Esmeilda García Márquez, a Cuban grandmother, posted a video on Facebook this August in which she reports that she went out to look for oil with two other people and returned empty-handed, in a testimony that starkly summarizes the supply crisis affecting the island.
“Good afternoon, everyone, I just went out to buy a little oil among three people and there isn’t any,” said the woman at the beginning of the 30-second clip, which has garnered over 5,300 views and 271 reactions on the social network.
Esmeilda did not just point out the scarcity. She directly addressed the causes: sellers are afraid of being fined by the authorities if they resell the product.
"Of course, they are afraid because they get fined, right? But they should fine Mariel; they handle it over there; we can't solve it here," he complained, pointing out that the penalties should be directed at the port of Mariel—the main entry point for imports into the country—rather than at those trying to address the problem on the street.
But Esmeilda does not stop at the oil. In the same video, she reported that a virus has taken the lives of two people in her community: "They say it's dengue, but we don't know what it is; if there are no reagents, there is nothing anywhere."
The lack of diagnostic supplies prevents confirmation of cases, a situation that reflects the parallel healthcare collapse occurring in Cuba. The regime acknowledged in 2025 that there was only 30% availability of the basic medication inventory, and by August 2026, the situation has not improved: nationally, 461 out of 651 essential medications are missing, according to data from April.
The grandmother concluded her complaint with a list that leaves no room for interpretation: "There are no medications, no food, no provisions, nothing; in the stores, nothing. So, what are they waiting for? Huh?"
Such testimonies from older Cuban adults have multiplied in 2026 as a form of civic denunciation in the absence of institutional channels for complaints.
In April, another Cuban grandmother warned that the elderly and children were only eating rice, in a country where the food crisis has been worsening for decades under the dictatorship.
The complaints arise amidst an economic crisis that complicates the acquisition of these kinds of products for the population.
The regulated basket did not distribute oil at any point in 2026, as admitted by the Minister of Food Industry, Alberto López Díaz, during the Mesa Redonda on June 6.
Shortly after, Resolution 150/2026 from the Ministry of Finance and Prices removed the cap of 990 pesos per liter for imported oils, which caused prices to skyrocket uncontrollably: from around 1,500 pesos in April to between 4,000 and 7,000 pesos in various provinces by August.
Due to the inability to access oil, many Cubans turned to pig fat as a substitute, but that product also began to run low this month, with queues forming since early morning.
Another Cuban wandered the streets searching for oil and returned with the bag empty, in an episode that unfolds daily across the country.
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