Milagros, a retired nursing service assistant who devoted her life to caring for the elderly, pleads through tears for someone to help her obtain boards or wood to rebuild her home, which she describes as completely uninhabitable, with collapsed ceilings and constant flooding.
Her story was documented by the Cuban content creator known as Meli, who posted a video on Instagram that spread across social media and generated a wave of solidarity among Cubans both on the island and abroad.
"Strength my God, someone has to help me, or else death", Milagros says at the beginning of the video, her voice trembling and her eyes tearful, as she shows the interior of her house: crumbling walls, a roof that threatens to collapse, and puddles of water that form with each rain.
Milagros was forced to retire from work upon turning 60. She recounts that she was told: "You can’t give anymore because taking care of the elderly means you need to take care of yourself now. You can’t work for the government or privately, you have to get used to what they give you, the little check. Who can live on that? I’m starving."
Her only source of income is a pension of 3,000 Cuban pesos (CUP) a month, an amount that, according to Milagros herself, "is not enough for even one day." To survive, her companion collects clothing from dumps to wash and sell, and works cleaning yards with a hoe. "We can't go on like this anymore," she sums up.
The health situation of Milagros further exacerbates her precariousness. She reports that when she goes to the bathroom, she expels blood, and when she goes to the clinic, they tell her there are no medications available. She sleeps on cardboard, endures mosquito bites during the nighttime blackouts, and admits that she doesn’t sleep at all throughout the night. "When I cry, it's because I have feelings. My tears are inside. They are inside. I can’t take it anymore,” she says.
Her neighbors help her with some food when they can. On the day of the video, someone from the neighborhood brought her a pot of soup and three packets of instant soup as her only meal of the day. Milagros clarifies that she is not asking for a new house: "I don't want wealth, what I want is for them to help me. What I need is food and a roof over my head so I don't get wet. I have no interest in being given a house or anything; I just want things to be set right."
The case of Milagros reflects a structural crisis affecting thousands of Cubans. The housing deficit in Cuba exceeds 900,000 homes in 2026, with 35% of the housing stock in fair or poor condition. In 2025, the regime only completed 22% of its annual construction plan: 2,382 homes out of 10,795 planned. The shortage of materials such as cement and wood makes it practically impossible for citizens to repair their homes on their own.
In terms of pensions, the government increased the minimum pension in September 2025 to 4,000 CUP, but that amount equates to less than seven dollars at the unofficial exchange rate. Milagros's pension —3,000 CUP— is even lower than that official minimum. To illustrate the inadequacy: a carton of 30 eggs in the Cuban private market exceeds 3,000 CUP.
It is not the first case to shake social media. In March 2026, a 90-year-old woman in Santiago de Cuba was left homeless after Hurricane Melissa and also publicly demanded materials, with a pension of just 2,000 CUP per month. In the absence of a governmental response, content creators like Meli have taken on the role of denouncing and mobilizing solidarity, which in some cases has achieved what the State overlooks.
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