The approval of the new Housing Law by the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) left a scene that perhaps better summarizes the functioning of the Cuban Parliament than any speech: almost everyone raised their hand, one of the regime's top officials seemed unaware, and nonetheless, the result was announced as "unanimous."
During the camera pan conducted by Cuban Television at the time of the vote, the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), Army Corps General Álvaro López Miera, is seen with his head bowed over his seat and not raising his hand, while the deputies around him were indeed supporting the measure.
CiberCuba contrasted the excerpt shared on social media with the full recording of the session and confirmed that the shot indeed corresponds to the moment when the deputies were voting on the Housing Law.
In the sequence, it is not clear that López Miera raises his hand. It cannot be determined with certainty whether he was asleep, distracted, or simply observing from his seat one of those parliamentary rituals whose outcome everyone knows before the counting begins.
The doubt regarding the minister's participation, however, did not disrupt the impeccable arithmetic of the ANPP. The law was declared unanimously approved, because in the Cuban Parliament, even the hands that do not rise seem to count as favorable votes.
The episode once again highlights the purely formal nature of the votes in an Assembly devoid of political opposition, without debates that could jeopardize a government initiative, and where dissent is as rare as finding a well-maintained home.
The scene is particularly revealing as it pertains to a law related to one of the most severe crises the country is facing.
Cuba faces a housing deficit of hundreds of thousands of properties, while numerous buildings deteriorate, entire families live in overcrowded conditions, and collapses are a part of everyday life in several cities.
Perhaps that is why the vote did not seem to demand too much attention from the Minister of the Armed Forces. Unlike the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who wait for years for a housing solution or live with the constant risk of a collapse, military personnel have for years been one of the privileged sectors under the regime's housing policy.
One only needs to check the state-run press to find a long succession of inaugurations of buildings and entire neighborhoods intended for officials and their families in provinces such as Havana, Villa Clara, Camagüey, Holguín, or Santiago de Cuba.
While for the average citizen finding a decent roof has become an odyssey, for the military elite — which also manages a significant part of the national economy through the GAESA conglomerate — housing rarely seems to be an issue.
In light of this situation, the new legislation expands state authority over real estate, establishes obligations for property owners, maintains limits on ownership, and allows for the claim of abandoned or dilapidated homes. It also imposes mandatory fees on multi-family buildings and restrictions for 15 years on those receiving subsidized housing.
But none of those provisions seemed to have required visible doubts, relevant objections, or votes against. Parliament once again fulfilled its usual role: raising its hands, certifying the previously agreed decision, and presenting the result as an expression of national consensus.
This time, however, the official cameras captured a small flaw in the staging. While the Assembly proclaimed yet another perfect unanimity, one of its most powerful members remained motionless, head down and seemingly indifferent to the collective enthusiasm.
In any real parliament, the image could raise questions about the vote count. In the ANPP, it was enough to announce the result. Unanimity, it seems, does not require everyone to vote; it only needs that no one dares to challenge it.
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