CAMAGÜEY.- If I treat my interviewee today as you, as many journalists defend, it would not be credible even for me. Rafael Torres Betancourt is a friend of many years. Known as Filo, he inherited the charisma of his father and his decency, genetics increased by the maternal part, a classification very mine, but with which I am sure his family and friends, who are not few, will agree.

A month ago he became news and not for good: he was infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which he has kept the world in suspense for more than a year.

The news was followed by telephone calls to notify. The concern transcended the Cuban geography and wherever there was someone from our youth, the questions: How are you? What do the doctors say?

Back home after the anguish, I set about talking to him about his experiences. He confesses that he took great care of himself and perhaps that is why he saw contagion as something distant or impossible; however, he said: "As a result of a queue with a lot of crowds of people, I began to have a fever, and I clarify, not because of the queue because I was doing others, but with social distancing."

- Did you go to the doctor right away?

- No, in two days or so." Everyone at home thinks more about dengue fever and that was a mistake, so I urge people to realize how useful it is to quickly attend the doctor.

“I never thought that I would have to suffer from COVID-19, that is the reality. I did not have an adequate risk perception and this coronavirus is everywhere and we do not realize that. Life is showing it and that word of order that we hear so much, the protocols to comply with, when trust is ignored, the virus takes advantage of it.

“That is why I do proselytizing work. I sit in the doorway and when I see someone with a bad face mask I let them know.

“I am even ashamed with Dr. Francisco Durán every morning in the same thing, he is very didactic, he must have studied pedagogy. I have grandchildren, a 10-year-old female, a 17-year-old male and a nine-year-old male, and I never tire of advising them all ”.

- After the bitter experience, do you dedicate your thoughts to some people?

- I have to order events." I did not know how serious I was because in the "Fajardo" isolation center where I arrived on February 19, until the 21st when the confirmatory result of the PCR was known, I was without eating, I had no appetite. I was well cared for, but a young doctor, Rafael Trujillo, referred me to the Amalia Simoni hospital. The boys in the ambulance were unconditional, they behaved very well.

“I arrived at the hospital and was short of breath. They took me to the ward and on the 22nd they started antibiotics, they never lacked me, whatever generation it was. They board me near the neck and I told the doctor that I would never see a pirate movie. Ah, and without eating because I lost my smell and taste a little, until Nurse Moraima told me: "Rafael, chew, squeeze and swallow, don't wait to regain smell and taste, you have to eat."

“I remember a companion of a grandmother who took care of everything and everyone. His grandmother was positive and he was not. I witnessed such a great humanity in those 30 days that you cannot imagine. That young man, whose name I did not know, let go of fear and showed love to his family, those feelings were the most abundant, that's how I lived it.

“I think of many people. I am so grateful to those doctors, to the nursing staff, to all those from Health in general. Imagine, in intensive care at the Amalia Simoni hospital, a lady from Altagracia called Dunia who was the cleaning lady worried about me and it seemed to me that she was in the Coliseum in Rome when she raised her thumb and said: 'How are you? '.

“When Nurse Daymara took me to the intensive care room she did something that I didn't care about at the time; she patted me four times on the shoulder and when I saw her on March 5th in the intermediate therapy room she told me: "Rafael, you are a miracle." Those touches were like a goodbye.

“I have my memories of the Amalia Simoni and Manuel Ascunce hospitals, of the intensive care room no. On February 24, a memorable day for Cuba, I entered that room. Dr. Lourdes Yera was like the Goddess, but there was another that was called Jessi, who is a resident and was turning 28 years old. Abelito, Dr. Abel and the nurse Héctor, whom I call Hectico, told me and asked me if I could dedicate something to him for the date, so I was 'screwed' and all told him: “Your name is not Amalia Simoni, nor Dulce María Loynaz, nor Mariana Grajales, but you are unique and I want to give you a song by Adrián Berazaín, one of my favorites ”, and I dedicated one of the songs from the film Fable to him. She liked it, she wrote something to the social network Facebook and she read it to me ”.

-We knew the daily report, did you know how serious you were?

—I was serious, I did not become critical because I did not fall into a lethargy, I maintained lucidity. Another doctor, Deymís Espinosa, wanted me to explain my religious beliefs to her and later I realized it was to keep me awake. They have many ways of behaving, always masterfully to know everything about you without so many alarms. Then came Dr. Lourdes, a friend of Dr. Olimpia Pérez Rangel, whom I met in 1971 without imagining that she had been a gift from God. She for me was another important support and Lourdes kept her up to date on everything.

-Any good experiences of all this?

