Illegal Newspaper Sales in Matanzas Expose Postal Corruption and Neglect

In the city of Matanzas, a long-time subscriber to state-run media has found herself forced into the roles of advocate and whistleblower due to a postal system failing to perform its duties. The system has allowed a postal worker to transform newspapers into commodities for the black market, while the institutional framework remains indifferent.

Resident María del Carmen Andreu Delgado, living in what is known as the "Athens of Cuba," reports that the situation began to decline back in November 2024. During this period, a new mail carrier took over the route previously handled by a “competent employee who had meticulously cataloged his customers in a notebook,” Andreu shared in a letter to the official newspaper Girón's section, Apartado 1433. The previous carrier’s departure marked the beginning of chaos.

Despite multiple complaints, visits to the post office administrator on Medio Street and the postal zone representative in Versalles did not yield any results, highlighting a clear sign of administrative neglect. The new carrier continued to shirk his responsibilities until Carmen caught him selling 20 Girón newspapers to a single buyer for five pesos each, his backpack loaded with copies.

This discovery turned suspicions into concrete evidence. The affected citizen reported the ongoing financial exploitation to the Provincial Postal Directorate: a state employee charging for undelivered services and selling public goods for personal gain. Although this scandal prompted “slight changes” and the carrier eventually charged her for March while delivering a few copies, the Sunday edition of Juventud Rebelde remains mysteriously absent.

Carmen bitterly wonders who receives the newspaper she pays for but never receives. She insists on the right to pick up her subscription directly from the Pediatric Hospital office, like other citizens, to avoid being continually victimized by a corrupt and inefficient system.

Meanwhile, postal authorities, aware of this issue for months, have yet to provide a public response or solve the problem, which infringes on basic rights and quietly repeats itself across the nation. Although official media has recently attempted to portray improvements in services provided by the state-run Empresa de Correos de Cuba, reports of over 4,000 backlogged mailings, loss claims, and strain from new imports like electric scooters tell a different story.

The system remains overwhelmed, and Correos de Cuba has attributed service delays to a combination of structural issues, merchandise overload, external delays, and a lack of basic resources. Weeks ago, the company acknowledged that only 0.02% of the more than 745,000 shipments managed from 2024 to the first quarter of 2025 were altered, stolen, or lost. However, they shifted the blame to postal and customs operators, stating that shipments pass through both foreign and Cuban hands before arriving in the country.

Although official reports highlight a reduction in complaints and logistical improvements, structural problems persist. High demand continues as the population reports delays and, notably, package content theft, undermining the regime's official narrative.

In May, Correos de Cuba’s parcel service came under scrutiny once again following a public complaint by a Cuban resident in Santa Marta, Matanzas, who received aluminum profiles instead of the two Philips televisions sent from Panama. That same month, it was revealed that the Empresa de Correos office in Viñales, Pinar del Río, had been turned into a makeshift store, selling basic goods and other items amid the scarcity and lack of revenue for the entity.