Health Workers Struggle to Feed Their Baby in Cuba: "We Can't Take It Anymore"

A heart-wrenching account has surfaced from a young Cuban nurse, Aimée Trimiño Nuviola, on the Facebook group "Madres Cubanas Luchadoras 2." Despite both she and her husband being active healthcare professionals, they find themselves unable to provide food for their 14-month-old baby.

Trimiño Nuviola shared her story, stating, "I am a young nurse married to a doctor; we have a 14-month-old baby, and it is inconceivable that two healthcare professionals cannot adequately feed their child."

She described her ordeal, detailing how, after her husband received his monthly salary, she spent two consecutive days on the streets with her child, attempting to purchase food through bank transfers without success.

"I spent two days practically begging people to sell me some food to feed my child because I had nothing to give him, and everyone refused. On the last day, I left each place in tears," Trimiño Nuviola recounted.

Returning home empty-handed after this fruitless search left her feeling frustrated and powerless. "I came back home with my baby in my arms, feeling frustrated, hurt, powerless, and most of all, empty-handed," she lamented.

The Banking Crisis and Its Impact on Healthcare Workers

The food shortage in Cuba is exacerbated by a severe banking cash crisis, which hits state-sector workers particularly hard. Trimiño Nuviola criticized the banking system for prioritizing payments to education workers and retirees, leaving healthcare workers without the funds they desperately need: "Banks are out of cash, now they only prioritize education workers and retirees. What about the rest of us? When will we be able to collect our pay? While we wait, how do we feed our families?"

She concluded her post with a question that echoes the despair of many Cuban families: "What can I tell my child when he cries from hunger, and his professional healthcare parents can't buy him milk or food? WE CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE."

Wider Economic Challenges

This distressing scenario is not unique. In July, Guantánamo authorities admitted that banks lacked sufficient cash to ensure regular payment of wages and pensions. By August, 113 private businesses were shouldering the responsibility of paying pensions to retirees due to the banking system's incapacity.

The root of the problem can be traced back to wages. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security's Resolution 17/2026 set the basic salary for newly graduated doctors at 7,045 Cuban pesos per month—roughly $10.5 on the informal exchange rate—and basic nurses at 4,755 pesos. Economist Javier Pérez Capdevila estimated that an individual needs around 96,060 pesos monthly to meet basic needs, with 70,070 pesos solely for food, a figure far exceeding any healthcare salary.

The regime itself acknowledged that the wage increase "remains insufficient to cover the basic basket of goods and services." Other healthcare workers have expressed similar outrage. One doctor called the salary increase a "global embarrassment," and another noted that the pay "doesn't even cover a package of chicken." In May, a specialist doctor left the profession because her salary was inadequate to feed her child.

The food crisis described by Trimiño Nuviola is systemic. In 2026, the Food Monitor Program reported that 96.91% of the Cuban population lacks adequate food access, and UNICEF highlighted that one in 10 Cuban children suffers from severe food poverty.

In June, the Minister of the Food Industry, Alberto López Díaz, admitted that over 100,000 children were not receiving their daily milk and that the infant supply plan was "impossible to fulfill."