Cuban regime once again invests more in Tourism than in Health and Education

In 2023, the regime once again invested more in the development of Tourism in Cuba than in Health and Education infrastructure, a practice that has become common without seeming to care about the effect it leaves on the quality of life of Cubans.

The National Statistics and Information Office (GOOD) published the official data for 2023 which demonstrates how the State continues to bet on tourism, despite the crisis in the Public Health system that directly affects people; and the deficiencies in the Education sector, where children do not even have enough notebooks to study.

The Cuban economist Pedro Monreal analyzed the ONEI statistics and showed in a thread on the social network X, several graphs with the official data. He dismantled the government's speech that boasts of valuing education and health in the country.

"The statistics confirm the persistence of a very deformed structure of investment in Cuba in which a third is concentrated in activities articulated mainly around tourism," said Monreal.

"The relative low weight of investment is worrying in key activities such as health, education and construction, all with values less than 2%. It is striking that “science and technological innovation” is the third activity with the lowest investment (0.5% )," said the economist.

He specified that there is a "reduction in the relative weight of investment associated with tourism, from the record of 47.6% in 2020, although it is still more than a third of national investment."

Agricultural investment remained stagnant at a level that is 11 times lower than the relative weight of investment associated with tourism, despite the critical situation of food insecurity in the country.

This week the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez He said that Education is a government priority and that this service is offered free of charge to the population. However, with an investment of just 2%, it is not difficult to understand why Cuban children do not even have pencils to take notes in classes and schools are visibly deteriorated.

The situation of hospitals is increasingly critical. Doctors do not have enough resources to provide quality service. The technical equipment is broken, there are no instruments for surgeries, there are no medications in pharmacies, but hotels continue to appear in the country, everywhere.

The push to the tourism sector leaves Cubans surprised by its lack of meaning since, according to the government's own data, the average hotel occupancy in the country is extremely low. In the first half of 2023, it is estimated that seven out of 10 rooms were empty.