Melba Cardero Saldívar, residing in Mícara, Segundo Frente municipality, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, will turn 101 years old on April 30 and is celebrating with a living lineage of four generations: 6 children, 17 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and at least 4 great-great-grandchildren.
Her great-granddaughter Anay Delgado Cardero posted a video on Facebook in which Melba reflects on her long life with full clarity.
"Many people ask me about my family, which is why I conducted this interview with my great-grandmother Melba Cardero Saldívar, just shy of her 101st birthday," Anay wrote in the post's description.
In the video, Melba introduces herself with simplicity and clarity: "I am the daughter of Manuel Cardero and Dolores Saldívar. I will turn one hundred and one years old on April 30. I was born in Ensenada. And there are thirteen of us siblings."
She was the tenth of that large family, raised on a farm where her father worked the land, before the family moved to the city of San Luis, in Santiago de Cuba.
At the age of 17, she married Francisco, known as Paco, who was 19 at the time.
Together, they formed a family of six children and settled in Roma Blanca.
"Paco died; he was my husband, and he passed away there. He was 86 years old when he died. I was 83 years old when he died," Melba recalls without hesitation.
Longevity seems to have family roots. Her mother, Dolores Aldíbar, lived to be 96 years old, while her father, Manuel Cardero, passed away at 45.
"My dad died there, my mom too. My dad passed away at 45 years old. And my mom was 96 when she died," recounts the centenarian.
Melba's case fits into a documented pattern in Eastern Cuba. Santiago de Cuba has been the setting for several notable cases of longevity:
Prisciliana Sánchez Vázquez reached the age of 103 in 2018 with 15 children, 53 grandchildren, and 57 great-grandchildren, and Lucía Chacón Hechavarría passed away in 2024 at the age of 112 with a lineage of over 150 individuals including grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.
The phenomenon also reflects a broader demographic reality. According to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), by 2024, 25.7% of the Cuban population will be over 60 years old, one of the highest aging rates in Latin America, with an average age of 42.1 years and a total population of 9,748,007 inhabitants.
In 2017, Cuba recorded 2,153 centenarians.
"From those children, I have 17 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and several great-great-grandchildren," Melba says at the end of the video, with the same calmness with which she has recounted each stage of her life.
On April 30th, surrounded by four generations, she will add another year to a story that is already a part of her family's heritage and her community.
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