PHOTO ESSAY: Elderly Cubans cope with a deepening economic crisis

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba’s elderly are among those bearing the heaviest burden of the island’s deepening economic crisis, which has worsened since the start of the year after an oil embargo imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Even before the latest downturn, Cuba already had one of the oldest populations in Latin America, shaped by long life expectancy and low birth rates.

By the end of 2024, nearly 26% of Cuba’s population was age 60 or older, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics, almost twice the regional average of 14.2% reported by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Many are former state workers living on meager pensions, facing 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 because of migration.

The island's elderly were young when Fidel Castro entered Havana. Now, in old age, they are confronting a new period of scarcity that is testing how far pensions, rationed goods and personal resilience can stretch. The impact is visible in daily life: Elderly people walk the streets alone, stand in long lines for bread and rice, and increasingly depend on churches and some state institutions for basic meals.

One such place is the Church of the Holy Spirit in Old Havana, where 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, the meals offer more than nourishment. They provide a small measure of routine, relief and company during long days of shortages, outages and solitude.

Among them was Mercedes Lopez Rey, a retired engineer who until her death went to the church three times a week as worsening conditions made daily life increasingly difficult. Lopez also picked up food for her friend Julia Barcelo, who had breast cancer and was unable to leave her home.

Another regular is Carmen Casado, an 84-year-old retired chemical engineer who depends on the meals because her monthly pension of 2,000 Cuban pesos is worth about $4 at the informal exchange rate used by many Cubans. She has no children, receives no remittances from relatives abroad, and lives alone on the upper floors of a deteriorating 19th-century building, one of many in Havana showing the strain of age and neglect. Despite the poverty and loneliness, she still places her faith in the government and blames the island’s hardships on the United States.

This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

Follow the AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

An elderly man makes his way in his wheelchair while a friend walks a bicycle beside him, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Carmen Casado, 84, sits on her bed in her home in Old Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mercedes Lopez Rey, 83, stands in her bathroom, holding open a patio door as a visitor leaves her one-room apartment in Old Havana, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mercedes Lopez Rey, 83, right, visits with her friend Julia Barcelo, 83, who is recovering from breast cancer treatment, after bringing her a meal from a church-sponsored program, in Old Havana. Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mercedes Lopez Rey, 83, carries a meal from a church-sponsored program to a homebound friend, in Old Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Seen through the window of a passing American classic car, seniors stand in line to buy bread in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Carmen Casado, 84, looks through her wardrobe at her home in Old Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A woman steps over a puddle while walking through Old Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Julia Barcelo, 83, who is recovering from breast cancer treatment, and a visiting relative watch television at her home in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

An elderly man who has an amputated leg rides a hand-powered tricycle in Old Havana. Cuba, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Carlos Lugo, 82, shows off a pair of jeans he received from charity before entering the dining hall adjacent to the Church of the Holy Spirit, where a church-run program offers free meals to seniors three times a week, in Old Havana, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Elderly residents arrive at the Church of the Holy Spirit to receive free meals provided through a church-run program held three times a week, in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mercedes Lopez Rey, 83, walks past uncollected trash on her way to her one-room apartment in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Maribel Ezcurra, 77, a retired milling machine mechanic, practices tai chi with fellow seniors in a park in the Playa neighborhood of Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mercedes Lopez Rey holds a framed cyanotype with an image of the late Cuban President Fidel Castro and prayer cards tucked into the edges of the frame, in her home in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Carmen Casado, 84, is served a free meal of ground meat, rice, red beans and crackers through a program run by the Church of the Holy Spirit at a dining hall adjacent to the church in Old Havana, Cuba, Thursday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mercedes Lopez Rey, 83, center front, and other elderly residents wait to be served a free meal in a dining hall adjacent to Church of the Holy Spirit where seniors gather three times a week for a free meal, in Old Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Iris Cecilia Ramirez runs errands in Old Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Elderly residents watch a tai chi class for seniors at the Belen Convent in Old Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mercedes Lopez Rey, 83, holds out her cup to be filled with water in a dining hall adjacent to the Church of the Holy Spirit, where a church-run program provides free meals to seniors three times a week, in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mercedes Lopez Rey, 83, stands in her one-room apartment in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A photo of the late Cuban President Fidel Castro sits alongside photos of Mercedes Lopez Rey’s family on a bedside table at the 83-year-old’s home in Old Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

HAVANA (AP) — On a recent afternoon, a group of elderly residents slipped through the wooden doors of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Old Havana and gathered for a modest meal of ground meat, rice, red beans and crackers topped with mayonnaise — all finished with a cup of strong Cuban coffee.

