More than 70,000 Cubans receive support through the Family Assistance System (SAF), a government program that provides meals to the elderly, people with disabilities and others in vulnerable situations.

In Havana’s Rampa neighborhood, home to one of Cuba’s oldest populations, the El Rampeño SAF center provides daily meals and support to vulnerable residents thanks to support from local private businesses.

“A place like this is a blessing,” says Lilian, a retired telephone operator. But as U.S. sanctions and an oil blockade disrupt food deliveries, keeping its kitchen running has become increasingly difficult.

“The U.S. government is making life impossible for us,” says Pedro Garcés, president of the Rampa People’s Council. “It’s suffocating us.”

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#cuba

When Massachusetts-based musician and activist Ben Grosscup (@BenGrosscup) learned his mother had Alzheimer’s, he turned to Cuba for help.

He traveled to Havana to obtain NeuralCIM, a groundbreaking Cuban medication that has had remarkable results in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s.

The treatment was developed by Cuban scientist Dr. Teresita Rodríguez, whose work Belly of the Beast documented in Teresita’s Dream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Renbt-16syg&t=13s

Grosscup has long opposed his government’s economic war on Cuba. But as intensified sanctions and an oil blockade limit the island’s ability to produce medicines like NeuralCIM, U.S. policy became more personal.

“The blockade is harming my own family,” he says.

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#cuba

Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), a Cuban-American hardliner from Miami, made headlines recently when she broke with Trump over the mass deportations she long supported.

Belly of the Beast journalist María Karla Acosta Toledo breaks down how Salazar’s unwavering support of Trump and his Cuba policy have helped create the political mess she now finds herself in.

#cuba

U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL) says Cuba’s healthcare system “sucks” and “doesn’t work,” pointing to hospitals without medicine and deteriorating conditions.

But this criticism leaves out a major part of the story: the policies Giménez has championed are the reason why Cuba’s hospitals are collapsing. U.S. economic warfare has restricted Cuba’s ability to obtain medicines, medical equipment, fuel and other resources needed to keep its healthcare system running.

#sanctions #humanitariancrisis

Electric tricycles have exploded across Cuba as the country faces extreme fuel shortages due to the U.S.-imposed oil blockade. But blackouts now last so long — 20 or more hours a day — there isn’t enough electricity to charge them.

So drivers are now installing solar panels on top of their tricycles.

“As long as the sun is out, it’s charging the battery,” says Evanys Peréz. “Now we can travel up to 90 miles.”

#cuba #oilcrisis #sanctions #embargo