The Cuban scientist and communicator Amílcar Pérez-Riverol published a complaint on Facebook regarding the food crisis in Cuba, describing a situation of widespread hunger, severe nutritional deficiencies, and a poor diet that affects the majority of the population.
"In Cuba, people live without food," wrote Pérez-Riverol on September 2, in a post that adds to the growing chorus of scientific and intellectual voices documenting the accelerated deterioration of food security on the island during 2026.
According to the national survey "In Cuba There is Hunger 2025," conducted by the Food Monitor Program (FMP) and Cuido60 with 2,513 valid responses from the 16 provinces, 96.91% of the Cuban population lacks adequate access to food.
33.9% of the surveyed households reported that at least one member went to bed hungry in the 30 days prior to the survey, a figure that rose from 24.6% recorded in 2024.
The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights reported that 80% of the population skips at least one meal per day due to scarcity and low income, while more than 80% of households spend more than they earn on food.
The collapse of the regulated basic basket is a fact that the regime itself has acknowledged. In June of this year, the Minister of Food Industry, Alberto López Díaz, publicly admitted: "This year we have been unable to provide oil, chicken, or yogurt."
The FMP describes the situation with a phrase that summarizes the systemic disaster: "The chain is broken," referring to the simultaneous collapse of food production, importation, preservation, transportation, and distribution on the island.
National agricultural production has plummeted between 2018 and 2023: pig farming has decreased by 95%, rice by 87%, beans by 70%, and milk by 58%.
Cuba imports approximately 80% of the food it consumes, according to the UN World Food Programme, which makes the country extremely vulnerable to any restrictions on foreign currency or external credit.
The cost of feeding oneself has become unattainable for the vast majority. The FMP calculated that two adults in Havana need 41,735 pesos per month —almost 20 minimum wages— for barely adequate nutrition. Economists estimate that in September 2026, meeting basic needs will require about 96,000 pesos per month, well above the average official salary.
The FMP identified critical levels of food insecurity in five provinces: Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Guantánamo, and Santiago de Cuba.
Malnutrition affects nearly twice as many women as men, with documented consequences such as calcium deficiency in childhood, obesity due to scarcity, diabetes, and chronic stress.
Significantly, 79.75% of those surveyed by the FMP attributed the shortages to poor state administration, rather than the U.S. embargo, directly pointing to the regime's responsibility in managing food resources.
80% of Cubans believe that the current crisis is worse than the Special Period of the 1990s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union plunged the island into a devastating economic crisis.
In May of this year, the World Food Program delivered 106 tons of food as humanitarian assistance to Cuba, an implicit acknowledgment of the emergency facing the population.
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