It was only enough to hear a couple of times on television about the increase in infections in Las Tunas for the farmer Orestes Ibrahim to harvest the best bunches of chunky bananas from his farm and prepare a donation.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- “I had heard that cases were on the rise, that at the Ernesto Guevara Hospital there were about 300 positive patients for COVID-19, and I didn't think twice. I knew that I had to contribute something; in these times, the country needs peasants to contribute more to send food to those places and, I was sure that my gesture would be well received.”
These were the first words that the peasant Orestes Ibrahim Téllez spoke when we asked him about the main motivation that led him. “I know of many cooperatives that are doing it and my support had to be there. Early in the morning, as I usually walk almost every day, I threw more than four quintals of chunky banana into my cart and I brought it for the 'Guevara',” he said.
Orestes is a producer of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes credit and services cooperative (CCS), located in the rural community of Cuatro Caminos, in the southern region of Las Tunas municipality, and from those lands, some donations have already come out for isolation centers, hospitals and other institutions where COVID-19 is faced. A few days ago, from this same unit, food, fruits, pigs and, even a bull weighing more than 620 pounds were provided to feed the patients, most of them infants.
“Where I live, many peasants want to collaborate. So, this is not going to be the only time that we are here, and with much more food collected by all producers. I am certain that we will continue because we not only deliver this food here; we also do it in the community and to everyone who needs it. This is how we, peasants are,” he said.
"If I had more, I would give more," Orestes said, excitedly. “There is so much to thank the Revolution… I feel that we owe it a lot. Every day, when I see what this country does for its people, I feel very proud, besides what it has done for my daughters; in another country, I would not have been able to pay for their studies and, today, one of them works in the intensive care unit of this hospital.
“I will continue working the land because it is my battlefront in the fight against this disease. I like what I do, I put my heart into it, and now, more than ever, I know that from here, producing more every day, I am helping this Revolution that gives everything for the well-being of Cubans.”
