In Cuba, Covid-19 Stress Pushes Unrest to the Edge – The Wall Street Journal

Castor lvarez, a Catholic priest, has been looking for toothpaste and ground beef for weeks in Camagey, a colonial city in central Cuba. The last time he bought soap, he had to wait in line for four hours.

I was lucky. Since I didnt buy shampoo, I was given four bars instead of the two that Im usually allowed to buy, said the 50-year-old Father lvarez, who has been the parish priest in the communities that surround Cubas third-largest city for more than two decades.

Camagey residents are used to long lines and recurring shortages of products in a country where the Communist government exercises near-total control over the economy. But the damage brought by the coronavirus pandemic has inflicted an economic disaster, slashing the flow of tourists and remittances from Cubans living abroad. About four of every 10 dollars in Cuba come from those two sources.

The pandemic turned into a pressure cooker, and there was no safety valve, said Father lvarez. We now have widespread shortages of food and medicine. There is no fuel or public transport. There are constant blackouts now in summer, the heat is extremely harsh and food spoils.

Like hundreds of Cubans across the island, Father lvarez was detained by police on Sunday, when thousands of protesters spontaneously took to the streets to demand food, medicine and the end of six decades of dictatorship.

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In Cuba, Covid-19 Stress Pushes Unrest to the Edge - The Wall Street Journal