"It is primarily about saving the Revolution." With that phrase, spoken this Tuesday during a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Miguel Díaz-Canel positioned the preservation of the Cuban political project as the central objective of the 176 economic and social reforms approved by the regime to address the profound crisis the country is facing.
The statement, published by the official site of the Presidency, was made during the presentation of the roadmap to implement the package of reforms announced in June and provides one of the clearest definitions from the government regarding the priorities that guide this new economic phase.
In his speech, Díaz-Canel once again attributed the country's difficulties to the U.S. embargo, which he described as "the longest blockade in the history of mankind," and presented the reforms as part of the strategy to preserve the socialist system.
The leader urged facing the current situation "without surrender, with intelligence, ideological firmness, responsibility, unity, courage, and audacity" and called for applying "all the categories of Fidel's concept of Revolution" to defend the approved transformations.
Although he also referred to the need to "improve the situation of those in greater vulnerability," he linked that goal to the defense of the socialist model and the continuity of the revolutionary process.
The meeting was led by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, who explained some of the initial measures that will begin to be implemented. Among them are the decentralization of wholesale and retail price setting, new powers for state-owned enterprises, the possibility for small and medium-sized companies to exceed the limit of 100 workers, and the authorization for an individual to own more than one private enterprise.
The package of 176 transformations, organized into 23 axes, was presented on June 12 and later ratified by the National Assembly on June 19. According to the government, during the consultation process, 673 proposals were received, of which 79% were accepted.
However, Marrero himself acknowledged before the Parliament that the implementation of the measures poses significant challenges. Among them, he mentioned the impact of the partial dollarization of the economy, the gradual elimination of subsidies, limitations on decentralizing decisions without strengthening local capacities, and the liberalization of agricultural prices in a context of low production.
Díaz-Canel's statements come amid an economic crisis that continues to worsen. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) forecasts a contraction of the Cuban GDP of 6.5% in 2026, while deficits in electricity generation have exceeded 2,000 MW in recent weeks, with blackouts affecting more than half of the country simultaneously. Additionally, the minimum wage stands at 3,210 Cuban pesos, equivalent to about 4.65 dollars at the informal market rate.
The deterioration of living conditions is also reflected in migration. Between 2021 and 2024, around 1.79 million Cubans left the island, and in 2026, the migratory flow continues towards countries such as Brazil and Uruguay, among other destinations.
The words spoken this Tuesday contrast with another message delivered by Díaz-Canel just three days earlier, during the XXII Congress of the Central Workers Union of Cuba, when he stated that “power belongs to the people, not the rich or the bourgeois”, in a context marked by prolonged blackouts, food shortages, and a sustained decline in the purchasing power of wages.
Filed under: