Cuban journalist and analyst Jorge de Armas, from Hypermedia Magazine, firmly rejected the colloquial distinction that labels some Cuban migrants as “pan con bistec” and argued that hunger is as political a reason for emigration as repression.
Her statements were made during a live interview with Tania Costa, in which De Armas responded to a comment from a viewer who asked if a newly arrived Cuban in Havana wearing a Che cap was “bread with croquette or bread with steak.”
"I do not agree at all with the categorizations of bread with steak, bread with croquette," De Armas declared, and went straight to the central argument: "Hunger is as political a reason as repression because hunger is also a cause." To support this thesis, the analyst turned to the history of humanity.
"Hunger is the primary cause of migrations in the history of humanity. When settlements ceased to produce or hunt enough food to meet their needs, they began to migrate."
De Armas applied this logic to 21st century Cuba with a question that, according to him, no one who disqualifies Cuban economic migrants can evade: “Who is responsible for hunger in Cuba?”.
The implicit response directly targets the regime, and De Armas shifted the burden of proof onto those who deny political legitimacy to these migrants.
"If you can prove to me that hunger is not as much a political cause as a tonfazo, repression, or imprisonment, then I will ask for your forgiveness. But in the meantime, you need to ask me for mine," said the analyst.
This debate is part of the ongoing controversy within the Cuban exile community regarding the holders of the I-220A form, who arrived in large numbers in the United States during the largest migration exodus in Cuba's history, between 2020 and 2024. De Armas accused some members of the exile community of "betraying" those migrants by calling for their deportation.
In the final part of the interview, he summarized his assessment of the recent sanctions imposed by the State Department against Díaz-Canel, his wife, his stepson, and Alejandro Castro Espín.
"They are elements of satisfaction for a part of the exile excluded from the conversations, but they do not affect in any way the plans of the United States or the reality of the Cuban people."
Regarding the future of the island, the analyst was blunt: "I am pessimistic."
However, she concluded with an outside voice that offers her some hope. De Armas quoted the historian and activist Alina Bárbara López Hernández, with whom she acknowledged having "millions of differences" but maintains a dialogue of ideas.
She told me, "Jorge, I have hope for change for one simple reason: I am a historian, and history shows that there will always be change." It is possible that we will see that change in my generation.
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