The Cuban actress Natasha Díaz, one of the most recognized figures in the Island's television with over five decades of career, revealed in an interview with the digital program La Familia Cubana that in 2019 she had to clean houses to survive because the state radio and television system stopped hiring her.
The story, told with humor and without shame, describes how the artist landed that job almost by chance: after moving into an apartment on 19 and 20 in El Vedado, she met a neighbor named Belkis who was unhappy with her domestic worker.
Without hesitation, Natasha proposed to the woman, "I am the one you're looking for," she said, and then immediately negotiated her salary: "How much will you give me?"
The response was 10 CUC per week —equivalent to 10 dollars at that time, when the Cuban convertible peso had an official parity with the U.S. dollar—. The actress also worked on Sundays, as the two-story mansion was half a block away from her home.
"I was a millionaire with that," Díaz said, specifying that with that money, she was able to repair the broken refrigerator.
The phrase, laden with irony, precisely encapsulates the extent of precariousness: for an actress, who just a few years later received the National Television Award—the highest accolade in the industry in Cuba—10 dollars a week represented a fortune.
The reason for that situation was straightforward: "Television wasn't calling me," he explained.
This is how the system of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) works: actors are paid per "call," meaning they are compensated only when summoned to work. When contracts are interrupted—without explanation or compensation—earnings vanish, regardless of one's experience or the awards accumulated.
Natasha also stated, "I have a dignity that reaches all the way to Hong Kong. Because the revolution provided opportunities, it did, and I have known how to take advantage of them. But everything has cost me my effort." This statement, when read alongside the rest of her account, starkly portrays the contradiction between the official discourse on support for culture and the reality faced by those who sustain it.
Your case is not an exception. In December 2024, actress Eileen Acosta revealed that a leading role on Cuban television pays less than 50 dollars a month; she received about 25 dollars a month for her co-starring role in the telenovela Viceversa. "It's not enough for anything," she stated at that time.
The actor Roberto Perdomo reported in July that his theater salary does not even cover his transportation costs, which is why he stopped accepting that job. Weeks later, he revealed that his retirement pension of 6,000 Cuban pesos per month is not enough for him to buy a plane ticket to meet his grandson born abroad.
This pattern of state abandonment towards Cuban artists has been repeatedly denounced.
In July 2025, artistic figures described a "decadent situation" marked by the energy crisis, high transportation costs, exorbitant prices, and the neglect of the State.
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