Cuba’s suffering has never been greater, leading prelate says

May 22, 2026

The president of the Cuban Bishops’ Conference said that “Cuba is suffering” and that “this is the saddest and most difficult time that I am aware of in the history of my people.”

“Every day that passes, we feel that it is more difficult to live, especially for the poor, the elderly who live alone, pensioners, and single mothers,” Bishop Arturo González Amador of Santa Clara told Aid to the Church in Need. “There are people who come to us and tell us that they haven’t eaten for days, and they don’t know who to go to for help.”

The prelate explained that “the food can’t be preserved because of lack of electricity, and we have seen people collapsing.” In some hospitals, “they have stopped doing operations because they don’t have water, let alone surgical equipment.”

Bishop González made his remarks four months after the imposition of a fuel blockade against the Communist nation. The prelate also discussed the prospect of a U.S. invasion.

“People’s daily lives are marked by a great fear,” he said. “They are constantly talking about it, and this is a particular source of anguish for children and for the elderly.”

 

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Further information:

• Head of bishops’ conference asks that Cuba not be forgotten (Aid to the Church in Need, 5/18/26)