The measure was approved on Wednesday and will take effect on September 1.
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 8 August 2025 — A liter of oil, a kilogram of powdered milk, a pound and a half of pork… Cuban retirees don’t think about numbers when asked how much their pensions will increase , but rather what they will be able to buy with it in well-stocked private stores. This is a common sentiment among those interviewed for this report, along with something else: they all think the increase, announced last month by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and implemented with the resolution published this Wednesday in the Official Gazette, won’t do much good.
“Prices are so high that this increase isn’t significant for basic needs, especially food,” says Manuel, a 68-year-old retiree from a state-owned commerce company who will benefit from the measure. In his case, he earns 1,500 pesos, and starting September 1—with payment at the end of August—his pension will reach 3,000. “For me, that doesn’t mean much; maybe a bag of milk or a bottle of oil, and that’s it.”
Still, he considers himself lucky because he has a daughter who sends him money from abroad. “Pensioners who have no other option, who aren’t healthy enough to find work to supplement their income, or who don’t have remittances, are destined to suffer hardship.”
“Pensioners without remittances are destined to suffer hardship.”
This is the case for Dulce, a Ministry of Culture pensioner. Her skepticism and annoyance are immense, after months of waiting to receive the oil from the bodega (ration store), thanks to her ration book. “Small bottles for single-person households didn’t arrive, and now I have to wait for several shipments to fill a bottle so I can buy it,” she laments, adding ironically: “So I’ll use the extra money to buy the oil from an MSME [small private business].”
As established by law, an increase of 1,528 pesos is established for pensions up to 2,472 pesos, as well as an increase to to 4,000 pesos for pensions between 2,473 and 3,999 pesos. As for pensions due to death—such as widowhood or orphanhood—which also increase, they will be “recalculated” based on the deceased’s updated pension based on the number of beneficiaries: 70% more if there is one, 85% if there are two, and 100% if there are three or more.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Benito Rey González, told the official press that citizens entitled to more than one Social Security pension “will receive the increase in the amount of their unified pension.”
“Not even if they raise it to 4,000 pesos, or 5,000, or 6,000, or 7,000,” exclaims Olivia, a retiree from the Ministry of Education. “None of that can solve a problem for someone who has worked for 30 or 40 years.” She is particularly bothered by the attempt to sell this as an achievement. “In every country in the world, that money comes out of your salary, monthly, that’s why they deduct it, and from taxes for other workers. It’s not the State that gives it away.”
“In every country in the world, that money comes out of your salary; it’s not the State that gives it away.”
Despite 37 years of uninterrupted work, she tells 14ymedio, Olivia was left with a minimal pension. “They raised my pension a little on the first go-round, and then they raised it a little bit more, to 1,500 pesos,” she says. And she adds, resigned: “Well, the law is the law. You have to accept it, because everything they tell you has to be accepted. What are you going to do? Where are you going to complain? But I really don’t think that’s going to solve anything, when a pound of milk costs 1,200 or 1,300 pesos. That’s a mouthful for all the hunger and misery experienced by the elderly in this country.”
María’s pension increase, which has so far been 1,400 pesos, will be paid to a friend of hers. A resident of the United States, she prefers it to be received in Havana, “where they face so many hardships.” This is quite common: retirees who no longer live in Cuba continue to receive their pensions through third parties.
In a climate of extreme poverty, solidarity among citizens is a last resort. In this regard, Tania, a resident of Central Havana, says she helps her 96-year-old neighbor, who earns 300 pesos less than her: 1,200. “I’m not one to go to church and give a tithe; I try to help the people who come to me because I know they use it and need it,” she explains. She adds: “When I found out about the increase, I was happier for her than for myself. She’s an elderly woman, very sweet, very polite, from a very good family, but she worked very little, in a kitchen, and they left her with the bare minimum.”
The elderly woman lives in her home with her two daughters, who are also pensioners on the bare minimum. This is not only evidence of the hardships suffered by those over 60 in Cuba, but also one of the island’s main problems: the aging population.
Leonardo, a former police officer, won’t get a raise, as he earns 4,000 pesos. “With 26 years of service and loss of sight.” Disappointed, he approached a colleague at the Ministry of the Interior, who assured him: “We’re looking into it to see if there’s a small raise for December.”
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