The response to suffocation is inventiveness, creativity, and, although it may bother some, also the joy of the Cuban people.
With that phrase, spoken during the central event for July 26 in Pinar del Río, Miguel Díaz-Canel once again resorted to one of the traditional pillars of the official narrative: transforming the resilience of Cubans into the main response to the economic and social decline the country is experiencing.
The leader stated that the response to the "blockade" is "intelligent and efficient effort" and defended 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 collide once again with a reality that is increasingly difficult to endure.
Resistance as State Policy
For decades, the official narrative has portrayed the people's ability to endure hardships as a revolutionary virtue.
Scarcity turns into "resistance"; blackouts become a test of heroism; mass emigration barely finds a place in official speeches; and economic difficulties are described as almost exclusively the result of U.S. policy.
The appeal to "inventiveness" is not new either. For years, the regime has presented as examples of creativity what for many Cubans are nothing more than survival strategies: repeatedly repairing obsolete equipment, cooking with firewood when gas is unavailable, improvising solutions in the absence of medications, or spending hours searching for basic food items.
What the government defines as ingenuity, millions of citizens experience as the ongoing obligation to survive amidst shortages that have become part of everyday 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 deep energy crisis, with prolonged blackouts affecting much of the country; inflation that has shattered the purchasing power of salaries and pensions; and a serious shortage of food and medicine.
This is compounded by the deterioration of essential services such as healthcare and transportation, and an unprecedented migration exodus, with hundreds of thousands of Cubans having left the country in recent years, leaving families separated and the elderly abandoned.
In that context, presenting joy as a political response can be interpreted as a sign of disconnection with the mood of the population, which daily faces uncertainty, exhaustion, and frustration.
From Permanent Sacrifice to Reforms
In the same speech, Díaz-Canel acknowledged that "creativity and effort alone are not enough" and advocated for 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 decline and leave the main pillars of the centralized model intact, without introducing institutional changes that would ensure greater economic freedom, legal security, or fair competition.
At the same time, doubts are increasing 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 from 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 decline in living conditions.
The ingenuity of the people has made it possible to repair appliances that seem impossible to replace, cook when there is no gas or electricity, improvise non-existent medications, and stretch a salary that barely lasts for a few days.
But that creativity has not prevented widespread impoverishment nor has it halted the exodus of those who no longer believe that constant sacrifice will lead to a better future.
For this reason, when the leader asserts that the response to the "suffocation" is "the ingenuity, creativity, and joy of the Cuban people," many citizens do not hear a message of hope.
They listen, once again, to the call for them to bear the weight of a crisis that the regime itself continues to refuse to acknowledge as a result of its policies and decades of decisions that have led Cuba to one of the most difficult stages in its recent history.
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