"The response to asphyxiation is inventiveness, creativity, and, although it may bother some, also the joy of the Cuban people": with this statement, made during the central event for July 26 in Pinar del Río, Miguel Díaz-Canel once again turned to one of the traditional pillars of official narrative: transforming the resilience of Cubans into the main response to the economic and social deterioration the country is experiencing.
The leader stated that the response to the "blockade" is "an intelligent and efficient effort" and asserted that unity is "the main strategic weapon" of the so-called "revolution."
Later, he stated that the government is promoting "deep and necessary changes" through the ongoing economic transformations, always subordinated —he said— to the principle of social justice.
However, for millions of Cubans, those words clash with an increasingly difficult reality to endure.
Resistance as a State Policy
For decades, the official discourse has presented the people's ability to endure deprivations as a revolutionary virtue.
Scarcity becomes "resistance"; power outages, a test of heroism; mass emigration barely finds space in official discourses; and economic difficulties are described as almost exclusive consequences of U.S. policy.
The appeal to "inventiveness" is not new either. For years, the regime has showcased what it considers examples of creativity, but for many Cubans, these are nothing more than survival strategies: repeatedly repairing outdated equipment, cooking with firewood when gas is unavailable, improvising solutions in the absence of medication, or spending hours searching for basic food items.
What the government defines as ingenuity, millions of citizens experience as the constant obligation to survive amid shortages that have become a part of daily life.
The "joy" in the face of an unprecedented crisis
Díaz-Canel's reference to "the joy of the Cuban people" is also difficult to reconcile with the current situation on the Island.
Cuba continues to face a profound energy crisis, with prolonged blackouts affecting much of the country; inflation that has shattered the purchasing power of salaries and pensions; and a severe shortage of food and medicine.
This is compounded by the deterioration of essential services such as health and transportation, and an unprecedented wave of migration, with hundreds of thousands of Cubans having left the country in recent years, leaving families divided and the elderly abandoned.
In that context, presenting joy as a political response can be interpreted as a sign of disconnection from the mood of the population, which daily faces uncertainty, fatigue, and frustration.
From permanent sacrifice to reforms
In the same speech, Díaz-Canel acknowledged that "creativity and effort alone are not enough" and defended the economic and social transformations driven by his government as a strategic priority.
Nonetheless, numerous economists have warned that these reforms come after years of economic deterioration and leave the main pillars of the centralized model intact, without introducing institutional changes that ensure greater economic freedom, legal security, or fair competition.
At the same time, doubts are growing about who will be the main beneficiaries of these transformations, in a context where access to resources, credit, and investment opportunities remains closely tied to political power.
A speech that calls for sacrifices once again
The phrase by Díaz-Canel encapsulates a recurring idea in the official narrative: in the face of the crisis, the solution lies in resisting, working harder, maintaining unity, and trusting that collective sacrifice will enable us to overcome difficulties.
However, for many Cubans, that message is becoming increasingly difficult to accept after years of constant deterioration in living conditions.
The ingenuity of the people has made it possible to repair appliances that are impossible to replace, cook when gas or electricity is unavailable, improvise nonexistent medicines, and stretch a salary that barely lasts a few days.
But that creativity has not prevented widespread impoverishment nor has it halted the exodus of those who no longer believe that continual sacrifice will lead to a better future.
For this reason, when the ruler asserts that the response to the "suffocation" is "the inventiveness, creativity, and joy of the Cuban people," many citizens do not hear a message of hope.
They hear, once again, the appeal for them to bear the burden of a crisis that the regime itself continues to evade, resulting from its policies and decades of decisions that have brought Cuba to one of the most challenging periods in its recent history.
Filed under: