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Imagen de presentación INBOX, columna opinión

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Inbox

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Lecturas al Oído

Columna especial para elTOQUE de Mónica Baró durante el 41º Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana. Ilustración: Wendy Valladares y Janet Aguilar

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Vagabunda

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Servicio de verificación y datos. Detectamos noticias falsas y desinformación. Verificamos el discurso público. Chequeamos hechos, frases y otros contenidos de interés público y actual a partir del análisis riguroso de datos.

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DeFacto

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English

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Periodista y realizadora. No busco lo extraordinario, sino lo que trasciende por la constancia del día a día. Me interesa la realidad con todos sus matices, de los más oscuros a los más resplandecientes, siempre enfocada en el sujeto que la disfruta o la sobrelleva

The first frontier established in the discourse between one group and another is “us” and “them”. Behind the seemingly innocent use of these pronouns, ideologies and beliefs are built that go beyond any other geographical or sociological barrier and is a construct as old as humanity itself.There are plenty of examples of this segmentation in official Cuban discourse, which has placed a barrier not only between Cuba and a certain part of the world, but also between Cubans themselves.President Miguel Diaz-Canel is a great example of this division into groups, when during the July 11th protests he said: “the combat order has been given, revolutionaries take to the streets,” clearly excluding to a part of the Cuban population based on ideology and differentiating between “us the revolutionaries” and “them” the protestors.He also holds onto the legacy of Fidel Castro’s speeches, using them in his Tweets to talk about a model of disciplined, hard-working and especially loyal citizen. In addition to regularly quoting phrases from Castro’s speeches and describing himself on his Twitter account as “committed to Marti’s ideas held by Fidel and Raul”, the president spreads messages like the one he posted on April 14th: “What a neighborhood Miraflores-Jesus Menendez is. Everybody works hard. This is the only way we can solve problems. Add to that the affection, spirit and optimism they welcomed us with, and you’ll understand why I was so impressed,” highlighting the sacrifice and loyalty to the political affiliation that he represents.When talking about the voluntary potato harvest by young people from the Ministry of Interior, on April 11th, he described them as the people that “are always on the frontline of every battle.” This phrase has been extended to other groups of Cuban society which shows the way things have been set up, where you can find headlines in the national press such as “Keys in Cuba to winning the battle.” What should be the normal functioning of a country is presented as a feat to the reader, dressed up in a glory that doesn’t exist in reality, but is used to define the group it shares its ideology with.On April 9th, the president shared a fragment from a document published on the Cuban Presidency and Government’s Twitter page: “Amidst adversity, we have to mobilize all of our intelligence on the island, all of our willingness to change reality, without losing our revolutionary optimism and enthusiasm.” This configuration of “us” indicates Cuba’s ruling elite’s demands, based on a system of well-defined values that contribute to this “illusion” of national accoplishment, a picture of success that doesn’t extend further beyond discourse.Another characteristic linked to “us” is the call for resistance. In&nbsp;Granma&nbsp;newspaper, the article “Close down the Morro Lighthouse?” puts another key piece of official Cuban discourse on the table. “Revolutionaries, those of us who are committed to this process beyond shortages and hardship, those of us who continue to believe in Socialism’s ideas, have to resist, improve, change everything that needs changing.”However, what is understood as “resistance” on the island is a digression of the concept that the Royal Spanish Academy’s Dictionary offers, which defines it as opposition, the reluctance to do something. While Cubans have seen this word used most of the time when referring to the action of putting up with and tolerating any kind of difficulty, even though their very own survival is at stake.Diaz-Canel called for resistance when calling upon Cubans to march for International Workers’ Day, pointing out “us” reasons in a Tweet on April 27th: “I’m inviting you to the Square on #PrimerodeMayo (May 1st). For the heroism of reistance and the inspiring victory of collective creativity, for vaccines and those of us vaccinated.”Alina Lopez warned that this discursive strategy forms part of the ruling elite’s mechanism that seeks to enthrone them at the expense of their citizens’ unconditional discipline and sacrifice: “A political ideology that tries to present a prosperous future that is always out of reach, and that asks for loyalty and constant work from its supporters, which is no longer liberating in nature but instead a dominating mechanism. It stops being Marxist at the same time it is no longer able to self-correct, when it believes itself to be eternal.”On the other hand, discursive strategies change when it comes to references to the “them” group. The importance of the message focuses on contemplating the negative characteristics of these “others” and ignoring or belittling their positive aspects.This isn’t new, Cuban newspapers haven’t skimped on dishing out shame when it comes to “them”. In addition to the well-known terms “worms”, “stateless”, “mercenaries”, you can find articles in the history of&nbsp;Granma&nbsp;newspaper such as the article published in 1993 with the headline “Second-class feces”. This was what they called a group of Cubans that went to the Mexican Embassy in an attempt to emigrate to the US, during one of the toughest years of the Special Period.The article highlighted the difficulties migrants faced to get into the United States, and ended with the following “In the divided democracy that establishes different categories of citizens, not even feces are all the same. But they’ve discovered this a little too late.”Cubadebate&nbsp;recently published the article “What counterrevolutionaries keep hushed up”, in which they stereotype the person that doesn’t share the Revolution’s ideals yet again: “Anyone who lends themselves to serving the Imperial enemy’s table, is a counter-revolutionary, no matter how hard they try to hide ingredients with elaborate recipes.” This simplified form of the “other” far-removed from “our” ideological group doesn’t see nuances or reveal a willigness to establish a dialogue between Cubans beyond their ideological stance.After the song&nbsp;Patria y Vida’s release, Guerrero Cubano – an influencer whose identity remains unknown, but is quoted and supported by journalists from party-line media – went so far as calling singer Yotuel Romero a “jineterito” (little prostitue), a label his wife, Spanish actress and singer Beatriz Luengo, has denounced.Spanish professor Jorge Lozano describes this polarization between some Cubans and others as part of a system: “The function of this “other” is vast and consists precisely of placing them outside of every role and them invading the “normal world” in a disturbing manner. Every culture creates its own system of “outcasts”, castaways, the people that don’t sign up from the heart and that a systematic and rigorous discourse excludes.”In official Cuban discourse, “us” is pitted against “them” mainly because of their ideological position. The first enemies to be identified are always the ones that don’t share the beliefs or opinions the Revolution demands of its citizens. This system of vaues and attitudes surrounding the revolutionary Cuban directly pays into a power mechanism that demands loyalty and sacrifice above all else, and conveniently confuses terms such as Revolution and Homeland. “Us” becomes “them” when we don’t follow the national project the Government has undertaken without an opinion and unanimous support. “Us” only has value when all of its members play the game of supporting the strategies of a select few, the ones that rule this country.The problem lies in the fact that nothing good has ever come from this delimitation that begins in discourse and ends up segregating a part of the population. When they talk about “us” they tend to generally be referring to themselves in a positive light, and when they talk about “them”, they often emphasize their “alleged” flaws and mistakes.Analyzing this binomial from different perspectives, Law and Political Philosophy professor Jose Luis Marti said that “as soon as we begin to form groups, distinguishing between “us” and “them”, and we equip these groups with identifying traits, we are planting the seed of hate. That’s how the worst injustices have been committed throughout our History.” <blockquote>This article was translated into&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/opinion/us-them-and-barriers-in-official-cuban-discourse/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 123, 255);">English</a>&nbsp;from the original in&nbsp;<a href="https://eltoque.com/nosotros-ellos-y-los-muros-del-lenguaje-oficial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 123, 255);">Spanish</a>.</blockquote>

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“Us”, “Them” and Barriers in Official Cuban Discourse

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Servicio de verificación y datos de elTOQUE. Detectamos noticias falsas y desinformación. Verificamos el discurso público. Chequeamos hechos, frases y otros contenidos de interés público a partir del análisis riguroso de datos.

The shortest route to the US from the center of Mexico is southern Texas. But legal crossing of the border is only possible via border crossing points because the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">Rio Grande</a>&nbsp;(Rio Bravo in Mexico) flows along a huge portion of the southern border. However, many thousands of migrants, including Cubans, choose to cross the river instead of handing themselves over at border crossing points (which are closed) in an attempt to sidestep Mexican immigration controls and speed up their entry into the US. They expose themselves to many risks in the process.The river on the US-Mexican borderA long border of 3142 kilometers (km) separates the US from Mexico. Almost 1000 km are a land border, while the remaining 2018 km are a river border.The land border spans across the states of California, Arizona and New Mexico (in the US) and Baja California Norte, Sonora and a part of Chihuahua (on the Mexican side). A third of this border are protected by a kind of wall or metal fence, especially in urban areas.The course of the Rio Grande, traces the rest of the border. It springs from the San Juan Mountains (Colorado). It has a total course of approximately 3060 km, until it meets the Atlantic Ocean, in the Gulf of Mexico.The river flows southeast from its source, crossing Colorado (280km) and New Mexico (760 km) within the US. Then, starting at El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, it draws the border between the two countries going east.<figure class="image-ql" src="/uploads/Rio_Bravo_frontera_mexico_estados_unidos_c425bb96ab.png" alt="" caption="" width="100" style="width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; cursor: pointer;" link="" contenteditable="false"><a href="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-image-inner-post"><img src="/uploads/Rio_Bravo_frontera_mexico_estados_unidos_c425bb96ab.png" alt=""></a></figure>According to information divulged by the Mexican Government, there are 20 border crossings on the land border and 36 bridges over the Rio Grande from El Paso to the Gulf.A report by “The Washington Post” identified the crossing in Del Rio, in Coahuila State, as the border crossing with Texas where most Cubans handed themselves over to immigration authorities in March 2022.However, the stretch from the crossing in Del Rio towards Brownsville (passing through Eagle Pass, Laredo and McAllen) is known as the most dangerous point to cross the river and, as a result, isn’t recommended. This is because there are two international dams in this stretch: La Amistad and Falcon.<figure class="image-ql" src="/uploads/Rio_Bravo_frontera_mexico_estados_unidos_pasos_fronterizos_1db0ce2ae9.png" alt="" caption="" width="100" style="width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; cursor: pointer;" link="" contenteditable="false"><a href="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-image-inner-post"><img src="/uploads/Rio_Bravo_frontera_mexico_estados_unidos_pasos_fronterizos_1db0ce2ae9.png" alt=""></a></figure>La Amistad has a storage capacity of 7050 million cubic meters. It is the sixth largest dam in Mexico and is located in Ciudad Acuña, in Coahuila State. Meanwhile, Falcon is located on the Rio Bravo, 120 km downstream from the city of Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas State. Water is transfered between these dams (La Amistad releases a flow of water that reaches Falcon), that moves through the Rio Grande.While the river is recognized as non-navigable – except for small boats – due to it not being very deep, a dam transfer increases the volume of water by over one meter in depth. Plus, lots of branches or parts of trees or plants are dragged along it, and strong currents are created by releasing the flow.The State Government’s Civil Protection authorities announce the water transfer in advance, in the local press and official websites. In early March 2022, the most recent transfer was announced and they warned that this would result in the river swelling for the entire month.Normally, La Amistad releases approximately 80 cubic meters per second (m3/s) of water into the river. Bryan Kemmett, the officer responsible for the Eagle Pass section, explains that river levels, downstream from the dam, rise up to 90 cm above the traditional flow, when the dam is open to irrigate crops and supply electricity.According to information provided by the BBC – in rainy season (between April and October), the dam releases part of its flow to reduce the water level and creates sudden swelling, which makes the river more dangerous near the Eagle Pass and Laredo crossings. Since 2014, the area near McAllen has resulted in the most fatalities recorded on the entire border.Cubans’ experiences along this stretch of the river confirm official recordsIn June 2020, the family of 23-year-old Cuban Jorge Tomas Reyes confirmed the discovery of his lifeless body, four days after he tried to swim across the Rio Grande, in the area that borders Reynosa, along with two friends.In early March this year, the story of 33-year-old Cuban Guillermo Alan Matos, traveling from Uruguay, went viral on social media, as he lost his 25-year-old wife and his 4-year-old son, who were dragged to their deaths by the river current, in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, while trying to cross it. Only Guillermo Alan was able to get back to the Mexican shore with life.At the end of that same month, the story of a girl and her mother, both Cubans, also made the headlines, when they managed to reach the other shore safely, thanks to the help they received from their fellow Cuban Jorge Carlos Santana Dumont, who managed to save their lives by stopping them from being dragged along by the river.In the last week of March 2022 alone, Mexican authorities intercepted 14 migrants who were trapped in the river, as well as recovering two bodies, both Cuban. The two fatalities were Jose Luis Gonzalez, father, and his son Luis Miguel Gonzalez Saez, 55 and 20 years old respectively. They tried to cross over the Rio Bravo to the US from Piedras Negras; however, the current dragged both of them.The latest news about similar events was published on April 15th. According to an announcement by the Mexican Institute of Immigration, members of their Beta Group rescued a mother and her young son, both Cubans, who were trying to cross over to the US and were left stranded in the middle of the Rio Bravo because of strong currents.Rio Grande: more dangers than advantagesGenerally-speaking, the Rio Grande looks quite calm at a simple glance, but it instills a false sense of confidence in those who choose to cross it. As a result, over 1000 people have lost their lives since 2016 until the end of March 2022, according to figures from the International Organization of Migration (IOM). It is the second most dangerous crossing for migrants trying to reach the US, after the Arizona desert.Thus, officer Bryan Kemmel has urged migrants not to cross the river without wearing a life jacket, at least. While Omar Enriquez Sanchez, director of Civil Protection, has been more extreme and warned “Mexican and Central American migrants not to go into the river because it’s very dangerous.”Sanchez based his warning on the fact that the river has a cavernous riverbed that is able to suck in a person or stop them from advancing when swimming or crossing. Also, because there are a large number of sandbars in some areas, where the riverbed sinks unexpectedly by up to 2.5 meters.Another important factor to bear in mind is the build-up of rubble, inflatable boats and sponge floats that migrants use so as not to sink and then leave behind. They can be found on the shore and the riverbed, becoming an obstacle for swimmers in the river.Furthermore, Border Control officers and officers from the Beta Group at the Mexican Institute of Migration have confirmed the presence of crocodiles. Although no authority has officially reported a direct attack by one of these animals on human beings up until now.For migrants coming mostly from Central American, South American and Caribbean countries, the river is their only chance at entering the US without being detained by border authorities and deported, although not everyone is successful. Deportations work differently for Cubans, who have higher chances of not being returned to the island when they hand themselves over at established border crossings.<blockquote>This article was translated into&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/rio-grande-the-last-danger-for-cuban-migrants-in-mexico/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 123, 255);">English</a>&nbsp;from the original in&nbsp;<a href="https://eltoque.com/rio-bravo-el-ultimo-peligro-de-los-migrantes-cubanos-en-mexico" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 123, 255);">Spanish</a>.</blockquote>

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Rio Grande: the last danger for Cuban migrants in Mexico

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On an Island of Lines, Lobster Is Only a Tale

Caraqueña. Licenciada en Comunicación Social, mención Periodismo, de la Universidad Católica Andrés Bello.

Ten children are sitting with their mothers in a waiting room at a health center in Santa Lucia, in the Paz Castillo de Valles del Tuy municipality, Miranda state, waiting for their turn to see the doctor.&nbsp;They are children whose bones can be easily seen poking out under their thin skin. Their eyes are sunken in deep bags. With a blank stare, fixed on some point on the white walls.Any energy seems to have slipped away from these young 1-to-3-year-olds. They don’t laugh or cry. They don’t fidget. None of them wants to get up and run about.Perhaps this lack of enthusiasm is the result of not eating properly: they only eat one corn&nbsp;arepa&nbsp;without any filling, or a cup of rice per day.Their young mothers anxiously await their turn to go in and see the specialist who has called them in this February morning, in 2019.&nbsp;They were told that he could help their children reach the normal weight for their age and develop normally.The doctor’s office door opens and a young, tall man begins to call each patient in. He has a kind look in his eyes, a gentle tone in his voice and smiles. These are details that a mother always remembers and appreciates.Once inside, the man welcomes them. The children are first examined by doctor Francisco Peñalver, to determine their health condition, confirm malnutrition and verify that the child doesn’t suffer any other ailment that could be counter-productive to the treatment they’ll receive.Then, the young man takes over again. He asks them about their dietary habits.&nbsp;They respond by saying they only eat corn&nbsp;arepas&nbsp;on their own, or with margarine spread, beans or lentils and rice. Then, he checks the complete blood results of the tests they’ve had.All of this information is enough to begin a treatment that intends to bring these ten children back to the appropriate weight and size for their age (which they haven’t reached because of nutritional deficiencies in their early years), in just 21 days.<figure class="image-ql" src="null" alt="null" caption="null" width="null" style="width: null%; margin: 0 auto; cursor: pointer;" contenteditable="false"><img src="null" alt="null"></figure>This kind man is Oscar Vasquez, a nutritionist who graduated from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). He believes in this process: he has waited two years before being able to carry out the final test for his research.Oscar has always wanted to help people. He used to dream of being a doctor when he was a little boy. However, growing into a teenager, he realized that Medicine isn’t what they show you on a TV series. He didn’t like the sight of blood. So, when he graduated and got his Batchelor’s degree, he applied himself – and ended up – studying Nutrition and Diet at the UCV.Over time, he began to like the field. He realized that nutrition is just as important as Medicine. It’s the basis for preventing diseases, and is also key in treating some. He liked doing rounds in the hospital and carrying out research.He received his degree in 2010. He began to work at a health clinic, taking care of patients.&nbsp;In 2016, Venezuela was already elbow-deep into a profound economic crisis, that took its toll on the population’s diet. That year, there was not a single child out of the 20 that he would see every day, that left his office without being diagnosed with moderate or acute malnutrition.Mothers, fathers and grandmothers would come crying buckets out of desperation, which meant they didn’t have the financial means to take home a decent shopping, or because they spent all day waiting in long lines at food stores and they weren’t able to get the food they needed.Every day, Oscar would run into skinny children, skin hanging off their bones and with a lost gaze, in the streets of his community in Los Valles del Tuy, and in Caracas’ streets.Oscar did everything he could to help his patients. They were children living in extreme poverty, so he would refer them to a soup kitchen in his community where they could at least eat one decent meal, every day.He knew that he couldn’t prescribe them drinks like PediaSure or Sustagen for two reasons: 1) the children’s parents didn’t have the means to pay for them and 2) the child’s condition was already precarious, because these supplements need to be mixed up with water.&nbsp;Plus, in communities where running water supplies are neither regular nor quality, the product can become contaminated. This would only make things worse.It was in 2016 that Oscar began to study his Masters in Food, Nutrition and Meal Preparation. He had to develop the subject for his thesis from the very beginning. Thinking about everything he would see day in and day out, he knew he had to focus on doing something that could help alleviate the situation.He had the great idea of creating a food supplement to counteract the effects of malnutrition.&nbsp;He went through all of the possibilities. He carried out market studies for the ingredients he needed. In early 2018. Oscar began to develop his food after his teachers gave him the green light.First of all, he took recommendations from the Codex Alimentariusm the UN’s international food regulations for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO), as his guide.This manual stipulates that a requirement of this product is that it is enriched with “premix”, a combination of vitamins and minerals that provide the child with a daily percentage of nutrients, to make up for any deficiencies.In order to get the perfect mix, Oscar researched the components of an endless list of possible ingredients for his food. Then, he evaluated the formula of different products with trials, analysis and statistics.All of the ingredients he chose for producing his food were bought in Venezuela. That was part of his objective: for it to be made with local ingredients, with no need for imports.<figure class="image-ql" src="null" alt="null" caption="null" width="null" style="width: null%; margin: 0 auto; cursor: pointer;" contenteditable="false"><img src="null" alt="null"></figure>Oscar’s project was ambitious and fascinated those who work in the nutrition and food manufacture business. One person from the acquaintances of his professors, advisers and his tutor, came forward and wanted to make a significant and anonymous contribution: they funded the purchase of supplies to make the premix, food trials, lab exams and the final product.Sesame, nance fruit, peanuts and cocoa were the ingredients Oscar chose to begin his preparations.At that time, the investment was 700,000 bolivars (approximately 1700 USD) after the currency revaluation on August 20th 2018, a significant amount and Oscar wouldn’t have been able to pay this out of his own pocket.He made five products for his study in labs at the Department of Biological Sciences, in the Postgraduate Tech and Food course at Simon Bolivar University.One was made with nance fruit, another one was made with nance fruit and chocolate, another one was made out of peanuts and another one was made out of peanuts and chocolate, with the last one being made with just sesame seeds. They were all accompanied by powdered milk, oil and a mineral and vitamin premix and iron.Then, he moved to the assessment stage in which he asked 100 children to taste the five samples, as well as “Ready-to-use therapeutic food”, an international protein food that NGOs use, that even the National Institute of Nutrition in Venezuela uses, to treat malnutrition in its patients.The latter he took the initiative itself, as a challenge and for the product that was being created. He wanted to weigh the acceptance of Oscar’s food with the international formula.This test was carried out so that children could indicate which product they liked the most, through descriptions of taste, smell and tact.89% of children said that the food they liked the most was the peanut and chocolate one. When comparing Oscar’s food to the international model, the children continued to like the peanut and chocolate one.There was a winner.Unlike other products, including Ready-to-use therapeutic food, Oscar wanted his product to forego the need to be mixed with any liquid for ingestion, which would reduce the risk of contamination.So, he concentrated on creating a kind of chocolate-colored paste, with a creamy consistency, that can be eaten on its own by squeezing it out of the packet. As it would be consumed by children with deficiencies and a lack of strength, the consistency of a cream was better than that of a biscuit, as children normally lose their energy to chew.It was a fact: he had created the perfect formula in two years.It wasn’t easy to work with hyperinflation working against him: in addition to food prices going up and the blockade on vitamins (for the premix), there were also shortages in Venezuelan stores, as well as expensive costs for microbiological trials and nutrient analysis.Oscar wouldn’t have been able to dodge certain obstacles without the support he found along the way. As quotes were only valid for 24 hours that had Oscar chasing after his funder for the money before prices changes, labs helped him by freezing their analysis prices, or only increasing them only slightly.That February morning in 2019, in that doctor’s office in Los Valles del Tuy, Oscar thought about the journey that had led him to this moment of applying the treatment to these children.He had decided to carry out the practical aspect of his thesis in the community where he lives because it’s easy to travel to, and because he can dedicate the time he needs to every child’s consultation and the product’s administration without any interruptions.Knocking on door to door, Oscar and Francisco found children with different ailments in addition to malnutrition: diarrhea, fever, vomiting, infections, rashes… They were referred to hospitals so they could recover a little and then opt for the malnutrition treatment. The children that didn’t suffer from any other disease, and weren’t allergic to peanuts or cocoa, were called to the doctor’s office.Ten children aged between 1-3 were chosen.&nbsp;The treatment is designed to prevent the loss of intellectual abilities because of a lack of nutrients, and to be used in children under 5, because they are more vulnerable during this phase of their lives and their nervous systems are developing.That morning, they were diagnosed to figure out what their nutritional deficiencies were. Before a clinical check-up, they were told to remove parasites. Many of them had inflated bellies. They were all anemic, without energy to even walk.<figure class="image-ql" src="null" alt="null" caption="null" width="null" style="width: null%; margin: 0 auto; cursor: pointer;" contenteditable="false"><img src="null" alt="null"></figure>&nbsp;Then, Oscar told every child how much food they needed, depending on the kind of malnutrition they were suffering. UNICEF states that children with moderate malnutrition should be given two 100g packets of the supplement (like the one he developed), while children with acute malnutrition should have three.After that first session, which began the treatment, Oscar and Francisco would go to see the children every week and check them over to see if everything was going well.Every consultation took approximately 40 minutes, because they needed a nutritional assessment as well as a medical evaluation. They wanted to make sure that they were taking the right amount of food.Over the days, the children’s recovery was so great that it could be seen with your eyes.&nbsp;Soon, smiles began to appear of the faces of those children, their bodies took on a better composition. Oscar saw that they were more lively and awake. He noticed that their eyes were now twinkling.Seeing their children make such progress with this food, the mothers thanked Oscar and Francisco, and were moved to tears.On average, the product managed to make the group gain 2.5 kg each in body weight, an extremely significant figure which children were able to reach in less than a month.On the whole, they went from moderate malnutrition to a healthy weight. This recovery in record time was due to the high calorie concentration in the product, which makes the child recover a lot faster.These results were a lot more encouraging than what even Oscar was expecting: the product can be used in food and nutritional emergencies where acute malnutrition happens the most.In order to not lose progress made, Oscar referred the patients and their parents to an NGO after the study finished, so that they could continue to receive assistance.Oscar’s thesis got the highest grade: the jury gave him a published mention. He presented it on February 13th 2020.When he thinks about a word to best sum up everything he experienced with his project, “gratitude” is the one that shines in Oscar’s mind.&nbsp;Gratitude is what he feels for all of the people and centers who helped him. Gratitude for what he sees in the mothers of his recovered patients’ eyes, and in the children themselves, who are now smiling and restless.This is why now he has an even more ambitious dream, and he hopes to be able to make it true as soon as the COVID-19 emergency ends. For the food he created to be mass produced. He says that this is how he will continue to help people. Which is what he has always wanted to do.——* This article was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lavidadenos.com/gratitud-es-la-palabra-que-lo-resume/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">originally published in La vida de nos</a>&nbsp;in Venezuela, and has been reproduced as part of the Human Journalism Network. It was translated into <a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/venezuelan-nutritionist-creates-food-for-malnourished-children/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a> from its previous reproduction in <a href="https://eltoque.com/nutricionista-venezolano-crea-alimento-terapeutico-para-ninos-con-desnutricion/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.

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