“May the Lord bless from his height, the meal our belly will take with delight,” they chanted in unison before beginning their lunch, a ritual that takes place three times a week in the dining hall adjacent to the church.

Among the nearly 50 elderly people was Carmen Casado, an 84-year-old retired chemical engineer who attends without fail. Her monthly pension of 2,000 Cuban pesos is equivalent to $4 at the informal exchange rate that people use on a daily basis. She lives alone, has no children and does not receive remittances from relatives abroad.

She says the church meals are a needed supplement to the meager rations, such as bread, rice and beans, that she can obtain for free from state-run stores, or bodegas.

“This is a lifeline for us retirees with small pensions," said Casado, speaking in a rapid-fire tone. “What we get from the bodegas alone is not enough.”

The elderly are among the hardest hit by the severe economic crisis on the island, which has worsened dramatically since the beginning of the year following an oil embargo imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Most are former government employees — teachers, doctors, nurses, technicians, custodians, lawyers — whose pensions are usually less than $10 a month and who must face cuts to the basket of goods that have been subsidized for decades, as well as the loneliness brought on by the growing emigration of young people.

They were young when Fidel Castro entered Havana and lived through all the major events on the island, from the Bay of Pigs invasion to U.S. President Barack Obama shaking the hand of Raúl Castro in 2016.

Now, their revolutionary spirit is being tested in the latest crisis, which is forcing them to sell cigarettes on the streets, line up for a loaf of bread and seek free meals offered by churches and some state institutions.

After lunch, Casado walked the four blocks home to tend to household chores she still performs without assistance. Her home is on the second and top floors of a 19th-century building that, like many in the capital, is falling apart.

Born in 1942, Casado was a teenager when the revolution led by Castro triumphed. Her life has spanned the island’s most defining moments, from the 1962 Missile Crisis to the so-called Special Period following the collapse of the Soviet Union. She also lived through the 1970s and 80s, when the island's economy was heavily subsidized by the Soviets and when the Cuban system seemed to promise a brighter future.

“This is our life; we were born and raised here,” she said.

Even before the economic crisis worsened and before the wave of emigration over the past five years, Cuba was already one of the countries with the oldest populations in Latin America, a trend nudged further by high life expectancy and low birth rates.

According to Cuba's National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2024, almost 26% of the population was aged 60 or older. That is almost twice the regional average of 14.2% in the same year, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, CEPAL.

The last five years have seen a population decline in Cuba of nearly 1.5 million, primarily due to migration. The number of Cubans residing on the island, which stood at 11.1 million, has fallen to just 9.7 million.

The impact of the crisis and the exodus of youth is visible at a glance. Elderly people walk the streets alone —some rummaging through trash, others standing in long lines for the bread and rice provided by the ration book, the basic subsidized foods the state guarantees to every Cuban.

The plight of the elderly is so critical that the government recently authorized private entrepreneurs to operate elder care services and residential facilities, a move marking a significant departure from the island’s traditional model of total state control.

Casado insists that she is still privileged. She is mentally sharp and has no physical impairments — she doesn’t even use a cane — and manages entirely on her own. Her only medication is half a tablet for blood pressure, which, “so far,” remains available at the state-run pharmacies.

Despite the poverty and loneliness, she continues to have faith in the government and blames the country’s woes on the United States.

“We’re doing everything we can here to move the country forward,” she said. “But the thing is, we have a very powerful enemy, and he’s right there, right on our doorstep."

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

A photo of the late Cuban President Fidel Castro sits alongside photos of Mercedes Lopez Rey’s family on a bedside table at the 83-year-old’s home in Old Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

An elderly man makes his way in his wheelchair while a friend walks a bicycle beside him, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mercedes Lopez Rey, 83, carries a meal from a church-sponsored program to a homebound friend, in Old Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Elderly residents watch a tai chi class for seniors at the Belen Convent in Old Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mercedes Lopez Rey, 83, stands in her one-room apartment in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)