The Cuban opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer, founder of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU), posted a message on his X account in which Cubans directly blame the Castro family for the economic collapse and the hunger crisis that is destroying the island.
In a video, several elderly people declare that they are experiencing an unprecedented crisis. "They announce that a plane is coming from here, a plane from there, and they give us nothing," said one interviewee.
Another elderly woman stated that the ones responsible for the crisis are "the Castros; they are starving us: we have no food, we have no medicine, we have nothing," she noted.
Ferrer, forcibly exiled in Miami since October 2025 after decades of political persecution, has been one of the strongest voices in rejecting any attempt to shift responsibility onto the U.S. embargo.
"Cuba is experiencing its deepest crisis," he stated, and in March 2026, he called to remove them from power now or never.
The sentiment expressed in your publication is not isolated. Economists, scientists, and citizens both on and off the island agree that six decades of centralized state control are the direct cause of the current misery.
The economist Mauricio de Miranda Parrondo stated bluntly: "The ones responsible are, first and foremost, Fidel Castro, and secondly, the entire leadership team of the country that accepted what Fidel Castro proposed."
De Miranda Parrondo also wrote in The New York Times that the Castro model has reached a critical point of no return.
The data supports this diagnosis. The GDP of Cuba contracted by 7.2% in 2026, accumulating a decline of 23% since 2019.
Power outages last between 20 and 25 hours daily. Inflation was 14.07% in 2025. The deaths due to malnutrition increased by 74.42%, rising from 43 to 75 fatalities in one year, and over 80% of the basic food basket relies on imports.
While the Cuban people survive on a symbolic salary and lack food and electricity, the military holding GAESA, controlled by the Castro family, monopolizes tourism, foreign currency, and imports, concentrating wealth in a privileged elite.
Díaz-Canel admitted the collapse in March 2026 and urged reforms, but experts point out that structural obstacles remain while figures like Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of Raúl Castro, continue to make key decisions within the regime.
"Cuba cannot wait any longer", Ferrer warned, summarizing in one phrase the urgency felt by millions of Cubans who hold the Castros responsible, and not any external sanctions, for leading them to hunger.
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