Leydis Aguilera, the first deputy of Cuban origin in the Uruguayan Parliament, defended this Saturday a possible political transition in Cuba, but with new faces. “The leadership (of the PCC) cannot remain in power. None of them,” she said.
These statements were made in an interview conducted by Tania Costa on the show Transición Cuba, in which Aguilera was asked if a process similar to the one Venezuela has been undergoing since January 3 would be viable in Cuba.
The congresswoman made a clear distinction between the two cases: "Venezuela is a country that, up until 27 years ago, was a democratic country," with an organized opposition and "the remarkable leadership of this heroine, María Corina Machado," Aguilera added.
In your opinion, the Island, on the other hand, faces a much more complex reality. "Cuba has not known what freedom is, what democracy is, what free elections are, what it means to think for oneself for almost 70 years."
For that reason, he warned that the Cuban transition process would be "quite complex" and dismissed the possibility of anyone from the current leadership being able to lead it: "I don't believe that anyone from the leadership can lead this transition process."
Aguilera also implicitly responded to Miguel Díaz-Canel's call to Cubans abroad to return and invest in the island. Díaz-Canel changed his tone towards the diaspora in March, but Aguilera dismissed it with a single phrase: "The change in these forty-some years has not really been very different."
Born in Moa, in the red earth of eastern Cuba, the deputy recalled her childhood marked by hunger and blackouts, and described how the regime would "brainwash" her. "They would blindfold us, put a helmet on us, and chip us, and they brainwashed us and brainwashed us and brainwashed us."
From a pioneer who shouted "down with imperialism and long live Fidel" to a legislator in Montevideo, Aguilera described her journey as a process of awakening that she now feels is a responsibility. "I awakened, I was able to learn other things, I also have the responsibility for those who have their eyes closed: I have to raise my voice."
That voice is also used to denounce the humanitarian crisis that Cuba is experiencing in 2026: closed hospitals, non-functioning schools, and mothers who cannot feed their children.
She quoted the message a friend sent her from the island the previous month: "I am desperate. I am on high alert. This is systematic weariness. This is psychological torture. I am not sending my son to school tomorrow because I don't know what to feed him."
The representative, who coordinates the Commission on Migration Affairs of the National Party, has openly criticized those who defend the regime and expressed gratitude to Uruguay for granting her freedom, democracy, her husband, and her son.
And he concluded with a direct message to the children of Moa, Las Tunas, and Havana: "Those who have been on their knees for so long understand, we understand, that a better world is possible," he said, adding that the future of Cuba is not lost.
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