The image of several children sleeping in the gardens of the Gran Muthu Habana Hotel, located in the exclusive area of Primera and 70 in Miramar, sparked outrage on social media and forced the Cuban regime to address a reality that the official narrative often glosses over: extreme poverty and institutional neglect affecting hundreds of minors in Cuba.
The Noticiero Estelar reported that the minors involved come from "dysfunctional families" and that legal measures have been taken against the parents for "failure to fulfill parental responsibilities."
However, the television footage itself revealed that the State's response was delayed and the institutions responsible for child protection did not act until the case went viral on the internet.
The hotel director confirmed that she had been alerting the authorities for months without receiving a response. Only after the public scandal did a government team visit the area, the schools, and the homes of the children, acknowledging that the situation had “worsened since the beginning of summer.”
The government tried to frame the phenomenon as a family discipline issue, attributing it to the "irresponsibility of guardians." However, the report hinted at deeper causes: the lack of social workers, the ineffectiveness of schools in detecting prolonged absences, and the economic precariousness that drives minors to seek food or money on the streets.
Residents of the area stated that the children often approach tourists asking for "a peso or a dollar to eat." The scene is becoming increasingly common in tourist areas of Havana.
The cases of children and adults begging on the streets of Cuba reflect the growing inequality and desperation of families surviving in inhumane conditions while the regime prioritizes hotel investments and tourism projects controlled by GAESA.
Cuba presents itself to international organizations as a defender of children's rights, but reality contradicts the official rhetoric. The lack of effective social assistance policies and the economic decline have created a situation where vulnerable children end up wandering the streets at night, sleeping in parks or, as in this case, in the gardens of a luxury hotel.
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