Poor Cuban Fishermen

The vast majority of Cubans during the forties and fifties were amazingly poor. The only source of food they could readily afford was the fruit they could reach on the trees, and the fish they could catch in the ocean. Knowing this, the fact that the old man had gone 84 days without catching a fish would have been an incredible tragedy waiting to happen. This is probably a pretty big deal. I think he is probably starving.