The Cuban actress Darianis Palenzuela Pérez posted a video on Instagram this Thursday, in which she recounted having found a child sleeping in the doorway of a building in Centro Habana, showing clear signs of having suffered violence and being hungry.
"Today I had to witness one of the most striking images of living here in Centro Habana, and I know I won't be able to get it out of my head for a long time," said the actress in the reel.
Palenzuela thanked those who approached the minor, awakened him, and fed him, while she and others present sought the authorities to take charge of the situation.
"I spoke with him and I saw a lot of violence in his eyes, but I also saw a lot of fear and a great lack of love," confessed the actress, who firmly rejected any easy judgment of the boy.
"It's very easy to judge and say this is a delinquent; he will probably become one in the future if something isn't done about it; he is just a child," he warned, adding that "a child is a reflection of what he experiences, of the upbringing he has received, of what his family has taught him."
To frame her reflection, Palenzuela referred to the Cuban film Conducta (2014), which tells the story of Chala, an 11-year-old boy living in poverty and violence, and his teacher Carmela, who believes in him and fights to save him. "I think a lot about Conducta, I think a lot about the Chalas that exist today, and I think a lot about Carmela," the young woman expressed.
The actress made a direct appeal to her fellow countrymen: "We need people who continue to believe that a child you save is an adult who won't become a criminal in the future, who won't end up taking someone's life, or in prison, or worse yet, having to bring flowers to a cemetery."
He closed the video with a quote from José Martí: "Children are the hope of the world," and with a powerful conclusion: "There are too many Chalas today in Cuba and we definitely need more Carmelas."
In October 2025, images circulated of six children sleeping on cardboard in the gardens of the Gran Muthu Habana hotel in Miramar. According to witnesses, the children, aged between eight and 14, had been sleeping in the area for over a month after being expelled by the police from the nearby Business Center, where they used to seek refuge to rest.
In June, a report from Diario de Cuba highlighted the expansion of youth gangs throughout Cuba, driven by the economic crisis, poverty, and the trafficking of synthetic drugs. This phenomenon, which now encompasses nearly all neighborhoods in Havana, has shifted from a marginal issue to a structural threat.
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