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An elderly man of 81 years residing in Mayarí, Holguín, publicly challenged the Cuban government after receiving a fine of 21,000 pesos for selling lighters and tubes of glue in his small coffee shop, declaring that he would not pay a single cent and challenging the authorities: "let them come to arrest me at 81 years old."
Manuel Herrera Acosta published his complaint on Facebook, where he explained that he set up the sales point because his retirement pension is not enough to live on, despite having worked 48 years continuously.
"I am 81 years old and had to set up a small café point of sale because I cannot support myself with the miserable check I receive after 48 years of uninterrupted work. I still do not have the right to rest," the elderly man wrote.
Herrera Acosta explained that about three days ago inspectors showed up and imposed a fine on him for selling those two products without the proper permit, although he claims to have requested it a year ago without receiving a response due to bureaucratic obstacles.
Before making his complaint public, the elderly man tried to resolve the issue through institutional channels, but without success.
"I already complained to that guy Melliso who handles that at the Poder Popular and it was completely irrational; he just wants to impose fines, that's his specialty. With that gentleman, after talking to him, I know that no problem gets solved," he reported.
In his post, Herrera Acosta questioned the regime's priorities in deploying inspectors against small businesses while the country faces serious issues: garbage in the streets, potholes, fuel shortages, 22-hour blackouts, and money blocked on bank cards.
"This country has become a disgrace, a punishment for those of us who work; only the lazy and the thieves are respected," he stated.
To justify his decision not to remain silent, the elder quoted José Martí: "to see a crime in silence is the same as committing it."
The case of Herrera Acosta fits into a systematic pattern of inspector persecution that the regime has intensified since 2024, when it deployed 7,000 inspectors to oversee the private sector.
Since January 2025, the government pays inspectors based on results, measuring their effectiveness in front of the National Assembly, which has created a perverse incentive to indiscriminately fine small businesses.
The documented fines for self-employed individuals range from 16,000 to 36,000 pesos, amounts that represent dozens of times the state minimum wage and can ruin a business overnight.
Parallely, retirement pensions in Cuba range from 1,500 to 4,000 pesos per month —less than ten dollars at the informal exchange rate— amounts that the 99% of retirees find insufficient to cover food, housing, and medications, according to a survey by the Independent Trade Union Association of Cuba published on April 11.
This combination of meager pensions and inspector harassment forces thousands of elderly people to work informally to survive, exposing them to disproportionate penalties like the one suffered by Herrera Acosta.
"I will continue to report what happens, but I will not remain calm with this injustice," concluded the elderly man in his public statement.
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