From Cuba to Haiti

An island that has seen a host of tragedies, invasions, dictators, today shows the wreckage of a disaster, a quake no less horrendous for being natural. In that Haiti shown to us by Carpentier in The Kingdom of This World, that the news has made us pity, misery has become chronic and crying an everyday language. More than a quake, the homeland of Jacques Roumain has been shaken by misfortunes that come and fall on the social instability, economic malaise and despair. For any nation, something like this would be a calamity, for Haiti it is a complete apocalypse.

This is not the time to play politics with the pain, nor to step in front of the microphones promising help, but rather to come to their aid unconditionally, without desire for recognition or gratitude. It especially frightens me that three months from now the suffering will no longer be a headline in any newspaper and people will have ceased to feel the urgency of the Haitian drama. I am afraid that we become accustomed to the misery and harden our hearts to the tragedy, focusing on our own problems without considering that others, next door, are screaming.

The seismograph may indicate that here are no new shocks, but the needle on the meter of life is reading red. It is the time for help, and we must do so immediately.

• Currently several bloggers, along with others from Cuban civil society, are seeking a way to make our small contribution to the victims. We propose to collect clothes, medicines and personal care supplies, and bring them to the representative of Caritas in Havana.

Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.