José Luis Amate López stood in his nearly empty bodega in central Havana in late April, shelves that once overflowed with subsidized food now bare after almost two weeks without a single customer among the 5,000 clients who depend on the state-run store. As Cuba's economy collapses and prices soar, the government ration books that more than six decades ago provided families with a healthy diet for an entire month are now shrinking to the point of irrelevance, leaving a growing number of Cubans unable to afford alternatives and struggling to survive on meager salaries in a socialist country of nearly 10 million where basic goods increasingly are sold in U.S. dollars. "No Cuban can truly survive on the products from the ration book anymore," Amate López said.
Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro established the ration book, known as "la libreta," in the early 1960s. It offered heavily subsidized goods ranging from milk to fish and even cigarettes, and Cubans knew their assigned bodega would be stocked with everything they needed by the first of the month. The ration book shrank during the "Special Period," when Soviet aid plummeted about three decades ago and deprivation hit Cuba. During that time, Cubans lost an average of 5% to 25% of their body weight, according to one study published in a medical journal, with goods including bread, milk, eggs and chicken in scarce quantities. Even so, many Cubans who lived through that period say the current situation is worse.
A System Stripped Bare
Amate López recalled that his assigned bodega was so full decades ago "you could barely walk." It is now an empty room with dusty old posters detailing the prices and amounts of nearly two dozen goods no longer available, including yogurt, pasta and bars of soap. Two industrial freezers once packed with meat and chicken now serve only to keep Amate López's water bottle cold. In April, the only items he had available to sell were rice, sugar and split chickpeas.
Cuban teens turning 15, a landmark birthday in Latin America, used to receive cake and several cases of beer. Now they only get 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) of ground beef. The government recently opted to celebrate those turning 65 by awarding them sardines, a bar of soap and a package of toilet paper. But Amate López said he does not have those items.
Seniors and Workers Struggle to Eat
Havana resident Ana Enamorado, 68, said she was only able to buy split chickpeas and 2 pounds (1 kilogram) of sugar at her assigned bodega in April. She said she struggles to buy the remaining basic goods at small, privately owned stores known as "mipymes" with her salary and pension totaling some 8,000 Cuban pesos ($16) a month. A carton of 30 eggs costs roughly 3,000 pesos ($125), 2 pounds of meat hash are nearly 900 pesos ($37) and 1 pound of cornmeal is roughly 200 pesos ($8). "There's hardly anything in the ration book. We're practically living off air," Enamorado said. She said her lunches and dinners are a rotation of rice, seasoned ground meat and cornmeal, or sometimes nothing at all, and recalled once being able to eat pork, lamb, fricassee, fried plantain slices and red beans and rice. "Now we have to cut back, have one meal a day and live on memories," Enamorado said.
Cuba imports up to 80% of the food it consumes, including goods offered at state stores that are increasingly unavailable given a lack of government resources. William LeoGrande, a professor at American University who has tracked Cuba for years, said the government does not have the money to do it anymore and that "Things come in an ad hoc way." LeoGrande said the government "bungled" the 2021 merging of two Cuban currencies and the resulting inflation has persisted because the state spends far more money than it takes in. He said the government has to stop printing money and balance its budget without drastically cutting social services, a challenge since the bulk of state funds is spent on health, education, social welfare and food imports. "Any major cuts in state spending are going to have a profound social impact, which is why they haven't done it," LeoGrande said, and added that the government's investment in tourism is "way higher" than the demand for tourism, which has plummeted.
Remittances Create Inequality
In recent years, Cuba's government has talked about subsidizing people in need instead of goods, which LeoGrande said would free up money to import fuel, medicine and other items. But many Cubans still depend on their ration books while the island's crises deepen as severe power outages, petroleum shortages and a U.S. energy blockade persist. Cuban comedians have spoofed the ration book, creating a character named "Pánfilo" who sings a rhyming chorus in a recent video posted online: "Place the notebook in a cemetery, because it's ready to be buried."
On a recent sunny afternoon, Lázaro Cuesta, 56, stood in line to receive a daily allowance of two small bread rolls for him and his wife. He said, "Before it was 80 grams and cost 5 (Cuban) cents. Now it's 40 grams and costs 75 cents," and added, "And the quality is worse." Cuesta works in food preparation and earns 6,000 Cuban pesos ($250) a month. His wife, a retired nurse, receives 4,800 pesos in monthly pension. They also receive $200 a month from her brother and daughter who live abroad. Cuesta said the remittances allow them to eat avocados, eggs and red beans and rice, and said, "If not for the remittances," while grabbing his neck with his right hand, "hang yourself."
Roughly 60% of Cubans on the island receive remittances, but Rosa Rodríguez, 54, of Havana is not one of them. Rodríguez said, "Everything is scarce here — everything — even that wretched bread they give us." She earns 4,000 Cuban pesos ($8) a month, which she said isn't a bad salary for Cuba, but "no matter how hard you work, it's simply not enough." Rodríguez said the only product she obtained at her assigned bodega in April was a donation of 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) of rice, while she struggles to buy other basic goods. She said, "If you buy beans, then you can't buy sugar," noting that most of her salary is spent on a large carton of eggs. Rodríguez said, "If I retire, I die."
Why This Matters:
The collapse of Cuba's ration system represents a profound failure of social protection for nearly 10 million people, with seniors like Ana Enamorado surviving on $16 a month and workers like Rosa Rodríguez earning just $8 monthly while food prices spiral beyond reach. The crisis reveals how economic mismanagement in the fifth year since currency reforms, combined with a U.S. energy blockade and declining tourism, has left vulnerable populations without adequate safety nets. The stark divide between the roughly 60% of Cubans receiving remittances from abroad and those like Rodríguez who have no family support highlights growing inequality in access to basic nutrition. As the government struggles to balance its budget without cutting health, education and social welfare spending, millions face impossible choices between beans and sugar, or eating once a day versus not at all, while the institutions meant to ensure food security prove unable to fulfill their most basic function.