A Cuban mother with two young children recorded the moment when officers from the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) escorted the alleged owners of the home she had occupied to proceed with her eviction. The video captured by the mother showed the confrontation with the purported homeowners demanding her to leave, followed by the arrival of two PNR patrol cars.
The incident was reported on Facebook by a user named Marvelis González and took place on Tuesday, September 17. It appears the mother had no place to live and had therefore occupied a vacant house. “Today, September 17, 2024, a desperate woman named Bárbara Rodríguez Bonachea, with a child in her arms, is being evicted at 112 Libertadores Street, between Tristá and San Cristóbal streets, Raúl Sancho neighborhood (El Condado), Santa Clara municipality, Villa Clara province,” the user posted.
According to González's now-deleted post, Rodríguez Bonachea had occupied the house out of desperation, “because she has nowhere to live with her two children.” González criticized the police and the neighbors, stating, “The police have been there and have done nothing [to help her]. They just want the woman to leave with her children to the street, and all the people there [the neighbors] are telling her to go.”
Filmed from inside the house, the video showed the mother had barricaded the door with a table to prevent entry by the claimants. Holding her youngest child in her arms, she used the child as a human shield to deter any violent actions by the police and the alleged owners. The audio in the video suggested that the young man urging her to leave was the son of the property owner. The mother stated that the young man did not live in the house but stayed with his mother. Given the house was unoccupied, she believed she could take it over due to her dire situation with young children.
Legal and Social Ramifications
González denounced the event as an “eviction,” saying, “Look at what happens in Cuba, where they supposedly say there are no evictions. Look at that woman breaking the window and telling that mother with her two children to get out into the street.” González's supportive posts were removed from Facebook for unknown reasons. As of this writing, the current status of Rodríguez Bonachea and her children remains unclear, as well as any further actions taken by the authorities beyond sending the police, and the final outcome of the conflict.
In 2023, the Cuban regime strengthened legal measures against the illegal occupation of homes or state properties, a phenomenon that has surged amid the housing crisis and mass migration from the island. The Supreme People's Court published the Ruling 471 of 2023 in the Official Gazette, which includes guidelines for handling the crime of Usurpation under Article 421 of the Penal Code.
Increasing Housing Crisis
Despite these measures, increasing poverty and social exclusion, coupled with the largest migration wave in Cuban history, have led to a rise in the occupation of vacant homes and properties on the island, some privately owned and many state-owned. In late July, a group of mothers with 19 children, a bedridden individual, and a pregnant young woman faced eviction from the former Ice Factory in Santiago de Cuba, which they had occupied since May due to severe housing issues. Independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada reported on Facebook that the group had taken over the old building, previously used as a dump, out of frustration with the government's false promises and delays in providing housing solutions.
Other Eviction Incidents
Days earlier, a Cuban man reported the eviction of his octogenarian grandmother from her home in Bayamo, Granma, condemning the National Police's (PNR) refusal to accept his complaint, claiming his grandmother had been scammed by individuals posing as police and housing authorities. Libia Sablon Aguilera, 83, suffered a hip fracture during the eviction and had a stroke due to the violent and distressing situation.
In May, a young Cuban couple with three sick children reported living in precarious conditions without receiving any government aid, which led them to occupy a house, although they did not disclose details about the property. “We are in a house because we have nowhere else to go; we have no home,” the young father stated, while the mother criticized that Cuban authorities do not help mothers with children and threaten them with eviction.