The city has passed from the to-do list to the impossible list
14ymedio, Juan Ernesto Cambiaso, Panama, 23 October 2025 — With my lungs tired from blowing out so many candles on my 81st birthday cake, I find it necessary to redo the list of pending subjects to find a way to address them. It is not easy, because my physical stamina has diminished, my gait has slowed, my balance isn’t the same, and my health has sent warnings that must be heeded.
The unfinished business that troubles me most is not saying goodbye to Havana, a city I love like an old harlot who has given me unforgettable moments of intense passion. I never knew a flourishing Cuba; I could only see a decaying Cuba that, as it tumbled down, emanated the aroma, sound, and light that make it unique and unforgettable.
Havana, in its death throes, rejects that I will take it by the hand
Friends whose judgment I respect have warned me that I should not travel because the filth accumulating in the streets has caused painful illnesses, because good food is scarce, medical care is conspicuous by its absence, and the sporadic moments when there is electricity, they call it alumbrones, lights, bring insurmountable inconveniences such as refrigerators no longer keeping the little food available fresh.
Listening to and reading the information I hear and see, I gather that I’m going to have to get used to the fact that Havana has gone from the to-do list to the impossible list. That Havana, in its death throes, refuses to let me take its hand, as I was able to do with my sister Rita and my friend Juan José. It has killed my octogenarian hope of escaping from Panama in January, with someone to assist me in the farewell ceremony, to hold me up as I go up and down the stairs, as I walk unsteadily on the uneven sidewalks, as I get in and out of cars, which is becoming acrobatic. It’s sad to say that on this brief one-way journey of my old age, Havana abandoned me halfway. For me, Havana has been murdered by its worst people.
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