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In the kiosks surrounding the national bus terminal in Matanzas, a scene increasingly common reflects the depth of the Cuban humanitarian crisis: men and women approach the counters not to buy, but to ask for something to eat, reported the independent portal 14yMedio.
They are not always the elderly or traditional beggars. Many wear clean clothes, walk upright, and maintain an air of dignity that contrasts with the need that drives them to extend their hands, the media outlet reports.
Yania, a saleswoman at one of the kiosks, has been working in the area for years and insists she has never seen a situation like the current one.
"Some of them come speaking in a low voice, very embarrassed, almost begging me to give them a little cup of coffee or a small piece of bread with nothing inside," he recounts.
The worker describes the contradiction she faces daily: “Here the cheapest sandwich costs 200 pesos and if I give something for free, logically I have to pay for it out of my own pocket. The truth is that my heart breaks seeing so many people in need. You can see on their faces that it’s no exaggeration; they are experiencing a lot of hardship.”
The number of regular customers has dropped so significantly that they have been replaced by others who buy nothing but linger nearby, hoping that someone will give them a bit of food.
A young man walks by with his head down, stopping in front of each window. Another man, leaning on his bicycle, waits for someone to finish eating so he can ask for their leftovers.
A barefoot boy holds onto a skinny dog with an improvised rope and considers whether it's worth approaching a store.
Another worker in the sector describes the scene starkly: "People pass by here so frail that it makes you want to cry, asking for something to eat or drink to avoid fainting."
The most illustrative case is that of Pablo, a 67-year-old man who shows the empty interior of his pockets and speaks without dramatism, as someone recounting an inevitable routine.
"Since I was little, my parents taught me to be decent, even if I were dying of hunger. I ask because, despite having worked my entire life, I have a miserable paycheck that does not allow me to survive, not even the first week of the month," he asserts, according to statements collected by 14yMedio.
The subsidized dining hall where Pablo used to eat closed since mid-2024 and no one has informed when it will reopen.
"The food was scarce and sometimes poorly cooked, but at least I had a guaranteed bite from Monday to Friday," he recalls. "In recent times, I've had to collect leftovers from the trash, eat anything that the street vendors discard, or, in the worst case, go to bed with nothing in my stomach."
Pablo's story is no exception. The survey "There is Hunger in Cuba 2025", conducted by the Food Monitor Program and Cuido60 with 2,513 valid responses from the 16 provinces, revealed that 33.9% of Cuban households reported that at least one member went to bed hungry in the past year.
Matanzas ranks among the hardest hit provinces: 67.3% of its households reported hunger in 2025. Nationally, 94.9% of households lost some degree of access to food, and 79.4% spend 80% or more of their income solely on food.
The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights estimates that 89% of the Cuban population lives in extreme poverty, and that seven out of ten Cubans have stopped having breakfast, lunch, or dinner due to lack of money, a figure that rises to 79% among those over seventy years old.
Meanwhile, the regime is responding with image-focused measures. Díaz-Canel visited in August 2025 a center for homeless individuals in Villa Clara, and Prime Minister Marrero Cruz appeared at another similar center in Ciego de Ávila, while the Council of Ministers defines homelessness as a "multicausal human behavior disorder," avoiding acknowledging structural poverty as a cause.
The minimum pension, even after the increase in August 2025 that raised it to 4,000 Cuban pesos —about nine dollars at the informal exchange rate—, is not enough to cover a week of basic food needs, according to independent reports.
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