The Prime Minister of Cuba, Manuel Marrero Cruz, accused owners of small and medium-sized businesses in the country of spreading corruption and invoicing the State with inflated prices for work.
During a governmental visit to Cienfuegos "to correct distortions and reinvigorate the economy," the member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) referred to the violations allegedly committed by small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in the province, both in the management of their SMEs, and in the price abuse and billing to state-owned companies and organizations.
"Twenty-one million... Contracts that we have paid to those millionaires! It has already been determined by MICONS [Ministry of Construction] that the little jobs they did do not cost that. They cost much less!" Marrero Cruz pointed out in his remarks, according to a report from the National Television News (NTV).
Without mentioning specific cases, the prime minister of Miguel Díaz-Canel's government cast a shadow of suspicion over the incipient private entrepreneurial activity, promoted by the Cuban regime itself in the face of the evident failure of the planned and state-controlled economy of the socialist model.
"In all the tasks of the MSMEs, we pay each worker 600 pesos so they can buy their lunch. And what about the hospital lunch, and the doctors that we are paying for?" questioned Marrero Cruz, second-guessing his own decisions and shifting the responsibility for the collapse of public services to the "new economic actors."
The discourse of the Cuban regime exposes the contradictions faced by the ruling class and the elite that controls the dollarized economy and national wealth through the Business Administration Group S.A. (GAESA), under military control.
In need of a private business sector to boost the economy and services, create employment, produce goods, improve its image, and establish synergies between the state and private sectors ("productive linkages"), the "cadres" of the so-called "revolution" (and de facto owners of the country) fear the strength and growing power of the private sector, which they condition by all means to remain "loyal" to the "social work" and the "principles" of a failed entity.
Far from having the courage and the decency to promote a true opening that leads to a process of economic and political transition in the country, the Palace of the Revolution guides the Cuban nation through the most disastrous paths, contrary to the interests of a population deprived of rights and freedoms, and subjected to the immovable power of a repressive and violent regime.
The so-called "new economic actors" are pawns in the strategy of a regime that seeks to survive and perpetuate itself in power, which promoted the emergence of private enterprise in Cuba for this purpose, aiming to create a network of clients and a certain empowered social class that serves its interests and that it can keep under control.
As has been shown, many owners of SMEs have strong family or work ties with the Cuban government, and are driven to replace the State in its social care functions, or to lower the price of foreign currency in the informal market, among other "missions."
However, history and facts demonstrate that the Cuban regime is not a reliable partner, and tomorrow it may persecute the "actors" that it has created and promoted today. Everything is in function of its survival.
The arrival of Russian, Mexican, or Venezuelan oil, or any other type of "boom" scenario for GAESA's coffers, could endanger the existence of the emerging Cuban private sector, especially when the regime itself claims that its function is to boost the state economy, as the State (understood as its owners) will never renounce the "centrality" of state-owned enterprises and the socialist economy, using that as a subterfuge to keep national wealth under its control.
Cuban entrepreneurs also face the sword of "public opinion", and can be used at any time as a scapegoat blamed for high prices, inequality, or the "plundering" of the State that prevents it from offering quality public services.
Marrero Cruz's words in Cienfuegos, like so many other times, serve as a warning to those entrepreneurs whom the regime is starting to label as "millionaires" and corrupt, and as responsible for the socio-economic disaster that is being experienced on the Island.
At the moment, they are allowed to continue with their activities, but in speeches, they are increasingly being identified as tax evaders, importers, speculators, and corrupt individuals. Entrepreneurship in Cuba is based on great legal uncertainty, typical of a communist totalitarian regime.
Anyone who believes themselves to be safe from this situation due to an excess of confidence in their business strength, connections to power, or personal wealth, will be guilty of naivety and may find themselves in Alejandro Gil Fernández's situation tomorrow, paying for all the damage.
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