The Cuban government announced a new monthly food distribution for 883,000 people considered "in a greater state of vulnerability," with a ration of five pounds of rice, one of sugar, and one of grains.
The Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz made the announcement during the official podcast "Desde la Presidencia" broadcast on Friday. The selection of beneficiaries was the result of "meticulous work at the community level, door to door," stated the head of government in a snippet of his speech.
According to Marrero, experts and academics designed eight profiles to identify individuals in the most vulnerable situations. The official acknowledged that the previous system distributed resources "equally among everyone, to those who needed it and those who didn’t."
Aid will be provided monthly until January, according to the announcement made by the leader. Individuals who were not included in the list but believe they meet the criteria can apply for inclusion through the digital platform "Soberanía." At the time of the announcement, 100 applications had been registered.
The magnitude of the program is also reflected in the increase in the official number of people identified as poor or vulnerable.
In July 2025, Marrero reported to parliament that there were 310,000; a year later, the figure rose to 876,522.
The measure is part of the new focused social protection model announced in the package of 176 "economic and social transformations" approved by the National Assembly in June, which replaced the universal subsidy scheme with assistance directed towards those classified monthly as vulnerable by the local councils.
This promise, however, clashes with a devastating reality. The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights reports that 94% of Cubans are in extreme poverty, according to the IX Report on the State of Social Rights, published in August and based on 1,318 interviews across 79 municipalities.
The same study estimated that eight out of ten Cubans had skipped breakfast, lunch, or dinner at least once in the previous six months due to a lack of money or food.
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) projects a decline of 10.3% in Cuba's GDP in 2026, the worst in Latin America, while the year-on-year inflation reached 25.19% in August, with food prices experiencing a cumulative increase of 36.01%.
The current minimum wage is 3,210 Cuban pesos per month, which is equivalent to just over four dollars at the unofficial exchange rate.
In Santiago de Cuba, specialist Diamaris Perdomo Hechavarría recently warned that the classification of vulnerability is not permanent and is reviewed every month, adding that "not everyone is vulnerable."
A grandfather may have been excluded from the sale of cooking oil intended for vulnerable individuals because his ration book lists a grandson with relatives abroad, according to a testimony shared this Saturday by journalist José L. Tan Estrada on his Facebook profile.
In Camagüey, it was reported that the Montecarlo supermarket was excluding from subsidized oil individuals with relatives abroad registered in their ration booklet, a criterion that is not found in any official regulation.
In Holguín, authorities recognized that one in every 10 inhabitants -90,148 people- is in a vulnerable situation.
The historian Ivette García González summarized it succinctly in September: "The vulnerable in Cuba are no longer segments; they are not a minority. It is the majority of the people, the ordinary citizen."
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