A video shared on Facebook by Cuban activist Silverio Portal sheds light on a daily scene outside the Metropolitan Bank at O'Reilly and Compostela streets in Old Havana: an endless line of people, including visibly exhausted seniors, waiting under the relentless sun to access their own funds.
Portal's footage captures the lengthy queue outside this bank and highlights a hotel, opened two years ago next door, now standing empty due to the lack of tourists. "The hotel is there, built but not functioning because there is no tourism," remarks the activist, encapsulating the dual failure of the regime: massive investments yielding no return and citizens unable to withdraw their pensions.
"Look at how the bank is. See, elderly people, see how things are here," Portal comments. The video depicts a crowd outside the building, others seeking shade across the street, and some sitting on ledges, all anxiously awaiting their turn to enter.
Silverio concludes with a stark statement: "This is Cuba. This is the system. Not on the floor, but trapped in a tank of filth."
A System Under Strain
This bank has been at the heart of recent crises: in June, its staff intentionally disabled ATMs to avoid crowds, sparking widespread anger, and later that month, it indefinitely suspended appointment bookings via MiTurno and Ticket platforms citing power outages.
On July 14, another viral video captured Cubans fighting in the early hours outside the same branch to withdraw cash, illustrating the chaos of bank lines in Havana.
The situation depicted in the video is not an exception but the norm.
Banks Across Cuba in Turmoil
The crisis affects the entire island. On July 17 and 18, the Popular Savings Bank in Holguín closed its doors at 3:00 pm, leaving many retirees unpaid despite having electricity, cash, and internet access.
“If Wednesday was bad for collecting pensions in Holguín, today, Friday, it’s worse. What has changed? NOTHING,” criticized Facebook user Pedro Lorenzo Hechavarría Pupo.
In Havana, retired journalist from Granma, Iraida Calzadilla, shared her ordeal of spending eight grueling hours waiting on a bank's sidewalk to receive her pension. "Eight divine, hot, exhausting, and frustrating hours in the bank line," she wrote. "Days of terror with no real solutions."
Structural Crisis and Its Impact
Granma photojournalist Ricardo López Hevia described witnessing shouting, tears of frustration, and chaotic scuffles at the Bank of Monaco in Diez de Octubre. "I saw shouts, cries of impotence, cane fights, loud accusations, and unrestrained chaos. No one to maintain order or guide the endless wild queue. The face of misery has nothing dignified."
This turmoil is rooted in a deeper structural crisis.
Over 1.7 million Cuban retirees rely on a collapsing banking system where the maximum pension is 4,000 pesos monthly—less than seven dollars in the informal exchange—while basic food costs exceed 30,000 pesos.
More than 50% of the nation’s ATMs are out of service or empty, and only 3.77% of transactions in Cuba are digital, despite three years of forced bank digitalization.
The official newspaper Venceremos from Guantánamo acknowledged on July 3 that the banking crisis "has evolved from a financial issue to a social problem."
The Central Bank announced plans to extend pension payments through private businesses nationwide, implicitly admitting the state can no longer sustain its social security system. In Holguín, a pilot plan reached only 5,000 of the municipality's over 52,000 retirees, less than 10%.
Understanding Cuba's Banking Crisis
Why are Cuban banks facing such long lines?
Cuban banks are experiencing long lines due to a combination of factors including a collapsing banking system, limited cash availability, and insufficient digital transaction infrastructure.
How are retirees affected by the banking crisis in Cuba?
Retirees in Cuba face significant hardships as they struggle to access their pensions, which are meager and often insufficient to meet basic living costs, exacerbated by the inefficiencies and shortages in the banking system.
What measures has the Cuban government taken to address the banking issues?
The Cuban government has announced plans to extend pension payments through private businesses, acknowledging the state's inability to maintain its social security system. However, these measures have so far been limited in scope and impact.