IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 31

buy in “dollar” pharmacies, as Cubans
call them, and this, despite the fact that
we’re talking about a peso created in
Cuba that has made our lives much more
expensive. Workers who are ill, and the
Cuban population, in general, have to
deal with situations so serious that it
becomes easy to understand why so few
people leave their jobs even if they are
sick, and go to the doctor only when
they can no longer remain standing after
having endured the unthinkable. They
are afraid of going through the same
situations I’ve endured, and others even
sadder and more complicated. Many
have lost hope and believe there will
never be any improvement. They resign
themselves to dream of the possibility of
leaving the country, which is quite remote for most Cubans.

“One has to leave,” they say. Now there
is a new medication: Water and Garlic,
which was recommended to me by a
rheumatologist at an office visit in August 2015. This was only after having
found herself unable to prescribe me
anything else for the umpteenth time,
due to shortages at local pharmacies. She
no longer had any idea what to prescribe
me, so she came up with Water and Garlic, which really means ‘PUT UP AND
SHUT UP.’ That is the new medication
for the Cuban people.

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