The Contramaestre family seen in a video of children who said they had eaten sweet potato peels and leaves lives in a rural area of Contramaestre, in Santiago de Cuba province, according to the person who recorded the footage and sent it to Cubanos por el Mundo through WhatsApp. A new video shows conditions inside the home and asks for specific help: a bed, a chair and shoes for the girls.
The person who submitted the footage says the household includes a pregnant mother, three girls, a young boy and a father who uses a wheelchair and has no legs. Cubanos por el Mundo has not independently verified those details. The location is also attributed to that source.
What the new video shows
The recording, which runs just over a minute, shows wooden plank walls, a dirt floor and clothing hanging from nails or stored in cardboard boxes. The father sits on a mattress on the floor, with a wheelchair in a corner. A few plates and plastic cups rest on a cracked wooden table.
The text accompanying the video describes a family lacking basic necessities and urges viewers to help. One of the girls appears eating near the end of the recording. Cubanos por el Mundo blurs children’s faces to protect their identities and is withholding the home’s exact address.
How to help the Contramaestre family
The person who provided the video shared a Cuban phone number for direct contact: +53 5261 3020. The stated needs are a bed, a chair and shoes for the girls.
Cubanos por el Mundo is not collecting money or donations for this case. Anyone considering assistance should speak directly with the contact and confirm how it can reach the family. People in Contramaestre, or anyone who knows the family, can also reach our newsroom privately on WhatsApp at +1 (305) 600-3108.
An appeal to respect the children’s privacy
The person who brought the case to public attention asked that the story not be used to fuel arguments or gossip. The stated purpose was to help the family, while respecting the children’s privacy and the family’s dignity.
That request remains central to the coverage: the report identifies the area described by the source without publishing the household’s exact address or identifying the children.
The earlier video and the wider food crisis
Cubanos por el Mundo first reported on the children’s video on October 16, after Alex Otaola showed it on his program. In that recording, several children said they had eaten sweet potato peels and leaves, and one said he was hungry.
The new information follows that initial appeal to reach the family. It adds a location and a description of the Contramaestre family’s household from the person who submitted the material; it does not eliminate the need for independent verification.
A 2024 UNICEF report on child food poverty put severe food poverty among children in Cuba at 9%. That same year, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights estimated that 89% of the population lived in extreme poverty, based on 1,148 interviews across 78 municipalities, according to the observatory’s findings reported by Bloomberg Línea.
Our newsroom has also covered a girl asking for money for food in a park and pregnant women reporting inadequate hospital meals in Santiago de Cuba. Those reports provide broader context, rather than independent corroboration of this household’s circumstances.
Frei Betto’s earlier advice on eating peels
The footage has also drawn attention back to advice offered on Cuban state television by Brazilian Dominican friar Frei Betto, an adviser to the Cuban government on nutrition education. In March 2022, CPM reported his recommendation to use potato peels, including frying them as a snack.
He also discussed making sweets from melon rind and using leaves rather than throwing them away, according to Diario Las Américas. Those remarks are historical context and were not a response to this family’s case.
CPM will continue reporting if the Contramaestre family receives assistance or additional information about its circumstances becomes available.
American English adaptation of our original Spanish-language follow-up. Featured image: editorial illustration, not a documentary photograph, created for Cubanos por el Mundo. Images within the article are frames from the submitted footage, with children’s faces blurred.
