Two elderly adults are surviving among the rubble of their collapsed ranch in the rural community of La Pollera, in the municipality of Vertientes, province of Camagüey, with no authority having arrived to address their situation.
The report was published by the page Vertientinos por el Mundo and shows the dilapidated condition of the house: the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living room are all in complete disrepair.
The collapse occurred about a month ago. In response to the emergency, the elderly were temporarily relocated to a nearby medical office, but the authorities themselves demanded that they leave that shelter, leaving them without any housing alternatives.
What outrages those who are familiar with the case the most is the complete institutional silence. "No one has shown up at his home. Neither the representative, nor the social worker, no one. And he reached out to them several times," reported the person who raised the alarm about the situation.
Far from coordinating an emergency response, the Municipal Assembly of People's Power in Vertientes held a meeting in which, according to a source cited in the complaint, it asked the residents themselves to take on the assistance, arguing that "the government is unable to help them."
The public admission of incapacity by the local governing body contrasts with the official narrative regarding the supposed social achievements of the revolution.
The case is not an isolated incident. Cuba is experiencing its worst housing crisis in decades, with a deficit exceeding 929,000 homes. Between 2020 and 2024, construction fell from 32,874 to just 7,427 units per year, of which only 2,756 were state-funded. In 2025, only 5,454 homes were completed nationwide.
Older adults are those who suffer the most from this collapse. Their pensions amount to between nine and ten dollars a month, an amount that is insufficient for food, medications, and much less for home repairs.
The massive exodus of young people has left thousands of elderly individuals without family support networks, exposed to an institutional framework that acknowledges its own powerlessness.
In February 2026, the regime authorized private residences for the elderly, a measure that has had no real impact on specific emergencies such as the one in Vertientes.
Ironically, a new housing law project allows the State to appropriate homes deemed "abandoned," while leaving citizens without shelter who are living among rubble.
It is not the first time that Camagüey has experienced situations like this. An 85-year-old man was hospitalized after the collapse of his house in the Buenavista neighborhood of the same province in June 2023, and the provincial government has even promoted the construction of "mud houses" as an alternative due to the shortage of materials.
"Where are the conquests and achievements of the revolution that promised homes to Cubans?" asks the publication Vertientinos por el Mundo, a question that encapsulates the gap between the official narrative and the reality faced by the most vulnerable Cubans.
Filed under: