Images of long lines of elderly individuals outside Cuban banks have circulated this week on social media, portraying a reality that repeats itself every month across the island: retirees must wait for hours—and in some cases, days—to collect their pension in cash.
A video posted by the page "Holguin MiciudadHoy" on Facebook shows the massive lines that form almost every day in front of bank branches in that eastern city, and it is just one of the many visual testimonies that document this phenomenon in provinces such as Camagüey, Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, and Havana.
The most extreme situation was reported this Wednesday in Camagüey, where journalist José L. Tan Estrada revealed that elderly people were sleeping in the entrance of the Charity Bank —a branch of the Popular Savings Bank, on Avenida Libertad— on sheets, cardboard, and worn-out blankets, in order to secure a place in line for the next day.
The reduction of banking hours, exacerbated by power outages affecting the province, forces pensioners to spend the night on the sidewalks in front of the banks. At times, the police have had to intervene to organize the lines of elderly individuals.
In Cárdenas, Matanzas, dozens of retirees gather under the sun or rain without seats or available cash. In Santiago de Cuba, the elderly sleep on streets near ATMs at the intersection of Enramada with Corona and Padre Pico, a situation that has worsened since August 2024.
The economic background is devastating: after the increase in pensions approved in September 2025, the minimum pension was set at 3,056 Cuban pesos and the maximum at 4,000 pesos per month, equivalent to less than 10 dollars at the informal exchange rate.
99% of Cuban retirees confirm that these amounts do not cover their basic needs, according to a survey by the Independent Trade Union Association of Cuba. 79% of those over 70 years old cannot have three meals a day, and 90.7% work informally after retiring, according to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights.
Cuba reports 1,774,310 retirees according to the National Office of Statistics and Information, but the Family Care System only serves 67,000 people, with a budget of just about $14,600 for 2026, leaving over 1.7 million Cuban retirees without any other alternatives.
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