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The Food Monitor Program (FMP) published a report this Wednesday titled "Economic Paralysis and Food Survival in Cuba" that documents critical levels of food insecurity in five provinces: Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Guantanamo, and Santiago de Cuba.
The report includes anonymous testimonies from residents of those provinces who describe a life reduced to mere survival, marked by hunger, uncertainty, and moral exhaustion.
The quantitative data from the study reinforces this perception. According to the FMP, 78% of respondents believe that the current food crisis, which has been ongoing since 2019, is worse than the Special Period of the 1990s, while only 12% think that period was tougher, and 10% did not respond.
"Over the last two months, rice went from 200 to 300 pesos, that’s a brutal hit. Not to mention the proteins or the salad, every day is a surprise," recounts one of the testimonies collected by the FMP.
Documented survival strategies include skipping meals, stretching rice over several days, cooking with charcoal or firewood, bartering, and relying on the informal market.
The study is based on a sample of 2,508 households distributed across different provinces and age groups, which adds greater robustness to the results and confirms that the perception of crisis is widespread among the population.
"We spend less time at home to eat less; sometimes, if I have breakfast, I skip lunch," another testimony describes.
One of the voices captured sums up the extent of the decline: "I settle for a tin of rice, a tiny spoonful to stretch it a bit for another day, and just a little bit of beans that aren’t even enough for a stew."
The report also documents the impact of the so-called "Zero Option," the extreme contingency plan announced by Díaz-Canel in February 2026 which includes severe rationing and enforced local self-sufficiency.
The historical comparison is also revealing. The report indicates that the current crisis is perceived as worse than the Special Period in key aspects such as access to food, state support, social equality, public services, and psychosocial well-being. Only in the area of legal restrictions do respondents believe that the situation was more severe in the 1990s.
"That option zero was the final blow, but one that was already anticipated," notes one of the interviewees.
Although the regime promised to guarantee seven pounds of rice per month per person as part of that plan, the testimonies collected by the FMP indicate that this promise is not fulfilled in practice.
Food deterioration occurs in an unprecedented energy collapse context, with power outages of up to 25 hours per day and an electrical deficit of 1,885 megawatts recorded in March 2026, which hinders the refrigeration and distribution of food.
Cuba imports between 70% and 80% of its food, and national production has collapsed: root vegetables fell by 44%, eggs by 43%, and milk by 37.6% according to data from January 2025.
The chicken exports from the United States fell by 21% in value in February 2026.
The FMP also documents an absolute institutional mistrust: the majority of surveyed Cubans believe that improvement is only possible through a systemic change outside of the current institutions, in line with previous data from the organization itself indicating that 94% of Cubans do not trust the government to resolve the crisis.
The social fabric is also showing the impact. "The values of old, of sharing what little you had with your neighbor, no longer exist; now everyone looks out for themselves," laments one of the testimonies.
These data consolidate a strong conclusion: the current crisis has not only surpassed the Special Period in perception, but it does so in a broader and deeper way, affecting both the material conditions and the psychological state of the population.
The report from FMP concludes with a question that encapsulates the severity of the situation: "To what extent can a society be sustained where survival becomes the only possible horizon?"
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