Aleida Guevara March, daughter of Che Guevara and spokesperson for the Castro regime, admitted that the salary received by state workers in Cuba, including herself, is not enough. "The salary that we, as State workers, receive is not enough to live on, and that is a serious problem in a socialist society," she stated in a recent interview with the Latin American leftist project "Voices in the Struggle".
"We need to solve that. I don't know if by raising salaries, I don't think so, I think the right thing would be to control prices," he added, and then harshly criticized the SMEs, which is not the first time he has done so.
Unveiling the national drama - of which she claimed to be a part at all times - Aleida Guevara explained that her salary is four thousand and something pesos. She specified that a cheese costs 7,000 and that until very recently a carton of eggs reached a cost of 3,000.
Either I buy eggs or I do something else, but I can't do it all, it's not possible. Although the basic basket is still subsidized by the State, it is not enough to make it to the end of the month," he emphasized.
Interrogated about Cuba's economic future, Aleida Guevara also had criticisms for economists, accusing them of not having been right in eliminating the CUC.
"The economists didn't get it right," he stated, adding that now instead of two currencies there are four: referring to the Cuban peso, MLC, dollar, and euro.
Aleida has described the economic situation in Cuba as "critical" on more than one occasion and thanked the support from Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, China, and Vietnam, countries she said have prominently supported the island in recent years.
Undeniably, we need to produce. 77% of Cubans live in cities. The countryside needs more work, more people. We need to industrialize that agriculture, give our farmers a higher standard of living so they can live better and better exploit our lands.
Aleida Guevara's war against SMEs
Regarding Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), he pointed out that they enjoy privileges that the State does not have because they are not as pressured by 'the blockade' and can make imports to which they later set the price of currencies in the black market.
Guevara March criticizes that the SMEs are not fulfilling their initial mission of producing and believes that they are only serving to make social inequalities more evident.
In May, Aleida Guevara already lashed out against Mipymes, for which she called for greater surveillance by the CDRs considering them a potential danger to national security.
Small and medium-sized enterprises entail security risks because they can facilitate the entry of drugs or other illicit goods into the country: controls by the CDR (Committees for the Defense of the Revolution) on what happens in Cuba must be intensified," stated in comments to the Ilfattoquotidiano portal.
On that occasion, the renowned 63-year-old Castro supporter - who is a pediatrician by profession - argued that while the initial purpose of the Small and Medium Enterprises (Mipymes) was correct, these activities are now causing problems and she described them as "capitalist anarchy" that has increased inequalities, making many consumer goods inaccessible to the average Cuban, who lives with a very low salary, especially in the public sector.
In that sense, he urged the government to act promptly in the face of the growing inflation that is affecting the people amidst the economic crisis.
"It is a serious problem that the State must address and resolve now," he noted at the time, and considered that the path was first to seek mechanisms to regulate prices and then to increase wages; a wage increase that he seems to have given up on based on his most recent statements.
What do you think?
VIEW COMMENTS (3)Filed under: