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A statement by Miguel Díaz-Canel made on Monday at the Council of Ministers sparked a wave of outrage among Cubans on social media: "This is about saving the revolution above all," declared the leader while presenting the roadmap to implement the package of 176 economic transformations approved by the regime.
The video of the speech, published on social media, gathered over 28,000 views and nearly 4,000 comments in less than 24 hours, receiving a massive reaction from Cubans who interpreted the leader's words as a confession that the regime prioritizes its own political survival over the well-being of the people.
The most frequently heard comments capture the widespread sentiment: "And who saves the people?", "Saving the Revolution is saving themselves," and "They are the revolution, that's why they want to save themselves."
Other messages were just as direct: "Before politics, we need to ensure food, electricity, and medicine," "We are surviving, not living," and "They've had more than 60 years and the people keep getting worse."
In his remarks before the Council of Ministers, Díaz-Canel was explicit about the regime's priorities: "We have the responsibility, under these conditions, to save the revolution, and not just save it. We must continue perfecting our process and continue defending our process of socialist construction."
The ruler also mentioned the need to "create wealth, distribute it with social justice, and protect the vulnerable," but subordinated that goal to the defense of the socialist model and the continuity of the revolutionary process.
The statement contrasts with what Díaz-Canel claimed just three days earlier during the XXII Congress of the Central Workers' Union of Cuba: "The power belongs to the people, not the rich or the bourgeois."
Cubans quickly pointed out that contradiction: "It’s about staying in power at any cost," wrote one. "Cuba doesn’t need slogans, it needs solutions," noted another.
The statements come in the context of an unprecedented economic crisis. CEPAL projects a contraction of the Cuban GDP of 6.5% in 2026, electricity generation deficits have exceeded 2,000 MW with blackouts affecting simultaneously more than half of the country, and the minimum wage amounts to about 4.65 dollars per month based on the informal market rate.
The package of 176 measures — ratified by the National Assembly on June 19 — includes reforms that the regime itself had prohibited for decades: private banking, private exchange houses, removal of the limit on workers for small and medium-sized enterprises, and the possibility for an individual to own more than one company.
However, Díaz-Canel himself admitted that the Economy Plan 2026 does not adequately guide these transformations and that a "different dynamic of action" is required.
Citizen skepticism regarding the reforms was summed up in one of the most shared comments: "It’s not the Revolution, it’s the people."
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