Children play ball games for money during school hours in Santiago de Cuba.

A worrying scene was captured this Wednesday in Santiago de Cuba with a group of children playing dice for money in the middle of the street.

Journalist Yosmany Mayeta shared on Facebook a mother's alert, who reported that the images were taken of children from the Álvaro Barriel and Manuel Ascunce schools, “playing for money instead of being in class at 9:00 a.m.”

Mayeta reflected: "Many of those reading me at this hour will say, 'this is normal, I did it too,' or they will see themselves in these images."

However, the communicator himself pointed out that it would be correct for them to be "studying and learning a profession that prepares us for our lives," although it is also common today to see cases of child labor.

Lastly, he considered: “If you are smart and do not waste your time, you will learn a career that will earn you much more money than playing on a corner.”

However, this is not the first time that images of children and young people using games as a way to make money have circulated on social media.

In March, also in Santiago de Cuba, it was revealed that the nighttime blackouts became the ideal setting for a group of young people to pull out cards and engage in street gambling for money, an illicit practice pursued by the regime for years.

Mayeta posted on Facebook that this is the way some people have found to cope with the long and torturous hours without electricity, dealing with heat and being besieged by mosquitoes.

The late dictator Fidel Castro, after coming to power in January 1959, prohibited gambling by law, reaffirmed in 2022 in the new Penal Code.

Article 281.1 establishes that “anyone who engages in activities as a banker, collector, tipster, or promoter of illegal games” will be “punished with imprisonment for one to three years or a fine of 300,000 quotas, or both.”

Similarly, the law states that if the crime "is committed by two or more people, or using individuals under 18 years of age," the penalty will be "deprivation of liberty for three to eight years."

Article 281.1 establishes that "anyone who engages in activities as a banker, collector, tipster, or promoter of illegal games" will be "punished with imprisonment of one to three years or a fine of 300,000 quotas, or both."

Similarly, the law states that if the crime "is committed by two or more people, or involves minors under 18 years of age," the penalty will be "deprivation of liberty for three to eight years."

However, the existence of this legal framework has not prevented "playing the bolita" from being very popular among Cubans, almost a tradition in many families.