Miguel Díaz-Canel rejected any accusations of ideological deviation on Friday and defended the ongoing economic reforms as a way to strengthen, not abandon, Cuban socialism, in an interview granted to the Puerto Rican weekly CLARIDAD conducted at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana.
"Rest assured that there is no betrayal of the socialist construction here, neither by principle, nor by conviction, nor by action," the leader asserted, before adding: "We will continue to defend socialism and we will continue to defend social justice. But we need to unleash productive forces so that the country can create more wealth."
The statements come two weeks after the National Assembly approved, on June 19, a package of 176 economic measures —the largest since the Special Period of the 1990s— which include the authorization of private banking, private currency exchange, the removal of worker limits for small and medium-sized enterprises, and the opening up of investment opportunities for Cubans abroad.
The reform package sparked an internal debate about whether the regime was shifting towards capitalism, to which Díaz-Canel directly responded: "We reaffirm social ownership as the primary form of property." He described the measures as "uniquely Cuban solutions" resulting from discussions over the past 10 to 15 years, dismissing the notion that they were a response to external pressures.
However, the president himself acknowledged in the interview the magnitude of the crisis faced by the population: "There is a shortage of transportation, food, and medicine here; there are prolonged blackouts lasting more than twenty hours. This causes dissatisfaction; no one can be happy, the people are suffering."
Instead of taking responsibility, Díaz-Canel attributed the entire crisis to the U.S. embargo and responded to the protests shaking the island with a phrase that encapsulates the regime's stance: "People are banging pots, some with more displeasure than others. I say: well, bang the pots at the neighbors to the north, who are the ones keeping us in this blackout."
That response contrasts with the reality faced by thousands of Cubans. Neighbors in Zamora, Marianao, protested on Friday after more than 24 hours without electricity, while in Santiago de Cuba, protests with pots and pans spread across several neighborhoods with the slogan: "We want to sleep with light; we want to live like human beings."
The electricity generation deficit reached a historic high of 2,211 MW on June 30, leaving approximately 70% of the country without electricity. The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, the largest in Cuba, recorded its 17th breakdown in 2026 on the very Friday when the interview was published.
The regime responded to the protests with militarization, internet cuts, and arrests: Cubalex documented at least 38 detentions in June, including six minors.
The economic context further exacerbates the situation. The CEPAL projects a contraction of the Cuban GDP of 6.5% in 2026, the worst in Latin America, with a cumulative decline of nearly 26% since 2020, while the average salary on the island barely reached 6,930 pesos—around 15 dollars per month—in 2025.
Despite everything, Díaz-Canel concluded the interview with a statement of faith in the system: "I am convinced that we will overcome, that we will move forward, that we will prevail, and that we will not give up. We will not give up."
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