—I experienced an immense familiarity, they didn't call me Rafa for a long time. I remember Gisselle, Belkys, Dunia, Aymara, Abelito, Jessi, Lourdes, doctors, nurses, cleaning assistant. They spend 15 days together and create an immense brotherhood, like a confraternity. Imagine that when Abelito stood in front of me and announced that the PCR had tested negative, I did not give it the importance it deserved, while they were as if they had the best of cakes in front of them. When I realized, that touched me and I cried a lot. I don't know if everything they do is normal, but since I felt it so close, it was special for me, and when they returned me to the intermediate care room, the intensive care unit visited me daily and cared about me, a very nice deference.

“I am a victory for the Cuban medical potential and I repeat, because I see that there are material deficiencies and they overlap in an incredible way. I was in intensive care from February 24 to March 3 and they did everything to me, because look, the television serials related to medicine are very nice, but no real things come out, like they bathe you, clean you after doing your needs, all with love.

-Were you alone in a cubicle?

- Yes, in five, bed five, then they transferred me to two." I asked questions and they told me that I was improving, they moved me with a bed and oxygen chamber, with all the equipment, it was an all-inclusive. I was like this for 20 hours, without sleeping and without eating food. When they took it off they put me on my stomach for five hours, I wanted to rest, I felt very exhausted, but it was worth it. They measure your arterial blood gas, the doctors have prodigious fingers, with their touch they look for your artery and draw your blood in a perpendicular way and that blood, which is different from that of the vein, tells you what oxygen you have; they did that to me several times a day on my arms or groin; I know because I asked everything and they explained it to me gently. They said that I was a very cooperative and correct patient ... and they were of all virtues.

—I found out that you didn't want to leave the "Amalia Simoni" ...

- I was in intermediate therapy on March 4, 5 and 6, already negative. And it is true, I did not want to go to another hospital, one does not calculate the scale of things, negative I should not continue there. On the 7th, they took me to “Manuel Ascunce” in an ambulance, along with an 88-year-old woman.

“The next day I met Alexis Torrens, a Nursing graduate, accompanied by his team: Sonia, María del Carmen and Jorge, all 'Five Star' nurses, and Torrens, an 'Eight Star', a concerned person who arrived before seven in the morning, he kept his schedule, but if it got complicated, he was still there, always with an excellent way of behaving, he took care of all the sick with the same love. There were six beds, very good comfort, and the medications that he required at all times.

“There I remember Dr. Yanier Díaz, a very young doctor, and Dr. Yoanis Socarrás, the head of Internal Medicine at the hospital; Julia and Marilyn, the cleaning assistants, the pantry workers, Rosa the wardrobe, they all helped me, the latter lives in the Callejón del Ganado, by Montecarlo, and at six in the morning she was already at her post, despite the transportation problem exacerbated by the pandemic, and Eduardo, the custodian, who lives far away in Santa Teresa, and comes and goes on his bicycle ”.

-Back home, what do you think?

—The first thing is that I have in my heart all these people whom I did not know until a little over a month ago. I confess that I am psychologically affected, I am hyperkinetic and it has not been, nor it is easy. I learned to know firsthand the humanity of the Cuban health personnel.

- An aside for your family? Were there infected?

—There were no infected. To my family all my gratitude, it was unconditional. My children (Lissette and Raúl), my wife Ruth Hernández Díaz, and a guardian angel, friend Albertico (Alberto Hernández), he has behaved like a brother.

-And for your friends?

-"I didn't know I was so loved." My friends Yoya, Wilfredito Riverón, Alfredito Santana, Chuchín, Mañiño, Papo… there are many. The neighbors behaved with my wife in a wonderful way, she was isolated until she knew she was negative and the house was left alone.

“I have a friend that I didn't know about her for more than 40 years, Carmen Lafranqui who is in Japan, and did not stop worrying, just one example of so many and so many, and of course, the advantage of current technology. Life has shown me that at the time of pre-university we had a brotherhood that is maintained, it is very beautiful and I could see it in this very difficult month of my life ”.

-Have you learned to give importance to issues that were previously indifferent to you?

—To give you an idea, on March 4 when I was transferred to the intermediate room at the “Amalia Simoni”, where there were glass windows, I could see the sun and a tree, which perhaps I would never have noticed. On that occasion I felt a breath of life just by seeing that tree and that sun, which we often complain about because of the intense heat and now I enjoy it more. I remembered Héctor Zumbado and the Man who Canned the Sun, something I would have liked to do.

“I would like to reiterate my eternal gratitude to so many and so many who take care of themselves, who have a perception of risk and, paraphrasing the words of César Portillo de la Luz, one should live more concerned about what to do while living and taking care of oneself, thinking that when one is not the memory of those who succeed you for everything you did for them ”.

Those of us who know Filo Torres know of his kindness and sensitivity, you can imagine how many times we stopped the interview so that he would recover from his emotions, but as he is optimistic, jovial and joyous, everything will remain in his immense heart, as he himself affirms, always looking towards the future and with the desire that the time to live be greater than the one already lived.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez