The Cuban activist and opponent Rosa María Payá denounced this Monday that the Cuban people are facing a humanitarian catastrophe that is not a result of the U.S. embargo, but rather of a dictatorship that accumulates fortunes outside the island while its citizens suffer from scarcity and repression.
"Cubans are facing a humanitarian catastrophe caused by a dictatorship that holds billions of dollars in foreign accounts," wrote in a message on X Payá, founder of Cuba Decide, an initiative that promotes a binding referendum for a democratic transition on the island.
The activist stated that the only real way out involves a change of system: "Democratic change is the path to having a chance to overcome this crisis."
It also urged the international community to take action: "Human suffering is growing, and the regime only responds with more repression."
The statement comes at the worst humanitarian moment that Cuba has faced in decades. The electrical system experienced its fourth total collapse of the year on July 10, 2026, with outages lasting between twenty and twenty-five hours a day in several provinces.
In April 2026, 461 out of 651 essential medications were out of stock in state pharmacies, according to data collected by crisis monitoring organizations.
The UN has launched a humanitarian appeal for 94 million dollars to assist nearly two million affected Cubans, although by mid-May, the funding shortfall exceeded 60 million.
In response to that gap, the U.S. administration committed up to $100 million in assistance, channeled through the Catholic Church and independent non-governmental organizations to prevent the regime from intercepting the funds.
The European Commission, for its part, announced in July an additional 10 million euros in humanitarian aid.
The argument made by Payá regarding the regime's resources is supported by documentary evidence. A BBC report based on documents leaked to the Miami Herald estimated the assets of GAESA —the business conglomerate controlled by the Cuban Armed Forces— to be at least 17.894 billion dollars as of March 2024, although the BBC itself clarified that it was unable to independently verify these figures.
Days before this tweet, Payá had already described GAESA as a "private company of the Castros, with billions of dollars in foreign accounts", labeling those funds as stolen from the Cuban people.
The regime, on the other hand, rejects the characterization of a humanitarian crisis. The Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez dismissed on July 1, 2026, the idea that Cuba is experiencing a situation comparable to that of the pandemic, although he acknowledged severe hardships, attributing the difficulties to the U.S. embargo.
The U.S. Department of State responded this Tuesday that the crisis is a "direct result of the Cuban regime, its non-functional economic model, and its own incompetence."
Payá, daughter of the prominent dissident Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas—who died in 2012 under circumstances that his family attributes to the regime—has been advocating this same thesis for years.
In December 2025, it had already been warned that that year Cuba was “plunged into a humanitarian catastrophe” characterized by shortages, blackouts, and repression. In March 2026, it went further by describing the situation as “the worst in the last six decades.”
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