Miguel Díaz-Canel closed this Thursday the VII Ordinary Period of Sessions of the X Legislature of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) with a speech in which he demanded Cuban leaders to maintain "a high ethical conduct," amid a profound economic and energy crisis that the regime itself acknowledges as unprecedented.
The parliamentary session, held on July 29 and 30 at the Palace of Conventions in Havana, had a comprehensive legislative agenda that included the approval of the Agricultural and Forestry Land Law, the Housing Law, the Labor Code, and the Law on the Organization of the Central State Administration.
This last reform involved a reduction of central agencies from 27 to 21 and a cut of 92,000 positions in public administration.
The call to ethics is not new in Díaz-Canel's discourse. In the closing of the Fifth Ordinary Period of Sessions, held on July 18, 2025, he had already referenced Fidel Castro's concept of Revolution to demand of the leaders: "Never lie nor violate ethical principles."
This requirement is also formally supported by the Code of Ethics for the Leaders of the Cuban Revolution, which has been in effect since January 15, 2024, mandating leaders to maintain austerity, reject privileges, act with honesty and transparency, and uphold exemplary conduct even in the digital space.
Critics point out that this ethical discourse reappears systematically in contexts of corruption scandals or social discontent, without resulting in real accountability or tangible improvements for the population.
In his closing speech, Díaz-Canel also defended the 176 economic and social measures approved in June 2026, of which 120 would already be ready for implementation, according to the president, without any independent verification of that information.
At the same time, he denied that the reforms imply an "opening to capitalism" and presented them as a "refinement" of the socialist model, in line with the regime's usual language to avoid acknowledging the structural failure of its economic system.
The leader described the United States government as a "neofascist regime" and rejected the notion that Cuba is "a colony" or "a nation in dispute," adopting a confrontational tone that contrasts with the seriousness of the internal problems facing the Island.
The ANPP also approved a statement condemning the U.S. policy toward Cuba and calling on the international community to prevent military aggression.
The context in which the parliamentary session was held illustrates the magnitude of the crisis: the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, appeared before the deputies to discuss the electricity crisis and attributed part of the deterioration to the theft of transformer oil, while the Electric Union forecasted a record impact of 2,380 MW.
The 2025 budget closed with a deficit of 74.5 billion pesos, a figure presented to the ANPP during the session.
Raúl Castro participated in the closing session of the parliament, according to coverage by the Cuban News Agency, indicating that the founder of the dictatorship remains influential during key political moments of the regime.
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