Atamak Alves Pires Filho experienced the discomfort of sleeping in a blackout and under the onslaught of mosquitoes. The persistent heat and lack of internet connectivity have permeated his first hours on the island. He was greeted by a partial and then a total power outage of the National Electric System.
The representative of the Pernambuco Committee of Solidarity with Cuba shares, from the Julio Antonio Mella International Camp of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) in Caimito, Artemisa, the reality of a siege lasting more than six decades.
He has already seen the streets of Havana, where garbage accumulates due to the complexities of its collection caused by the fuel shortage. At the Flores Betancourt Teaching Polyclinic, he learned of the efforts of Cuban healthcare specialists to maintain essential services.
There, a photovoltaic module has been installed, which helps improve the institution's response capacity while ensuring the continuity of essential activities.
"Patients have always been received with the utmost professionalism," affirms Yohana Prieto Travieso, head of the Nursing Department at the center. However, she explained that the lack of monitors and ultrasound equipment hinders the quality of care and creates a barrier to making more accurate diagnoses.
With the arrival of the panels, thanks to the efforts of the Puerto Rican solidarity brigade Juan Rius Rivera and the Latin American and Caribbean Continental Network of Solidarity with Cuba and Just Causes, the nurse insists, life at the Polyclinic has changed.
This is a vital institution within the municipal health system, as its consultations and services provide comprehensive, preventative, curative, and rehabilitative care, in addition to health promotion programs, maternal and child health services, and follow-up care for patients with chronic illnesses. Without a reliable electricity supply, even the most basic tasks are nearly impossible.
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This Monday, the Flores Betancourt Hospital also received a donation of medicines and supplies from solidarity brigades from some nine countries, who have come to the island to offer their assistance and participate in the First International Colloquium "Fidel: Legacy and Future."
José Antonio Morales Ríos, a member of the Solidarity Committee of the Juan Rius Rivera Brigade, said, "We brought some supplies that, although modest, represent our commitment to the Cuban people, their Revolution, and their leaders."
"Let them know," he stated, "that this is about the responsibility of the people, in their community representation, to the Caribbean nation and against the blockade that attacks it, so it is not difficult for this support to be reciprocated in this type of solidarity."
The dark effects of the blockade also weigh heavily, with their devastating consequences, on families who require specialized care for some of their members, who depend on equipment that demands electricity to function. That is why, thanks to this group of friends, photovoltaic modules will soon be installed in some homes in Caimito that require this type of assistance.
This was explained by the Hero of the Republic and president of ICAP, Fernando González Llort, who noted that they also brought donations for the 10 de Octubre Clinical Surgical Hospital. "The 31st contingent of the Latin American and Caribbean Brigade, which has arrived in our country with more than one hundred members, refuses to submit to the pressures of the U.S. government, which seeks to punish and intimidate solidarity with Cuba," González Llort emphasized.
Atamak Alves Píres Filho, at the donation drive in Pernambuco on July 26th, didn't realize how much each small contribution, both individual and collective, represents—contributions that he and his companions carried, leaving their own belongings behind, to fill their suitcases with solidarity. He was able to witness it firsthand during this visit.
