Cuban boy survives by asking for money on the street in Havana

The opposition Silverio Portal denounced this Tuesday that a Cuban child survives begging for alms on a street in Havana without any competent authority caring.

In a video posted on Facebook, where the activist usually uploads his complaints, it showed the minor sleeping soundly in a doorway in Central Havana, next to a basket in which there were some coins.

"He's a child, look, he's a child, look at his face, and he's lying in the street. Nobody sees that. Tell me, is it a lie or is it true?" he questioned.

Portal, who was imprisoned for his complaints, criticized the indolence of ordinary Cubans and the Cuban authorities in the face of begging and the situation of children on the island.

"No one sees this, everyone is watching, everyone is talking the same thing, but no one sees this," he said indignantly, while facing several people passing by, who stared at the minor and continued on their way.

Several Internet users have commented on the publication and blame the Cuban regime for such a situation: "What a disgusting system, a child is already a beggar. Who helps him, who is responsible?" said a woman.

Similar complaints on social networks show the increase inbegging on the island. A few weeks ago the case of a child who collects raw materials to survive in the province of Santiago de Cuba emerged.

This Tuesday the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights denounced the situation ofseveral elderly in that same town in the east of the country, who survive by begging and eat once a day.

As a result of the so-called Ordering Task, which skyrocketed the prices of all items and services in the country, food shortages and inflation have plunged thousands of people into extreme poverty.

Beggars, mentally ill or disabled people, or people without families or homes, swarm alone – or sometimes accompanied by a pet – lying on old cardboard in streets, parks, doorways and bus stops throughout the country.

In recent months, Cubans have shown their discomfort with this phenomenon andThey have highlighted the seriousness of it on the island, where the Government always presumed that there were no people begging for alms in the streets.

Cuba is currently the poorest country in Latin America, according to the firm DatoWorld, a renowned international electoral observatory that evaluates parameters such as per capita income, access to health services, social security, food and housing spaces. .

The country has a 72 percent poverty rate, a figure that places it at the forefront of the Latin American region.