A Cuban teenager touched thousands of people on social media when he received a food box during a donation and replied that he wouldn't eat it: "I'm going to save it for my grandparents," according to a video shared on Friday by the Guajiro Digital profile on X.
The gesture of the child sparked a wave of reactions. "This child has more dignity and decorum than all the greedy leaders of this country," wrote one internet user. Another commented, "Cuba died years ago; what remains of it is a ghost that we are trying to resurrect."
Those making the donation, touched by his response, handed him a second small box and a can of soda so that the teenager could eat as well.
The Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP), which republished the video on Facebook where it accumulated over 57,000 views, demanded that the regime "adopt measures to ensure the population has access to dignified food and put an end to the policies that have deepened the precariousness faced by thousands of families on the Island today."
The video does not reflect an isolated event, but rather a crisis that independent organizations describe as a humanitarian emergency. According to the survey "There's Hunger in Cuba 2025" from the Food Monitor Program and Cuido60, 96.91% of the population lacks adequate access to food and 33.9% of households reported that at least one member went to bed hungry at least once in the 30 days preceding the study.
80% of Cubans believe that the current situation is worse than the Special Period of the 1990s. 79.4% of households allocate 80% or more of their income solely to trying to feed themselves, and 40.6% spend all their earnings just on food.
The government itself acknowledged the extent of the collapse: in June, the Minister of Food Industry, Alberto López Díaz, admitted that no oil, chicken, or yogurt had been distributed throughout the year, and that only one round of coffee had been delivered in Havana.
The contrast with the regime's elites is particularly striking. Earlier this month, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of Raúl Castro and known as "The Crab," stated in an interview with : "It hurts me a lot that people cannot live like I do," and he imagined a Cuba where people "can buy foie gras in supermarkets."
The same individual has been photographed wearing garments from Hermès, Hugo Boss, and Emporio Armani, along with a Rolex Submariner on their wrist, while millions of Cubans struggle to put food on the table. Their statements sparked a wave of indignation in Cuba and the diaspora.
It’s not the first time that a similar gesture has shaken social media. In January of this year, a young Cuban gave his lunch to several elderly people in a scene that also circulated widely. A Cuban grandmother summarized the reality of millions in April: «All we eat is rice, the old and the children».
Guajiro Digital concluded its publication with a phrase that encapsulates what the video reveals: "This child saves the food given to him for his grandmother. Cuba is dying, folks".
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