / AFP
What complicates his search for food is that the regime has prohibited Havanans from traveling outside the city. Previously, her husband could drive his electric moped through the countryside and search for food in stores. Now the couple has to queue in front of the supermarkets in the capital.
– I live in the busiest neighborhood in Havana. We are more than 200 thousand inhabitants, but we only have access to seven grocery stores, says Andrea Rodríguez, who lives in Diez de Octubre, one of the 15 municipalities that make up Havana.
The only way to avoid the queues It is buying food in the so-called dollar stores that the regime has reopened to bring in hard currency. In such a store, a kilo of ham costs SEK 300 and a kilo of hard cheese 500 SEK. A normal salary in Cuba is less than 400 SEK a month, which means that only the upper class, consisting of relatives of the regime and businessmen who have ventured into the black market, can shop there.
A man’s temperature is controlled in Havana. Cuba has so far had relatively few cases of covid-19, society has had and has had severe restrictions.
Photo: New China / SIPA / Shutterstock
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Havana airport has been closed to regular traffic. Only a couple of planes are allowed to land per week. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the so-called remittances – money that Cubans in exile send to their families – have decreased significantly.
– I have an uncle and two cousins in the United States. They have always sent money. But now they have lost their jobs in the United States due to the pandemic and can no longer transmit anything, says Andrea Rodríguez.
United States: President Donald Trump it has also reduced the amount that US citizens can send to Cuba. Therefore, many in Cuba expect Joe Biden to win the US presidential election in November.
– You notice how dissatisfaction grows. Both in food lines and on social media, people now dare to openly criticize the regime, says Andrea Rodríguez.
Even in rural areas, the population has been greatly affected. The country is not self-sufficient in food. Agriculture is inefficient and up to 70 percent of the population’s food needs must be imported. Dunia Valdés, 26, lives in the tobacco province of Pinar del Río, southwest of Havana. Her son was born in the middle of the pandemic. He is now three months old.
– Diapers that you can forget. The only possibility is in dollar stores, but a package costs as much as a monthly salary, says Dunia Valdés.
The last package bought contained 36 diapers. After five days, he had used them all.
– The regime must allow more privatizations so that the economy can start, he says.
The current crisis has forced the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, 57, to advance some economic reforms. Among other things, the president has introduced facilities for private actors to import goods, giving air under his wings to the economically reformist parts of the regime.
There is also a discussion about the introduction of a monetary reform where the two currencies of the country, the Cuban peso and the convertible currency in CUC dollars, will be converted into one and the same currency.
Footnote: Andrea’s name is fictitious to protect her identity.
