An elderly man living in the Cabrera neighborhood of Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, faced rejection at his local store when attempting to collect his food ration. The reason given was his daughter residing in Brazil.
His son, Abdel Álvarez, brought attention to the incident on Facebook, sharing a photo of his father alongside a detailed account, which he described as an act of abuse.
"This man here is my dad who lives in Contramaestre. He went to receive a module that arrived at the store, and just because he has a daughter in Brazil, they told him he wasn't eligible," Álvarez wrote in his post.
Álvarez expressed his anger over the situation: "How long must we endure such repression and abuse, even against the elderly in this miserable country?"
He further noted that these modules are donations from other countries and "should be given freely," challenging the rationale behind denying a vulnerable elderly man based on a family member's residence abroad.
There is no legal basis for this denial. No published regulation in the Official Gazette states that having a relative overseas is a valid reason to withhold a food ration.
This incident is not isolated: earlier in October, journalist José L. Tan Estrada reported that the Montecarlo supermarket in Camagüey required applicants to have no family members abroad listed on their ration booklet to buy subsidized oil. In that case, the affected was a grandfather whose grandson didn’t even send remittances.
The pattern indicates that the exclusion criterion based on ties to emigrants is applied arbitrarily across different regions, lacking any official directive for support.
Both situations arise under the new social protection model approved by the National Assembly in June 2026, which replaced universal subsidies with targeted assistance for individuals deemed vulnerable by multidisciplinary groups within local councils.
Under this scheme, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced that more than 883,000 people would receive a monthly module consisting of five pounds of rice — a donation from China, provided free of charge — one pound of sugar, and one pound of peas, guaranteed until January 2027.
In Santiago de Cuba, authorities identified 101,359 vulnerable individuals — over 10% of the provincial population — served by 154 designated stores across the nine municipalities. Of these, 25 are located in Contramaestre, where Álvarez's father was denied assistance.
Nationally, the regime selected 1,913 stores to distribute the modules to those classified as vulnerable. Decisions on eligibility are made by these local groups, with no known appeals process or transparently published criteria.
Cuba has over a million emigrants. Many families on the island rely on remittances, but others, like the elderly man from Contramaestre, do not receive external support and are nonetheless penalized due to familial connections, in a country where food shortages have become a daily crisis.
Understanding the Impact of Cuba's Social Policies on Vulnerable Populations
Why was the elderly man denied a food module?
He was denied the food module because his daughter lives in Brazil, which was used as a reason to exclude him, despite the lack of official regulations supporting such a decision.
Are there official rules about food module distribution in Cuba?
No, there are no published rules in the Official Gazette that justify denying food modules based on having relatives abroad. The practice appears to be applied arbitrarily without official backing.
What is Cuba's new social protection model?
The new model, approved in 2026, replaces universal subsidies with targeted assistance for individuals classified as vulnerable by local multidisciplinary groups. It aims to offer focused support to those in need.