Luggage Arrives Days Late and Ransacked: Cuban Family Reports Theft from Elderly Woman in Havana

This Monday, a Cuban family expressed their outrage on social media, alleging theft of an elderly woman's luggage at Havana's José Martí International Airport. The incident occurred after her belongings arrived late and were discovered ransacked. According to a Facebook post by someone identified as LeydisYoel Silva, her grandmother traveled from Miami to Havana with securely packed luggage. However, upon reaching Cuba, her bags did not accompany her, forcing her to wait two days before they were delivered—a common issue on charter flights, where excess baggage often leaves many passengers' luggage behind in the U.S. Upon retrieval, it was evident the bags had been tampered with and items stolen.

"I question, where is the compassion for an elderly person who brings her medications, especially since Cuba lacks essential supplies?" the complainant wrote, emphasizing that vital items were missing from her grandmother's luggage. The family also criticized the lack of responses and the absence of a system to file complaints in such cases: "Who can we approach for answers? We spend significant money on these trips, and in the end, they are nothing but authorized thieves," the post continued.

Seeking further help, the family reached out to CiberCuba to report the incident and request assistance in spreading their story. They mentioned they are from the Isle of Youth and that the luggage delay forced them to stay in Havana for two days, only to be informed their bags had arrived on Sunday.

"Once we went to Terminal 2 at José Martí International Airport, the luggage was already opened, and several items were stolen. We received no explanation. I believe they took advantage of my grandmother traveling alone; it's an abuse against an elderly person who relied on those medications. I'm ashamed that such things happen in Cuba," they declared.

Incidents like these are frequently reported by travelers entering Cuba through José Martí Airport, where complaints about retained, ransacked, or missing luggage have been on the rise in recent years. Without an effective claims system and with the economic crisis exacerbating corruption at airport terminals, passengers find themselves vulnerable to these abuses.

The operational chaos at Abel Santamaría International Airport in Santa Clara was highlighted on social media last January, with videos and images emerging of congested hallways filled with luggage, particularly from travelers coming from the United States. Univision 23 journalist Mario Vallejo shared images depicting clear disorder in luggage handling and expressed his disbelief upon verifying the scenes' authenticity.

"Really? When these images were sent to me, I couldn't believe it. I had to make calls to Santa Clara airport to convince myself it wasn't an AI-generated montage," the journalist remarked, pointing to charter flight operations as the root of the problem. This issue arose amid the Cuban government's extension of the tariff exemption for importing food, hygiene products, and medicines by travelers arriving in the country.

In a related incident in February, a flight departing Cuba for the United States carried merely six passengers, who had the entire plane to themselves. This unusual event was shared on TikTok by a user named Christian, one of the six travelers, who expressed his disbelief and admitted to not understanding why the aircraft was empty.

"The business is in the plane's belly," commented an online user known as Cubanito 2025 in the comments section of one of the shared videos. Many Cubans believe it was a charter flight devoid of passengers but packed with packages sent by agencies for businesses on the Island.