94-Year-Old Cuban Woman Shares Her Harrowing Experience: "A Terrible Sense of Hopelessness"

A 94-year-old Cuban woman has shared her harrowing experiences of living in Cuba with Spanish media, describing a life marked by power outages, and shortages of food and medicine. In an interview with the Efe agency, Teresa García expressed the "terrible sense of hopelessness" she feels living in Cuba at her advanced age. She revealed that not even during the so-called Special Period had she experienced anything similar.

“After enduring so many hardships in life, to have to face this at the end,” García shared in a heartbreaking account. The elderly woman, who welcomed the Spanish agency into her apartment in the heart of Pinar del Río, can't recall the last time she had cold water or a full night's sleep. "If it comes in the morning, it's for two or three hours. Then it doesn't return until night, if at all," said Teté, as she prefers to be known.

At the time of her interview, García had been without electricity for over 24 hours. "This is for when the power comes back: filling them with water for cooking. The water goes too because there's no electricity to pump it. Thankfully, the firefighters (from the station across her building) help us carry water," she remarked, showing the Spanish journalists some empty buckets. "I have two nieces in Havana desperate for me to come live with them, but no way. I've always lived here and I'm not leaving," said this woman who doesn’t fear living alone.

The Struggles of Cuban Elderly

Teté has been alone since much of her family has either passed away or emigrated. "I've lived through the good, the bad, and the mediocre of all those governments, and this one is incomparable. It's a constant battle for everything: bread that's available one day but not the next; beans are prohibitively expensive; there's no milk, meat, or anything," she lamented, born in the 1930s. "That doesn't keep anything cold anymore, and food spoils with how expensive everything is,” she added, referring to her refrigerator. "Not even during the Special Period was there as much misery as there is now."

According to the latest official figures, more than two million Cubans are aged 60 or older (25.7% of the total population). This rapid demographic aging is due to multiple factors such as declining birth rates, increased life expectancy, and the relentless migration exodus of the past four years.

The elderly are the only demographic group growing in Cuba. Experts point out that this demographic shift is characterized by a high incidence of poverty, severe social inequity, low social security coverage, and a likely trend toward the deterioration of family support networks.

Official data reveals that 39% of Cuban retirees receive the minimum pension, equivalent to 1,528 pesos a month, placing them at high risk of falling into extreme poverty. The situation is particularly dire for those without family abroad sending dollars to afford a balanced diet in the twilight of their lives. They rely solely on what is available at government stores, plagued by rationing, shortages, and delays in distributing basic supplies.

The uncontrolled inflation resulting from the failed Tarea Ordenamiento policy has driven up the cost of essential goods, while wages remain stagnant, eroding the purchasing power of Cubans who are weary from long lines, power outages, hunger, and hopelessness.

Senior citizens also face a severe shortage of medications, compounded by the lack of technical availability of medical equipment, supplies, and consumables necessary for the proper functioning of hospitals and health centers. Patients with chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, and asthma, mostly elderly, encounter significant obstacles accessing their treatments, jeopardizing their health.