Sandro Castro made a unique request for help to his followers through Instagram Stories. He posted a video squeezing a tube of toothpaste from which absolutely nothing comes out and claimed he is going to wash his mouth with soap.
It's complicated to understand how a person who can allocate $50,000 to open a bar in Havana doesn't have money to buy a tube of toothpaste in Cuba.
Sandro's gesture, far from being interpreted with empathy or humor, is seen as a mockery of the reality that millions of Cubans endure today, marked by the chronic scarcity of basic hygiene products, including toothpaste.
The lack of toothpaste is a documented and persistent issue in Cuba that has lasted for years. In 2020, the country only ensured 15% of the planned national production, which resulted in long lines to obtain one tube per family once a month.
In September 2024, the residents of Havana had gone up to six months without receiving toothpaste through the supply booklet, and in Las Tunas, the government distributed the supplies for the month of March with a three-month delay.
In 2025, scams emerged in La Cuevita, where they were selling fake tubes of toothpaste with a stick inside and in March of 2026, Camagüey announced the distribution of the brand Sonríe, which led to mockery on social media due to the product's instability in the market.
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