A boy named Miguel became this week the face of childhood in Cuba affected by the crisis, after a video posted on Instagram showed him buying sweets at a kiosk in his neighborhood and then walking two kilometers to a beach to sell them.
In a single sentence, he summarized everything and touched many hearts: "I’d rather keep myself busy working than stealing or doing bad things."
The material was recorded and shared by Yeison López (@hermandadtmph), a Cuban content creator with over 600,000 followers who returned to the island and documents daily life without filters or sensationalism.
In the video, Miguel explains with stunning naturalness that sweets—small donuts, candies, and whatever else—are not for eating: "For what? To eat? No, to sell." He adds the reason that has resonated most with those who watched it: "What you need is money, so you don’t have to ask your mom for money."
The minor clarifies that he attends school and only works in the afternoons, on the days assigned according to his schedule. Nevertheless, the image of a child carrying his merchandise under the Cuban sun, walking several kilometers to earn a few pesos, sparked a wave of reactions that mix admiration and pain in equal measure.
The video garnered over 45,000 reactions and nearly 1,400 comments. Many users recognized the boy as their neighbor and described him as "very hardworking." Others sought information to locate him and offer assistance. One comment captured what thousands were thinking: "A child who, at such a young age, has understood the problems caused by a failed system. In other countries, the best thing a child can do is be a child, but here, necessity leaves you with just two paths: to do wrong or to do what you can to survive."
The story of Miguel is not an isolated case. It is the same Yeison López who previously documented the story of Dainer, a 12-year-old boy from Bahía Honda, Artemisa, who climbed royal palms over twenty meters high using homemade ropes and walked kilometers barefoot to reach school. That video garnered over 450,000 views and culminated in the delivery of a bicycle to the young boy.
Behind each of these cases lies a crushing economic reality. The official minimum wage in Cuba has been 3,210 pesos—around 4.65 dollars—since last July, while economists estimate that a person needs about 96,000 pesos per month to cover their basic needs. This vast gap forces entire families to seek income through any means, and children are not exempt from this struggle.
The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 71 reports of child labor and begging in 2025, and the regime itself acknowledged that nearly 200,000 minors are in a vulnerable situation. Despite this, the Young Communist League denied in June that child labor exists in Cuba, a statement that sparked widespread backlash on social media.
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