A Cuban mother identified as Lisi posted a video on Facebook in which she reflects on what summer means for families on the island: no adventures or trips, but the distress of wondering how to keep the children entertained without money or options.
"Vacations? For a child, that word means adventures. For many adults, it means balancing the budget... and for many Cuban families, it sometimes means asking: what are we going to do with the kids during these months?" Lisi says in the nearly two-minute clip.
The content creator describes a painful gap: while in other countries families plan trips to camps, museums, and parks, in Cuba the options are limited and state-run recreational spaces have suffered years of deterioration without maintenance.
"In Cuba, many families do everything they can to give their children a nice summer. However, the options are often limited. Many recreational spaces need repairs or maintenance. Other alternatives are priced out of reach for everyone," he notes.
The reality described by Lisi has concrete figures. The Jalisko Park in Vedado charges 1,000 pesos per person, which means 4,000 pesos for a family of four — more than half of the average monthly salary of around 6,900 pesos, equivalent to only 12 dollars. A water park in Ciego de Ávila charges 500 pesos for just 30 minutes of children's swimming.
The contrast is even more shocking when considering that the average family basket exceeds 96,000 pesos per month, fourteen times the average salary, according to a study by economist Javier Pérez Capdevila.
The summer of 2026 began under particularly challenging conditions. The 2025-2026 school year ended early between June 15 and June 30, ahead of the official date set by the Ministry of Education, due to fuel shortages and blackouts that disrupted school transportation.
Thousands of children started their vacations this way, without stable electricity, experiencing outages of between 18 and 22 hours daily in many areas of the country.
Facilities that were supposed to be recreational alternatives are also in ruins. The Lake of Dreams in Camagüey, inaugurated in 2014, is abandoned, with its dam overgrown with invasive vegetation.
The Puerto Escondido campsite in Artemisa reduced its capacity from 310 to 242 cabins between 2023 and 2025, with cracked soil and deteriorating recreational areas.
In light of this situation, Lisi acknowledges that Cuban parents are resourceful: "They organize games at home, visit grandparents, improvise a picnic, spend an afternoon at the beach when possible, or turn any simple moment into a happy memory."
The regime's response has been to launch the campaign "Always Young" with over 21,000 artistic and cultural activities in the neighborhoods, described as "modest yet aesthetic."
In Santiago de Cuba, the Pioneer Action Forces have also been reactivated, which encourage children to work in factories and organopónicos during their vacations under the argument of "value formation," a practice that critics label as disguised child labor.
Lisi closes her video with a wish that encapsulates the feelings of millions of Cuban families: “Hopefully the day will come when all children, regardless of where they live or how much money their family has, can look forward to holidays with the same excitement, knowing that a summer full of opportunities to play, learn, and be happy awaits them.”
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