A teacher from the Urbano Noris municipality in Holguín reported directly to Miguel Díaz-Canel that the educators in that area have been without their salaries for over three months, since last May.
The complaint was posted as a comment on the wall of Facebook of the official, where he shared a message regarding the preparations for the school year.
Díaz-Canel wrote on his profile: "Enormous efforts are being made to ensure that classrooms open on September 1st, despite the #GenocidalBlockade. My gratitude to teachers, school administrators, families, and all the institutions that have joined in this endeavor. We will not give up."
In response, María Luisa Casal Castillo, who identifies herself as a teacher from Urbano Noris, expressed a complaint: "President, among all those things you are thankful for... the teachers from the municipality of Urbano Noris, Holguín, Oriente, would greatly appreciate it if we could be paid, because you may be unaware that we have not been paid since May... At times, there are actions that make the humble population feel nostalgic."
The contradiction between the official narrative and the reality of months without pay summarizes a crisis that extends beyond the teachers in Holguín.
In July, teachers from the Vicente Chávez Mixed School in Vertientes, Camagüey, reported that they had not been paid for two months, with the only official response being that "there is no money." Despite this, teachers and other staff continued working under "terrible" conditions, so as not to abandon their students.
"A school so large, with so many teachers, and yet those very same teachers do not have a plate of food today. But 'there's no money,' that's always the same answer... There is no money, there is no shame, there is no dignity, there is no respect," said Yerenis Cabrera León, daughter of one of the workers at the center.
The regime approved at the end of July Resolution 18/2026 from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which set new base salaries for teachers ranging from 6,130 to 7,735 CUP per month, effective from July first and payable in August.
However, that increase is irrelevant for those who have not even received the previous wages.
On the other hand, with the informal exchange rate of approximately 673 Cuban pesos per dollar, the new maximum salary of 7,735 CUP amounts to just 11.5 dollars per month, far below an estimated basic basket costing between 25,000 and 50,000 CUP. Cubans reacted to the announcement with mockery that circulated on social media and was summed up in one phrase: "Now they can buy a carton of eggs and oil in the same month."
The Cuban educational system also suffers from a structural deficit of at least 24,000 teachers nationwide—12.5% of teaching positions—due to migration, a shift to the private sector, and historically low salaries.
In response to the start of the 2026-2027 school year, scheduled for September 1st, Cubans reacted to Díaz-Canel's message with criticism, describing the situation as "a lot of will and few conditions," pointing out power outages, water shortages, a lack of uniforms, and difficulties in ensuring children's food security.
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