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The Cuban musicologist and music historian Rosa Marquetti published a powerful critique on Facebook this Friday regarding the package of 176 economic measures presented by the regime to the National Assembly, warning that no reform will be valid as long as the fundamental rights of Cubans are not restored and political prisoners remain in the jails of the dictatorship.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz presented to the National Assembly the largest package of structural reforms since the Special Period: 176 measures grouped into 23 axes, including the opening to private banking, the buying and selling of shares in state-owned enterprises, partial dollarization, and the elimination of the universal basic basket that has been in place since 1962.
For Marquetti, a graduate in Philology from the University of Havana and a resident of Madrid, the announcement is nothing more than a cosmetic operation. "Nothing new in the package of measures; in this session of make-up, everything is old and more recycled than beer cans, but much more serious and harmful for the dire situation of the people," she wrote on her profile.
The intellectual pointed out that the measures do not include urgent solutions for everyday problems: electricity, water, food, medicine, and dignity. In her opinion, the package is designed to protect those who have already accumulated wealth and power at the expense of popular suffering.
"The measures of the economic package that will lead Cuba toward an uncertain system will save backs, bellies, and ill-gotten fortunes," he stated, adding that the result will be to "make the powerful richer and the ones who, for decades, believed in them and today are in dire need even poorer."
The central argument of Marquetti points to the political dimension that the regime evades: “No measure will be effective and honest if the dignity and basic rights taken from Cubans are not restored beforehand”. She was more explicit: “No facade, no matter how many experts endorse it, will serve the interests of the citizens without political changes that guarantee the non-criminalization of dissent and therefore the freedom of all political prisoners and the end of repression.”
This demand gains significance in a context where the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights documented 231 repressive actions just in February 2026. The package of reforms does not include any political opening, and analysts warn that it could replicate the Soviet privatization model of the 1990s, in which the party nomenklatura appropriated state assets with insider information.
Marquetti also challenged the international left, which has historically denounced "financial corralitos" and "IMF packages" in other countries. "Where are the advocates for social justice, which was supposedly the reason for the revolution? Why aren't they showing the same fervor now, making statements, organizing congresses and flotillas?" he asked. He added, "Is the Cuban people any less than any of the others for whom you yelled at international forums?"
Regarding the media coverage, it was equally straightforward: "The headlines I see are misleading, and the global press has long ceased to be naïve." The publication included an image of Pinocchio's silhouette—the character whose nose grows when he lies—visually reinforcing its message about the deceptive nature of official announcements.
The crisis surrounding these measures is of unprecedented severity: CEPAL projects a decline of the Cuban GDP by 6.5% in 2026, the worst projection in the entire region, with blackouts lasting between 20 and 40 hours daily in several provinces and a plummeting tourism rate from 4.7 million visitors in 2018 to 1.8 million in 2025.
Díaz-Canel himself implicitly acknowledged the failure of the model when he declared on Thursday, "Enough of explaining the crisis, we need to change it," although without announcing any political openness to support the economic reforms.
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