HAVANA (AP).— The life of Cuban Yuneisy Riviaux was never easy. Resident in a house divided between several families whose second floor collapsed years ago, the 42-year-old woman is the mother of two little girls and is unemployed.
And although she grew up with just enough in the popular neighborhood of Centro Habana and went through hardships while studying to become a teacher of special children, she never imagined that a midday would come when she would not have lunch.
Blackouts, cuts in the state passbook from which Cubans obtain food, lack of water due to lack of pumping and shortages of medicines have turned the daily life of families like those of Riviaux, her husband Cristóbal Estrada and her girls into an odyssey.
“It’s been very, very bad for me,” Riviaux told The Associated Press one recent morning while playing with her two-year-old daughter Seinet. “One day more than another I can get food, some candy for the girls, a toy. But other times not, like right now I have to bite my lips and swallow my tears because I don’t have lunch to give the girls,” he added.
A few hours earlier her husband, 61, had made seven-year-old Edianet breakfast. The snack consisted of a piece of bread that is given to all Cubans through the supply book with a little butter that a neighbor left them. In the last blackout, the family lost food they had in the refrigerator.
“My husband is leaving for Cotorro right now,” a municipality about 20 kilometers away, Riviaux explained. I had no way to get there. Public transportation in Cuba has been semi-paralyzed since the United States imposed the oil blockade.
Riviaux and Estrada had a small stand in their home selling instant soft drinks and condiments. But in February the man felt unwell and went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a collapsed lung. The couple spent everything they had on medicine.
“We had to sacrifice that business to buy the medicines and save his life,” Riviaux explained. There were no supplies in the hospital and pharmacies, so they had to buy medicines on the black market.
Some days the woman goes out through the streets of her neighborhood to sell sweet cakes that her sister prepares when she gets flour.
By noon Estrada had not yet returned, so Riviaux had to prepare the two-year-old girl a glass of milk—from a donation from Mexico—and a piece of bread.
The older girl has lunch at school. Despite the crisis, primary and secondary classes are maintained.
“Before Covid in Cuba there was everything,” Riviaux recalled. “I know it hit the whole world, but it hit us much more.”
The pandemic meant a drop in tourism and coincided with an adjustment of US sanctions. In addition, a failed monetary unification plummeted salaries and a timid economic opening generated inequalities.
The family of Riviaux and Estrada, without a strong income, was among the most affected sectors. Riviaux said she is frightened by Trump’s rhetoric. “We heard the news that Trump wanted to take over the country and here at home we said oh, if the United States gets involved, what will happen?” he asked.
In the afternoon, her husband arrived with some bananas, some chicken quarters and some money to buy a kilo of rice.
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