Roberto Fernández-Rizo, an expert in consulting and entrepreneurship development, raises one of the most uncomfortable questions in the debate about Cuba's transition in an interview with Tania Costa for CiberCuba: if talented Cubans have already emigrated and rebuilt their lives abroad, who will reconstruct the island?
"The first thing we have is valuable human resources. That is the first thing we have. But do we really have them in Cuba? We do not, no, no, no," states Fernández-Rizo in the excerpt, summarizing in a few words the central paradox of any national reconstruction project.
His diagnosis is straightforward: "Everyone who has talent, who believed in themselves, who did not stop believing in themselves, left Cuba."
And the following question is structural, not rhetorical: "Who is going to want to return to a country where everything has to be rebuilt from scratch and salaries will be very low?"
The host herself, Tania Costa, illustrates the tension with her own case: "I’m the first to say I'm not leaving. I'm just going there on vacation," she says, acknowledging that none of the Cubans in her circle has mentioned returning on the first available flight.
Fernández-Rizo, who is approaching 70 years old, explicitly excludes himself from any political role or direct reconstruction: "I am not a politician. I am contributing this from an academic perspective. I neither have nor was born with the characteristics or skills of a politician."
Her proposal to address the gap is generational transfer: "We are already heading toward a decline. We must leave everything behind, we need to share our experiences and what we have learned in our teachings. In this, we should empower the youth," she notes, pointing to Cubans in their twenties and thirties as the true protagonists of the reconstruction.
The dilemma described by Fernández-Rizo is supported by concrete figures. Cuba went from 106,131 doctors in 2021 to 75,364 in 2024, a loss of more than 30,000 physicians in just three years.
In the first semester of 2025, 5,551 Cubans had their university degrees recognized in Spain, already surpassing the total figures for all of 2024, with doctors, nurses, dentists, and engineers leading the way.
More than a million people have left the island since 2021 in the largest migratory exodus in Cuba's recent history, and historical studies estimate that the country has lost around 400,000 professionals due to qualified emigration over the decades.
In parallel, initiatives have emerged in exile such as the Cuban Orthodox Liberal Party, founded by Amelia Calzadilla, which was formally introduced in Madrid on May 19, and is mentioned with approval by Fernández-Rizo for its alignment with classical liberalism.
Fernández-Rizo has also drafted a Constitution for the transition based on four premises—legal certainty, political stability, private property, and correct incentives—and cites the U.S. Constitution as a model: "So straightforward and so simple. And it is the one that has lasted the longest in this modern era."
Without a legal and economic framework that guarantees security, ownership, and real opportunities, Fernández-Rizo's question will remain unanswered: talented Cubans are abroad, they are doing well, and the incentives to return and rebuild from scratch are, for now, scarce.
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