A photo essay by Associated Press photographers captures the plight of elderly Cubans as they grapple with the island's deepening economic crisis, exacerbated by a U.S. oil embargo imposed by President Donald Trump earlier this year.
Demographic Pressures
Even before the latest downturn, Cuba had one of the oldest populations in Latin America, with long life expectancy and low birth rates. By the end of 2024, nearly 26% of the population was aged 60 or older, according to the National Bureau of Statistics—almost double the regional average of 14.2% reported by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Daily Struggles
Many elderly Cubans are former state workers living on meager pensions. They face cuts to long-subsidized goods and increasing loneliness as younger Cubans continue to emigrate. Over the past five years, Cuba’s population has fallen by nearly 1.5 million, largely due to migration. The elderly, who were young when Fidel Castro entered Havana, now confront a new era of scarcity that tests the limits of pensions, rationed goods, and personal resilience. They walk the streets alone, stand in long lines for bread and rice, and increasingly depend on churches and state institutions for basic meals.
Church Meals Provide Relief
At the Church of the Holy Spirit in Old Havana, nearly 50 elderly residents gather three times a week for a modest hot meal of ground meat, rice, red beans, and crackers topped with mayonnaise. For many, these meals offer more than nourishment—they provide routine, relief, and company during long days of shortages, power outages, and solitude. Among them was Mercedes Lopez Rey, a retired engineer who until her death attended the church three times a week, also picking up food for her friend Julia Barcelo, who had breast cancer and was unable to leave home.
Personal Stories
Carmen Casado, an 84-year-old retired chemical engineer, depends on these meals because her monthly pension of 2,000 Cuban pesos is worth about $4 at the informal exchange rate. She has no children, receives no remittances from abroad, and lives alone in a deteriorating 19th-century building in Havana. Despite poverty and loneliness, she maintains faith in the government and blames the island's hardships on the United States.
