He has done it again. Union leader Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento has intervened in the Economy Committee of the National Assembly of People's Power in Cuba to reiterate the need to "continue calling" on the Cuban people to engage in an "exercise of resistance" that is not only passive "but also a mobilization of economic resources" to gather everything that "contributes reserves to transform the problem," he said in reference to the economic crisis facing the Island that he did not mention by name.
Guilarte de Nacimiento, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party (PCC) and general secretary of the Cuban Workers' Central (CTC), is the same leader who last May stated that if people saw the country's leadership debating the problems, they would believe them, despite acknowledging that they did not have a solution then and still do not have a solution for those "distortions" that afflict the population.
In his intervention at the National Assembly, as reported by Canal Caribe, Guilarte de Nacimiento admitted that when he talks to people on the street, "he feels the tension" and acknowledged that the PCC leadership "has almost gotten used to not being able to meet the normed basket." "We have substantial delays in a group of provinces," he pointed out once again without providing a solution to the problem at hand.
The unionist, who has not called for a general strike against the PCC despite being aware that the 5,900 pesos of the national average salary are not enough to live on, and that inflation in "two digits" (closed May at 31%) represents a "loss of purchasing power" for the million pensioners in Cuba, acknowledges that the great dilemma is "how to find a solution to the problems, because everyone understands the what."
However, far from asking the Government for explanations, the union leader offered the other cheek, ensuring that in his view, the situation can be reversed by "mobilizing worker collectives" and drawing inspiration from the example of the "first secretary of the party," which is Miguel Diaz Canel. The president was seen very absorbed, looking with interest at his tablet without paying attention to the intervention of the CTC general secretary.
The Cuban crisis is serious, and proof of this can be seen in the figures released by the Minister of Economy, Joaquín Alonso, who not only explained that the economy has declined by 1.9% in 2023 but also spoke of a GDP decrease of -10% compared to 2019, the pre-pandemic year. However, the figures are even more alarming when it comes to a 43% drop in the primary sector (agriculture and livestock), a 21% drop in the secondary sector, and a 5% drop in the tertiary sector.
The causes, according to Cuban television, must be sought outside the Island: "A scenario marked by economic warfare; high international inflation, and external financial frictions." The Cuban Executive's poor management is not referred to even in abstract terms, although it is understood that they are alluding to it when they mention "internal imbalances; high deficit, currency limitations, fuel and energy shortages, and high and persistent inflation." To put it simply, there is no money, prices are through the roof, and there is no fuel for anything, so there is no solution to the power outages.
The situation is so bad that the Minister of Economy has stated loud and clear that all non-essential investments must be postponed, and current spending must be contained because "anything that will not yield results this year or next" needs to be "reconsidered." In other words, they are granting a year and a half of leeway.
Still, the triumphalist discourse of Cuban communism continues to say that the priorities for the second half of this year will be focused on "increasing national food production and generating new exportable revenues," highlighting this without providing details on what exactly they are referring to.
As is customary in this type of session of the National Assembly of People's Power, a member of the PCC took the floor to talk about how well they are working in their province. In this case, it was the governor of Holguín, Manuel Francisco Fernández Aguilera, who boasted of having freed 4 municipalities (out of the 14 in the province) from consuming powdered milk because they are consuming liquid milk, without specifying the origin of that milk. They have solved the problem for 28.5% of the population; they still have 71.5% left, but they are satisfied. "It is an expression of what we can continue to do," he emphasized as if the Communist Party had not been in power for 65 years without even solving the issue of the milk portion.
It is not the first time that in the midst of an inflationary crisis in Cuba, a communist leader dares to ask for resistance from those who have been doing so for six decades with the promise of a better future. Last March, Miguel Díaz-Canel himself assured that he had "confidence that better times will come," despite acknowledging that the current outlook is "critical and negative."
At the end of April this year, he called on the people to fill the squares on May 1st because from his vantage point, he does not see the advance of hunger and poverty in Cuba. He sees "a people who rise above the blockade and move forward through their own efforts."
Díaz-Canel also missed the mark when he congratulated Father's Day by citing, for example, a thermoelectric worker who, in his opinion, inspires his children to "overcome the nation's greatest challenges."
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