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The Vice Prime Minister Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga admitted this Saturday, during the regular session of the Council of Ministers, that "traditional methods are not yielding results" and urged for "greater initiative" and "different proposals" to address the economic crisis facing Cuba.
The meeting, chaired by Miguel Díaz-Canel and led by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, analyzed the results of the Government's Economic and Social Program 2026 for the first quarter of the year, as reported by the Presidency's portal.
Pérez-Oliva was more explicit than on previous occasions when he emphasized the need to "forget the limits of our companies, of our entities, and think about the benefits that any decision we make can have for the country."
The statement represents one of the regime's most direct admissions of the ineffectiveness of its management model, amid the worst economic crisis since the Special Period.
Marrero, for his part, called for "everyone to speak the same language" in the implementation of the program, which he described as a document "enriched, consulted with popular wisdom" where "all our great goals and commitments are found."
Of the 81 specific objectives approved for this stage, 32 have been implemented and 49 are in progress. Out of the 158 planned actions, only 65 have been completed, he stated.
The Minister of Economy and Planning, Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, reported that the year-on-year inflation at the end of March reached 13.42%, slightly higher than in February, while warning of a possible "new surge in inflationary pressures."
Agricultural prices in the non-state market increased by 31.9% in the quarter, primarily concentrated in Havana.
The investment plan recorded failures due to a lack of fuels, steel, cement, and financing, while the government reported partial progress in the energy sector: five completed solar photovoltaic parks with a capacity of 58.74 MW and the recovery of 239 MW through rehabilitations at thermal power plants in Santa Cruz del Norte and Cienfuegos.
This call to "reinvent oneself" comes at a time when Cuban communism is undergoing a prolonged farewell amid a exhausted model, with a GDP that has fallen by 23% since 2019, and an expected additional contraction of 7.2% by 2026.
The admission of Pérez-Oliva contrasts with the statements made by Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez, who just last week insisted that Cuba is not an ineffective State but rather "under siege" and "attacked."
Díaz-Canel himself announced in April that there will be less bureaucracy and fewer ministries before the middle of 2026, in what the regime presents as a structural reform of the state apparatus.
However, a national survey revealed that the president has an absolute disapproval rate from the population, with 92% of Cubans expressing deep dissatisfaction with the government and only 0.1% wanting to maintain the system as it is.
The session also exercised the legislative initiative for the draft laws on Housing, the Labor Code, and the Organization of the Central State Administration, the latter directly related to the announcement of a reduction in the bureaucratic apparatus, the source specified.
While the regime debates how to preserve or eliminate the current system, the warning from the Deputy Prime Minister encapsulates the central contradiction of the moment: the government acknowledges that its methods are ineffective, yet it continues to uphold them.
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