An official media report in Santiago de Cuba presents a direct milk distribution system in the municipality of Guamá as an achievement of the government, but citizens' reactions on social media quickly dismantle the official narrative.
The video, shared on Tuesday through the Facebook profile of Benigno Rodríguez Torres, a journalist from Emisora Radio Coral in Guamá, demonstrates the operation of the so-called "crossing," a mechanism through which milk is transferred directly from the dairy farms to the warehouses.
According to the report, the system is applied in the Uvero Popular Council, the largest mountainous area of the municipality, located in the heart of the Sierra Maestra.
In the material, Rafael Díaz Prado, president of the Agrofood Commission of the Municipal Assembly of Popular Power in Guamá, states that the distribution scheme reaches nearly all sales points in the area.
Díaz Prado states that the system was organized following a joint study involving productive structures, the People's Council, the leadership of the Municipal Assembly, the Administration Council, and the Agricultural Delegation, as well as a new company linked to the sector.
However, the report itself introduces cracks in the triumphant narrative. The interviewed rancher acknowledges that production is far from stable. He explains that livestock yield depends on factors such as climate and food availability, which are currently unfavorable.
"Sometimes the cows can give you a little more, they can decrease, it depends on the quality of the weather. The food isn't very good yet, it's raining a little now... things aren't looking very good right now," he admits in the video.
Users' responses in the comments were immediate and directly challenged the official narrative. Several claimed that the milk simply does not reach the children in the area.
"Liars, my family is from Guamá and there are three children, and that milk you’re talking about doesn’t exist; you’re all liars, it's a disrespect to the people, Guamá is misery," wrote Luisa Rivaflecha.
Another user, Alexander Díaz, reported that even the powdered milk allocated by the rationing book is not guaranteed. He explained that his four-year-old grandson has been without this product at the store for years.
Some comments also pointed to structural problems that the official report does not mention. Rafael Limonta Pavon highlighted the impact of the theft and illegal slaughter of livestock in the area, a crime that, according to his testimony, is further reducing the number of cattle in the municipality.
The report is not an isolated case. Between January and August 2025, at least 193 thefts related to the illegal theft and slaughter of livestock were documented in Cuba, with 96% of those judged found guilty, according to data from the People's Supreme Court.
The episode is set against the backdrop of a structural crisis in the Cuban dairy industry that the authorities can no longer conceal with local reports.
Cuba has lost more than 900,000 head of cattle since 2019, leaving about three million by the end of 2024, and the milk production dropped by 37.6% in the 2024-2025 harvest, falling below 200 million liters per year against a demand of 500 million.
Just Santiago de Cuba is listed among the five provinces with critical levels of food insecurity according to the Food Monitoring Program for this April, and the basic basket announced in mid-month for that province directly excludes milk.
In August 2025, Santiago de Cuba had only distributed twenty days of powdered milk for children from zero to one year old, while children aged two to six years remained without receiving the product.
The situation has not improved: "The children aren't receiving milk, stop the lies," summarized the user Rusito Martínez Reñé in the comments of the same official video.
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