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The comedian and commentator Ulises Toirac reacted to the package of 176 economic measures approved by the Cuban regime with two Facebook posts that represent his most poignant analysis of the week: a story in the form of satirical fiction and a political essay written at 4:45 in the morning, both leading to the same conclusion.
In the first piece, titled "Apocryphal X-ray," Toirac constructs an imaginary novel to describe what he believes occurred behind the scenes: negotiations with Washington, energy pressure, the role of Sherritt International — the Canadian mining company that signed an exclusivity agreement with Gillon Capital the day before the National Assembly — and the opening to fast-food franchises as a symbol of Americanization.
"They changed the namá collar. The soap opera will continue... We'll see something in politics soon... Not too much so we don't lose control. And many people will be satisfied with solar panels covering the sky and number 3 hamburgers," he wrote.
His thesis is that the reforms are a change in form, not in substance, and that the political system will remain intact as long as the population settles for band-aids.
The second post, published before dawn and titled "In Troubled Waters, Fishermen Profit," presents a more structured argument with an explicit historical parallel: after the disintegration of the USSR, 43% of the initial Russian oligarchs came from the Soviet nomenclature.
Toirac cites the case of Vagit Alekperov — former Deputy Minister of Oil who founded and privatized Lukoil in 1993 — to warn that this process "has been studied and re-studied by all interested parties," with an emphasis on the "intere$ados."
Regarding the origin of the reforms, it dismisses the notion that popular pressure is the real driving force: "Although popular pressure resonates in the halls of the Palace, it is not a determining factor. For it to be so, mere pot banging would not suffice; even though these sounds form part of the auditory backdrop as an expression of popular discontent, they do not truly reflect the magnitude of the misery in which 'the ordinary Cuban' lives."
In his view, the real catalyst is the United States government, which "kept talking while tightening the screw." That's why, he asserts, the measures—"in the purest capitalist style"—"are going" and "will be implemented at breakneck speed."
But the most pointed aspect of the second post is a specific demand: that the members of the PCC, the officials of the FAR and MININT, and their possible front men be legally excluded from participating in the new economic framework.
"There are Cubans who, in my opinion, should be excluded from being able to invest or participate in any form in the creation of businesses, companies, economic organizations, lenders, executors... NO FORM OF PARTICIPATION in the economic framework," he wrote, adding: "There are resources that are costing lives and suffering to the people, from which no personal gains should be taken, now or ever. These resources are not private."
The requirement can be summarized in three words: "Exclusion clause. And transparency. Just to know if the game is serious."
Díaz-Canel defended the measures before the National Assembly insisting that “we are not renouncing socialism” and that “we are not doing it due to pressure from the Yankees,” despite the fact that the president himself acknowledged that the model was sustained for decades thanks to Soviet and Venezuelan resources that are no longer available.
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