A retired teacher from Bayamo, Granma province, publicly reported that he was registered at his home as a vulnerable person, but when he went to the store they indicated, his name was not on any beneficiaries' list.
Enrique Barcaz Millán, an elderly man with a heart condition who lives alone, explained on Facebook that a social worker visited his home, registered him as vulnerable, and informed him that he could go to the La Isla establishment —formerly Almiral— to collect a food package consisting of 10 pounds of rice, two pounds of peas, and two pounds of turbinated sugar. However, upon arriving at the location, he was not listed anywhere.
"It is absolutely incredible that after the social worker assessed me at my home as 'vulnerable' for being an elderly person with heart disease who now lives very alone, and this official told me that I could go to this grocery store, La Isla, formerly Almiral, I do not appear on any list," wrote the retiree.
"But, sir, not even the great Franz Kafka with his Metamorphosis and absurdity can compare to something like this. What can we expect? Nothing. Every day it gets worse, and they are doing everything backward. It's outrageous, moreover, that so many people have been left out of this big lottery, needing so much or so little to survive. The situation is untenable, and I haven't been able to find an appropriate term to describe it. Who can live here among us ordinary people? No one, with such low pensions and exorbitant prices. 'Vulnerable?'" he questioned.
"I forgot to mention that the San Juan and El Cristo neighborhoods were surveyed to look for 'the state’s benevolent provisions' in this single grocery store; the others will be MIPYMEs," he added in the comments.
From Ciego de Ávila, a Cuban recounted: "Here in my municipality Primero de Enero, it was the same. My dad is vulnerable, he is an elderly man for God's sake, and he lives alone with a grandson, and they didn't give him anything at all." From Pinar del Río, another commenter shared: "I am in the same situation as you, and I don't appear on any list. I went to the labor office, they took my information again and I was told to wait for the social worker who was supposed to visit me, and I'm still waiting. No one cares about anything except our pain."
The case illustrates a contradiction that is repeated in the new targeted social assistance scheme approved by the National Assembly in June 2026, which replaced universal subsidies with packages aimed at individuals classified as vulnerable. According to that program, distribution in Bayamo began between October 23 and 25, and throughout the province of Granma, 66,510 people were identified as being in a situation of greater vulnerability.
The problem lies in the fact that the household census does not equate to a definitive inclusion on the list: social workers must verify whether there are family members able to contribute to the support, and the final records are reconciled by the Oficodas with the municipal labor offices. This second administrative validation is what, according to various testimonies, creates expectations that are later not fulfilled.
A similar case was documented in Santiago de Cuba, where an older adult was denied a module because their daughter lives in Brazil, without any published provision in the Official Gazette establishing that exclusion criterion.
The backdrop is a severe pension crisis in Cuba: the country has approximately 1,774,310 retirees, and the minimum pension of 4,000 Cuban pesos amounts to barely between seven and ten dollars in the informal market, while the basic food basket averages between 12,000 and 30,000 pesos monthly per person. The provincial government of Granma itself acknowledged in June 2026 that it did not have enough cash to pay its over 111,000 retirees and needed more than 400 million pesos to cover just one month of pensions.
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