Yesterday, while I was getting a haircut, my barber asked me if people in Cuba were dying of hunger. From my uncomfortable chair I quickly answered yes. Of course, he thought I meant that people were literally dying of starvation. But my answer needed a bit more explanation.
I’ve always believed that one of the pillars of health is good nutrition. Eating poorly on a chronic basis not only makes you sick, but also leaves you weaker against illnesses. In the case of Cubans, feeling hunger has already gotten out of control. There are still those in an even worse situation than us, like the Palestinians in Gaza, or the famines in China during the Great Leap Forward.
No, we are not literally dying of hunger, but every day more people fall ill, or surgical patients suffer complications and die because of them, or children struggle to understand a math lesson. My barber himself told me that recently he felt very hungry—something he had never experienced before—since he has always worked hard to earn money, as he says, so that food wouldn’t be missing at home.
Sometimes I don’t even write, because with an empty stomach it’s hard to think. I’ve always been skinny, but my friends tease me saying I’m practically disappearing. I have to eat a lot and constantly just to reach a weight where I feel okay. Now I’m even afraid my stomach might get startled when so much food suddenly comes in.
Either way, this is not the moment to take a selfie to share with people. If I take one, it will be to remember all the hunger I went through in 2026. Luckily, I don’t have children yet—the suffering would have been lethal.
English isn't my native language. Text translated with DeepL
