IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH | Page 15

Trauma and Social Neglect:
A Challenge for a Future Cuba

Race, class and gender in Cuba and the world

Eleanor Calvo Martínez
Director, Citizens’ Observatory Against Discrimination (OCD)
Havana, Cuba

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T

he image of Cuba the authorities devoted
themselves to selling the world is that it is an
inclusive country, a model of justice and social balance. We must acknowledge that Cuba’s leaders, so inefficient in fulfilling their obligations, plans
and responsibilities, have shown an enviable ability to
convince friends and even foreigners that our country
is still a place of equality, where there is no room for
social neglect.
Still, many people and institutions in the world continue seeing Cuba as a country in which social justice
is an incentive when facing recurring economic hardships. Such is the case with the deep crisis it is undergoing due to an irreversible failure in its model, which
has unleashed unprecedented blows to our social fabric and living conditions. Yet, neither the government
nor society has found coherent answers to these crises
within the system’s current framework.
The unviable economic project of a regime has caused
the impoverishment of almost our entire economic existence via forced volunteerism and destructive monopoly. This has turned Cuba into a nation dependent
both on a peculiar commercial relationship with its
eternal political enemy (the United States), as well as
with his greatest ally’s multimillion-dollar subsidies.
There are so many years of unsolvable crises and the
deplorable efforts of a government that broke its contract with society so long ago. This has created numerous pockets of poverty throughout the entire island,

and obvious social inequality in which a small segment of society moves from comfort to opulence,
while most Cubans endure everyday hardships and
despair, and lack opportunities or guarantees.
Suffice it to travel through cities and towns to confirm
the level of poverty that is oppressing all Cubans alike,
but more so that it affects particularly vulnerable
groups in a very special way. These are seniors, single
mothers with children and African descendants, in
general.
The population is aging, which creates the enormous
challenge of offering a decent and comfortable life to
a large group of seniors in the coming years. Yet, the
authorities do not seem to care about this or be compelled to create material and institutional conditions
with which to face this very real social problem. At
this time, there are many seniors who live in horrible
conditions and endure shortages due to small pensions
and the constant weakening of the systems that offer
social assistance and security. It is deeply painful to
see many of our elders working the streets trying to
sell or beg for something for their daily survival, particularly after they have worked and contributed to society. It is shameful to think that many Cubans who
have worked all their lives will not ever be able to rest
and, that while this is happening, Cuban leaders continue to congratulate themselves and worry about the
destitute throughout the rest of the world.