The figure is disastrous for a country that ten years ago had nearly four million people, and that before 1959 boasted almost one cow per person.
14ymedio, Havana, 12 February 2025 — After ten months of inspections and raids against cattle thieves in Cuba’s fields, the Ministry of Agriculture offered this Wednesday a global result: there are 2,914,009 cows left on the Island. The figure is disastrous for a country that ten years ago had about four million, and that before 1959 – with a population of six million inhabitants – boasted of having almost one cow per person.
This January, the official State newspaper Granma reports, the “extensive monitoring exercise” that has kept the inspectors of each province busy since March 2024 was completed. Yudith Almeida Núñez, head of the Ministry’s Livestock Registry Department, revealed that the illegalities detected throughout the country totaled 181,854, with 1,128 cases remaining in Pinar del Río, Mayabeque and Las Tunas. Most have to do with owners who left the country, died or are imprisoned, while their cattle continue to be illegally cared for by other people.
Almeida also said that 43,143 undeclared births had been registered, plus many other cases – she did not give a precise number – of “illegal sales, unregistered animals, missing animals, undocumented deaths* and theft.”
Most have to do with owners who left the country, died or are imprisoned, while their cattle continue to be illegally cared for by other people
The inspectors visited 191,802 owners – 188,338 natural persons and 3,464 legal entities – although there is a minimum percentage left to complete in Las Tunas. Most cattle are in cooperatives, although there are some companies that raise “herds of high genetic value” – pure breeds brought from abroad and born in Cuba – with only a few specimens.
After providing the numbers, Granma points out the obvious as a surprise: “For several years, this category has shown a tendency to decrease in mass.” However, it attributes the fall of the sector to changes in breeding technologies, whose standards Cuba cannot meet due to lack of inputs, and, of course, to theft and slaughter.
Las Tunas, the province in which the inspections have not yet ended, complained just a few weeks ago that crimes, despite the State raids, had increased by 10% compared to 2023. The local newspaper did not quantify the damage but stated that theft, in addition to slaughter and robbery with violence – in a context in which the ranchers have little or no protection against the raiders – were common facts in Las Tunas.
Despite the results of the livestock census, Almeida did not say if the Ministry will take more severe measures than those it has executed so far, which have not served to deter the butchers. The reports in the official press, which ended with the “moral” of a fine or even several years in prison, have not achieved the desired effect either.
The persecution of the guilty – documented every week by the official press – has become a matter of State in recent years
The latest data provided by the Ministry on livestock crimes on the Island were from 2022. In that inventory, at the head of illegal slaughter was Villa Clara with 12,243 animals in 2022, and Holguín, with 9,825, followed by Matanzas, with 8,150.
In 1985 there were just over five million cattle in Cuba. The brief period from 2006 to 2014 is the only time the livestock mass recovered slightly, going from 3.7 million to 4.1 million. From that moment on, the fall has been constant.
In 1959, there were 5.1 million cattle for the 6.5 million inhabitants of the Island. From that date, the cattle mass began a remarkable rise that reached its peak in 1967, when it reached 7.1 million, under the Soviet subsidy. Although the population had already increased to 8.4 million Cubans, the ratio changed little: from 0.78 cows per person to 0.84. But from then on, after fleeting recoveries, the fall was sustained.
This Tuesday’s data – 2.9 million cows per 10 million inhabitants – give a ratio of 0.29 cows per person and confirm what Cubans have been living for years: beef is a thing of the past.
*See also “Male Heifers and Cow Suicide” — an eye-witness report from 2008.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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