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The Cuban musicologist and music historian Rosa Marquetti published a strong critique on Facebook of 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 that include the opening to private banking, the buying and selling of shares in state-owned companies, 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 residing in Madrid, the announcement is nothing more than a cosmetic operation. "Nothing new in the bundle 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 impoverished situation of the people," she wrote on her profile.
The intellectual pointed out that the measures do not address urgent solutions for everyday problems: electricity, water, food, medicine, and dignity. In her view, the package is designed to protect those who have already amassed wealth and power at the expense of the suffering of the people.
"The measures of the package that will lead Cuba toward an uncertain system will save behinds, bellies, and ill-gotten fortunes," he stated, and added that the result will be to make "the powerful richer and those who believed in them for decades, and are now solemnly in need, poorer."
The central argument of Marquetti highlights the political dimension that the regime avoids: “No measure will be effective and honest if dignity and basic rights previously taken from Cubans are not restored”. She was more explicit: “No facade, no matter how many experts back it, will serve the interests of the citizens without political changes that ensure the non-criminalization of dissent and therefore the freedom of all political prisoners and an end to repression.”
This demand carries weight 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 model of privatization from the 1990s, where the party's nomenclature appropriated state assets with insider information.
Marquetti also called out the international left, which has historically condemned the "financial corralitos" and the "IMF packages" in other countries. "Where are the advocates for social justice, which was supposedly the very reason for the revolution? Why aren’t they coming forward now with the same fervor, making statements, organizing conferences and flotillas?" he asked. He added, "Is the Cuban people any less than any of the others for whom you used to shout in any international forum?"
Regarding the media coverage, it was equally straightforward: "The headlines I see are misleading, and the global press has long ceased to be naive." The publication included an image of the silhouette of Pinocchio—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 in Cuba's GDP of 6.5% in 2026, the worst projection in the entire region, with power outages 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 by stating 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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