Cubans get free haircuts on a square in Havana amid economic crisis

(29 May 2026) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Havana, Cuba – 28 May 2026 1. Hand with scissors cutting hair 2. Men sitting on chairs and benches on a square having their hair cut 3. Barber grooming a mustache 4. Barber shaving a man’s head 5. Men having a haircut at the square 6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Miguel Alexis Pedroso Valladare, apprentice barber: “We are looking into helping the community while doing something that will train us because we want to be artists in our profession.” 7. Men having a haircut 8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Andres Taravera Calvo, barber instructor: “The main objective is to help the community. Nowadays, there are situations in the country where some barber shops have to raise service costs, making them unaffordable to many people. In our case, as part of the project, anyone can come here for a free haircut and shave. I think that based on this we can achieve many other things.” 9. Men having a haircut 10. Man having a shave 11. Taravera instructs a student barber 12. Square with barbers and customers STORYLINE: A group of barbers in Havana found a way to improve their skills while providing a much-needed service to the people of the Cuban capital. They gather in a downtown square equipped with mirrors, electric shavers, and scissors to cut hair and groom beards for free for a population that is struggling amid hardship. For Cubans facing power outages and water shortages, personal hygiene has become a problem, especially among the most vulnerable groups. “The main objective is to help the community,” said Andrés Talavera Calvo. He teaches about seven young apprentices the secrets of haircuts, shaves, and styling. The group sets up every Thursday in Plaza San Juan de Dios and every Tuesday in Plaza La Maestranza, offering beauty services to anyone who stops by. Most of the clients are older people, mostly men who also get a shave, but if a woman wants a simple haircut, no one turns her away. “In many barbershops, the service has become unaffordable,” said Talavera as he corrected an apprentice’s scissor cut or the movement of a razor, in the shade of the park’s leafy trees. This community action group is part of the Arte Corte project—a long-standing beauty salon on the island that has been associated with a neighborhood initiative in Old Havana since the late 1990s—and serves no fewer than 30 people per day. At the start of the decade, when the crisis hit the island, a simple man’s haircut could cost about 200 Cuban pesos—now equivalent to just under 50 cents—with inflation, a stylist charges between 1,000 and 3,000 Cuban pesos—between two and five dollars. The problem is that wages and pensions have fallen behind, and a retiree may receive as little as 2,000 Cuban pesos a month. The five-year crisis has worsened dramatically since last January due to an oil embargo imposed by the United States, which has left Cuba virtually paralyzed. Amid migration and hardship, some young people are choosing to learn a trade. “We’re looking to help the community, and we’re doing these projects that prepare us for what we want, which is to be artists in the field,” said Miguel Alexis Pedroso, 28, one of the apprentices. AP Video shot by Ariel Fernández =========================================================== Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: [email protected]. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...