Manolo de los Santos, co-executive director of The People's Forum and collaborator with Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, stated in the official Cuban government podcast "Es la Idea" that the political, economic, and social model of the United States has been exhausted for decades.
The statement was issued in chapter three of the program, produced by Cubadebate —the regime's official news portal— and announced as a premiere in April 2026.
"It is a system that cannot meet the basic needs of millions of people in the country," De los Santos concluded in the excerpt shared by Cubadebate on its social media.
The statements come as Cuba faces one of its worst economic and energy crises in decades, experiencing blackouts of up to twenty hours a day, widespread shortages of food and medicine, and unprecedented mass emigration.
De los Santos has a documented history of support for the Cuban regime. This month, he participated in the V International Colloquium "Homeland with Fidel", held from April 16 to 18 in Havana and organized by the Union of Journalists of Cuba, the ideological arm of the Communist Party.
At that event, in the presence of Miguel Díaz-Canel, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, and the Secretary of Organization of the PCC Roberto Morales Ojeda, De los Santos stated that Cuba is the place where we can have this kind of debate. In March 2026, De los Santos participated in the Convoy Nuestra América, which delivered over 20 tons of aid to Cuba, and took the opportunity to assert that the U.S. embargo prevents the Cuban government from purchasing medicines and food freely.
However, U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba reached 476.1 million dollars in fiscal year 2025, compared to 398.9 million in fiscal year 2024, contradicting that narrative.
The journalist and activist Yoani Sánchez then responded harshly to the visits of the convoy: "we are not a theme park. Take your ideological tourism somewhere else. We are suffering here."
The People's Forum, the organization led by De los Santos, has been the subject of investigation by the U.S. Congress. The House Ways and Means Committee indicated in September 2025 that, according to public reports, the organization is said to have received over 20 million dollars from Neville Roy Singham between 2017 and 2022, through a network of entities, raising concerns about its tax-exempt status and potential links to foreign funding.
The Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, with which De los Santos collaborates, is inspired by the Tricontinental Conference held in Havana in 1966, organized by Fidel Castro's government to unite revolutionary movements with an anti-imperialist orientation.
Cuba ranks 165th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2025 by Reporters Without Borders, with only 26.03 points out of 100, making the country one of the most repressive in the world for the practice of journalism.
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