Search results for: %22of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba%22

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 27 April 2020 — Life does not stop. We may be in a health emergency or quarantine, but children continue to be born, couples separate and the pipes break. We know about this last thing in our house, where we spent several days trying to repair a leak that made our already complicated … Continue reading “Day 33 to 38 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: There is Always an Eye That Sees You”

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 21 April 2020 — This Tuesday was complicated from the beginning. A pipe in our apartment broke and with all the plumbers in quarantine we had to appeal to our knowledge as engineers-without-diplomas to resolve the problem. Reinaldo managed to patch the break with the old trick of a plastic bag, … Continue reading “Day 32 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: Engineers Without Diplomas”

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 20 April 2020 you’re — Time is deformed in quarantine. It seems like an eternity has passed since the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Cuba, and yet, it was just a few weeks ago that they announced on official television that three travelers had symptoms when they arrived on … Continue reading “Day 31 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: Guesser, Seer”

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 19 April 2020 – The days now are defined by lines and heat. The temperatures stop any breezes from blowing on our 14th floor, midday feels like an oven, and the fans have to work much harder than normal for April. But the lines to buy food are the worst because, … Continue reading “Days 27 to 30 of the Covid-19 Crisis in Cuba: Silencing the Critics with Fines”

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, 15 April 2020 — I’ve been on WhatsApp for days with classmates from my time at the university. The pandemic has revitalized some friendships that, spread across various countries, help me to evoke school times, exchange family photos and project the future. Yesterday, another philologist — who also graduated in 2000 — asked me … Continue reading “Day 26 of the Covid-19 Crisis in Cuba: There is No Normality to Return To”

14ymedio Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 14 April 2020 – For days, Reinaldo had been planning an excursion to the store on the corner of 26th and 51st, near our house. At the first attempt, a neighbor warned us that the line stretched for several blocks; the second time we had to stay home because the water was turned … Continue reading “Day 25 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: the Epicenter of Contagion Around the Corner”

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 13 April 2020 — He used the wheels to make a toy for his son, with the bottom boards he reinforced his sofa, and the iron frame now supports his home’s water tank. My neighbor Yunier, 38, dismantled the makeshift vehicle in which he was selling fruits and vegetables after the last … Continue reading “Days 23 and 24 of the Covid 19 Emergency in Cuba: What We Need Now Are Pushcart Vendors”

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 11 April 2020 – Life goes on, for many of my neighbors, on the balconies, especially for the elderly who have family that guarantees their care, while avoiding their getting infected by Covid-19. They spend their hours on the terraces, from where they greet their loved ones, hang out the masks … Continue reading “Days 20 to 22 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: White Face Masks Hanging on the Balconies”

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 8 April 2020 — Glued to the screen all day, that’s how a neighbor of my building has decided to spend the quarantine. With face-to-face classes suspended, the young university student fulfills the old dream of doing nothing but watching TV series and enjoying video games. The family lets him be at ease, … Continue reading “Day 19 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: ‘Weekly Packet’, Video Games and Movies as a Refuge in Quarantine”

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 7 April 2020 – Years ago in my neighborhood they built a hotel to house patients from the so-called Miracle Mission, but today it houses suspected cases of Covid-19. The building, built in the years of the Venezuelan oil subsidy, had become a place to receive Parliamentary deputies and the athletes of … Continue reading “Day 18 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: In Quarantine and Playing Soccer”

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 6 April 2020 — The shouts of a neighbor brought me out of my midmorning stupor, provoked after trying for a whole hour to call one of those customer service phones that rings and rings but nobody answers. “You have to go with your son and husband, because they are giving … Continue reading “Day 17 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: Whole Families In The Lines To Buy More Products”

Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 5 April 2020 — I’m annoyed. Anger rises in my throat. Today I have learned that the coronavirus knocked on the door of another friend, this time a Cuban poet living in Madrid. After years of experiencing repression and censorship within the Island, Spain has been for her a terrain where she no longer had … Continue reading “Day 16 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: Homeopathy Will Not Save Us, Even If Official Television Says So”

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 4 April 2020 — Today has been a bittersweet day. At home we have all felt good but a doctor friend is isolated and suspected of having Covid-19. He has spent years saving lives in a dilapidated Havana hospital but now it is his that is in danger. Very prepared and committed to his … Continue reading “Day 15 of the Covid 19 Emergency in Cuba: My Doctor Friend Has Become a Patient”

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 3 April 2020 — The Covid-19 emergency in Cuba has its own sound or rather its “no sound.” If, before, from our house we heard the constant roar of the nearby Rancho Boyeros Avenue, now there is a rare stillness that fills everything. A “collateral benefit” of the drama we are experiencing with … Continue reading “Day 14 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba”

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 2 April 2020 – A mask can be a protection and a shield. When part of the face is covered, it is easy to outwit the police. Something that shouldn’t normally matter, but that in Cuba can be vital. Now, when I blend into the crowd with my mask, I manage … Continue reading “Day 13 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: The Daily Fight for Food”