An 85-year-old Cuban man who walks rural paths selling handcrafted brooms to survive received unexpected assistance from a man who, moved by his situation, decided to buy all of his merchandise and give him 9,000 Cuban pesos.
The emotional meeting was captured in a video shared on TikTok by user José Sierra (@jose.sierra597), who stopped to talk with the elderly man while he was walking, carrying brooms on his shoulders.
During the conversation, the man explained that he makes between 15 and 20 brooms and then sets out to sell them, walking long distances. Each one costs just 70 Cuban pesos, an amount that highlights how little he earns for his work.
At the time of the meeting, he had 14 brooms, which totaled 980 pesos. Sierra decided to buy them all and handed over 9,000 Cuban pesos in cash, counting the bills one by one under the excited gaze of the elderly man.
"That's so you can buy at least a little pound of oil and a couple of pounds of rice," Sierra said as he handed over the money.
Visibly moved by the conditions in which the man lives at his advanced age, the content creator expressed his outrage: "And this is how people live here, now he's eighty-five years old, he said. And look at him, how is he? He doesn't even have a cane, damn it!"
One of the most striking moments of the recording occurred when, despite having received help and sold all his brooms, the elder explained that he still could not return home because he had a pending order that he needed to fulfill.
His story reflects the economic difficulties faced by many elderly people in Cuba, where pensions are insufficient to cover basic needs such as food and medication, forcing many retirees to continue working even at an advanced age.
The minimum pension in Cuba was raised to 4,000 pesos per month in September 2025, an amount that remains very limited considering the high cost of food and other essential products.
Social media has also become a means to bring visibility to these situations and mobilize help. Recently, another case moved many Cubans when content creator @melissahabla_ launched a campaign to assist Rafael, a 76-year-old man from Holguín who was living in extreme poverty and who received food, clothing, and medical supplies in less than 24 hours.
Sierra's solidarity was also accompanied by a reflection on the responsibility of Cubans living outside the island to help those facing difficult situations: "Those of us who managed to leave cannot change Cuba, but we can support the less fortunate. There are many who come here to sell them even candies when they can't afford rice."
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