India, Nov. 13 -- Every night, hundreds of people line up outside a charity-run food pantry in the heart of Havana, some sleeping on the sidewalk as they wait for what may be their only meal of the day.

When the doors open at 7 am, people hurry inside carrying numbered plastic containers. With so many mouths to feed, volunteers follow a carefully organised routine: They wash the containers, call out the numbers and hand out portions of food.

"We're having a really rough time," said Fernando Fernandez, a 71-year-old retiree who regularly visits the Asociacion Quisicuaba, a group that runs a community kitchen in Havana. "I have to arrive in the early morning. Sometimes I even have to get in line the day before." Fernandez, a former cook a...