Under pressure: Catching the pulse of a Cuban crisis

Pressure refers to a force exerted on humans, objects, and ecosystems that prevents or facilitates the flow and growth of things, movements, bodies, and ideas. Cuba has to cope with a lot of pressure due to the collapse of the tourist industry in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, an aging infrastructure, a malfunctioning system, and the long-lasting U.S. embargo. I propose to think through pressure in order to highlight some of the strategies adopted by people and other organisms to deal with or lower the pressure felt in their daily life. In reflecting on the current Cuban economic, social and humanitarian crisis, I aim at catching the pulse of the moment to shift the crisis-based discourse to one based on pressure. I focus on two types of pressure – air and blood – to think through the pulse of the post-COVID Cuban crisis. Pressure allows for a cross-sectorial and multi-scalar understanding of the connections between how people live and how they strive to develop coping mechanisms to face pressure.