Cubans Without a Dignified Life: The Face They Try to Hide
By Glenda Boza Ibarra (El Toque)
HAVANA TIMES – The Cuban press changed the headline of a report on begging three times on Thursday, March 20, 2025. “People Living on the Streets in Cuba,” “Addictions Contribute to Wandering Behavior,” and “The Family: Key to Preventing Homelessness in Cuba” were the first three titles. It was ultimately published on YouTube as “Actions to Prevent Wandering Behavior in Cuba.”
These changes, possibly for various reasons, wouldn’t be significant if, in recent days, state media hadn’t approached the issue with a tone more criminalizing than empathetic.
A recent article in Granma suggested that those who wander, or those responsible for them, should be tried and criminally sanctioned. The article reminded readers that the Cuban Penal Code sets penalties of six months to two years in prison or heavy fines for individuals who, despite a legal obligation, neglect the basic needs of vulnerable people, such as minors or the elderly.
Additionally, in a recent report on the Family Care System soup kitchens in Camagüey, Adis Leon Bencomo, from the Municipal Company of Restaurants and Recreation Centers, referred to the subsidized meals for the most needy—mainly retired elderly—as “economic losses” for the Ministry of Domestic Trade.
State media, a reflection of government policy, seems intent on sweeping beggars under the rug. “They make the city look bad,” is perhaps whispered in some Ministry of Tourism meeting.
How much did these people contribute when they could? Did they not work to ensure a dignified old age?
Even if, from a cold numerical or economic perspective, they are seen as “a state burden,” didn’t most of them work and pay taxes so that the State could fulfill its duty and guarantee basic needs for those who gave everything when they were able?
Between Precariousness and Charity
“We’ve had days of eating only sweet potatoes and soup without noodles,” said an elderly man from San Luis municipality in April 2024, in an interview with Santiago’s local TV.
According to the soup kitchens administrator, they received only 30–50% of the necessary rice and had to substitute it with root vegetables.
The economic crisis has severely affected the soup kitchens of the Family Care System, which are intended to provide food to low-income individuals, especially the elderly.
After the 2021 “Tarea Ordenamiento” economic reform, meal prices abruptly rose from 1 to 10 pesos, and later to 13 pesos per meal. This led to a 48% drop in beneficiaries, who opted out due to the high cost relative to their pensions.
Twenty-six pesos a day for two meals amounts to around 800 pesos a month—an amount that might seem small to some, but it represents more than half of the minimum pension of 1,500 pesos (under $5 UISD) With the remaining 700 pesos, one can barely buy a pound of pork.
“At least they get a plate of food,” someone might say to ease the blow of triple-digit inflation in Cuba and the harsh reality of families drastically cutting back on food—or going to bed hungry.
Although recent press reports claim that food delivery has improved, for those “benefiting,” meals remain scarce and low in nutritional value, failing to meet the dietary needs of elderly individuals.
Moreover, the so-called “improvements”—both logistical and nutritional—are often tied to international and private donations.
In April 2024, China donated supplies for the more than 1,400 soup kitches (pitchers, cups, flat and deep plates, soup bowls, food containers, lidded pots, and 15-liter buckets), yet in many places food is still served in old plastic containers.
Both lunch and dinner portions are served at once, so people must return home and eat them however they can. Given the frequent and prolonged power outages, some likely have to eat their meals cold.
The minister acknowledged that the Family Care System remains a priority for international organizations like the World Food Program, which contributes rice, grains, and oil. These donations are supplemented by private businesses that provide part of their production or imports.
So why does the official from the Ministry of Domestic Trade in Camagüey continue to label the food for the soup kitchens’ 60,000 users as “economic losses”?
Reducing basic needs to an act of charity erases the fundamental right of every person to live with dignity. Solidarity cannot and should not replace the responsibility of the State.
Vulnerability in the Foreground
Researchers from the University of Havana recently noted that it is community and social initiatives that truly sustain care for the most vulnerable. Donations from Cubans both inside and outside the country have helped retired teachers with deteriorated housing, bedridden individuals, and relatives who have taken in children orphaned by the deaths of their parents.
Many private businesses also donate food directly to SAF facilities or to low-income individuals. Images of children cleaning car windows or begging for food are no longer exclusive to other countries; they’re now part of daily life in Cuba.
Officials recently acknowledged that the population does not perceive the impact of social policies. According to official data, 183,000 economically vulnerable families received some kind of aid in 2024.
State media looks for “nicer” words to soften reality—perhaps that’s why the title of the previously mentioned report was changed three times. Still, this doesn’t lessen the pain or seriousness of the issue.
Furthermore, the TV report showed the faces of these vulnerable people without empathy or regard for privacy.
It’s contradictory that just weeks ago, the same press emphasized that publishing images of deceased individuals or accidents without consent is a punishable disrespect. Don’t these living, vulnerable people also deserve respect for their image and dignity?
Dodging Responsibility
“The most important thing isn’t the food, it’s the love and humanity we’re treated with, because we already gave what we had to give, and we’re still alive,” pleaded an elderly man interviewed by Camagüey television.
Government programs meant to care for the most vulnerable don’t seem to operate as a state obligation, but rather as a favor or act of charity. This is why state media insists so heavily on portraying the family as the primary caregiver—thus shifting responsibility away from governmental institutions.
“What family? All my children left the country,” many elderly people might respond, left completely alone amid the greatest migration crisis in Cuba’s history.
Despite this reality, the televised report aired on Thursday, March 20, insists that in many cases “addictions are the main reason some people beg.” While historical prejudice and previous data have linked alcoholism and drug addiction with homelessness, how many people today—without such conditions—still have to beg, scavenge through trash, or survive in extremely precarious conditions?
A recent state media report, for example, revealed a journalist’s shock upon seeing her former History teacher looking for food in the garbage. So why assume, in cases like these, that extreme poverty always stems from addiction or mental illness, as the TV report suggests?
Why not clearly acknowledge that the significant increase in people begging, scavenging, and living in deplorable sanitary conditions is primarily due to widespread poverty and institutional neglect by the State?
Even social workers, whose role is frequently emphasized, are insufficient to meet the growing number of people lacking access to basic resources. In 2006, there were 28,000 active social workers; today, that number has dropped by more than half.
Recent images and reports in official media, rather than highlighting any supposed governmental goodwill, reveal an increasingly painful reality: elderly individuals living in complete solitude, with inadequate pensions after decades of labor, who are told to publicly thank the so-called “achievement of the Revolution not to abandon the most vulnerable”, as if it were their only option for survival.
The most vulnerable Cubans don’t need speeches or pretty words. They need a system that is truly functional, dignified, and humane, one that guarantees, without charity or favors, the full respect of their fundamental rights and basic needs.
First published in Spanish by El Toque and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.