MIAMI, United States. – Pablo Vega, known as Pablito, a blind retiree who worked for more than 30 years at the Acopio company, died after being beaten and assaulted after withdrawing his pension from an ATM, according to reported on Facebook the user identified as Kiryat Poey. The incident, which occurred last Friday at dawn, adds to other recent episodes of violence against vulnerable people on the Island, in a context of growing social and economic precariousness.
According to the aforementioned publication, Vega “had lost his sight due to diabetes and, even so, he continued to face life with dignity.” He lived alone, although “always close to his brothers and family, who did not abandon him and constantly extended their hand to him.” He received a monthly pension of 2,800 Cuban pesos (CUP), which “was barely enough for his medications and some food.”
According to the story spread on social networks, on Friday he got up at 4:00 in the morning to wait in line at the bank due to the shortage of cash and the precariousness of the ATMs. While he was waiting, “some young people saw him” and “instead of respecting his condition as a blind and old man, they brutally beat him and took the little money he had with him.”
The publication states that Vega managed to return to his home alive and that his sisters, seeing him beaten, immediately took him to the doctor. “But today [lunes 23 de febrero]Unfortunately, he died as a result of the blows received,” the text states.
To date, there is no official report from the authorities about the incident or public information about the identification or arrest of the alleged aggressors.
The complaint concludes: “This is not just an isolated event. It is a painful reflection of the violence that our elderly are suffering.” And he adds: “Violence against the elderly cannot continue to be part of our reality.”
The case occurs amid persistent difficulties in accessing cash at state banks, a situation that has caused long lines at branches across the country, especially among retirees who depend on their cash pensions to purchase food and medicine.
The episode also recalls other recent acts of violence against people in vulnerable situations. On February 20, the independent newspaper 14ymedio reported on the death of Agustín, a homeless man known as Bin Laden, in Cárdenas, Matanzas, after he was allegedly set on fire by an 18-year-old young man while he was sleeping on the street.
According to that report, the suspect was arrested, although “the authorities have not published a comprehensive official report about the event or the procedural status of the detainee.”
14ymedio stated that the attack was reported on social networks by the user Christian Arbolaez and that the victim was initially transferred to a hospital in Cárdenas and then to the “Faustino Pérez” University Hospital, where he died due to the severity of the burns.
Although the Government avoids the term homelessness and uses the expression “people with wandering behavior,” even the official press has recognized the phenomenon. A newspaper report Workers revealed that between 2014 and 2023, at least 3,690 people were registered in this situation, cared for by the social assistance system.
In 2025, the then Minister of Labor and Social Security, Marta Elena Feitó, publicly denied the existence of beggars in Cuba. After the public reaction to her statements, the official was removed from office.
