Aleida Guevara March, a pediatrician and daughter of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, described self-employment as "a small cancer within our society."
Her definition, published in an interview by the official outlet Cubadebate in October 2020, resonated high and clear again in 2022, in front of the cameras of BreakThrough News (BT), this time interviewed by journalist Rania Khalek.
The words, spoken six years ago, are circulating again on social media and take on a new dimension in the current context: the Cuban regime is experiencing one of its greatest historical contradictions, with a package of 176 economic measures that formally expands the private sector space, but that its own leaders hasten to present as a tactical concession, not as a recognition of rights.
In the 2020 interview, Guevara March stated that the Che "would never understand it. Not at all", referring to self-employed workers, and added that the underlying problem is ideological: "people start to only think about their own pocket".
In 2022, the daughter of the guerrilla expanded on that argument, drawing from Marx: "A person thinks according to how they live. If you start living only to increase the economic possibilities for your family, yours, you can forget that you live in a different society. That is a tremendous risk."
And went further: «How do you raise social awareness in a person who is only working for themselves? Very difficult, it is truly difficult».
Although he acknowledged that self-employment was a way out during the crisis — "sometimes you have to make decisions that, while not always the right ones, are the only options available to us" — he made it clear that he sees it as an ideologically unacceptable concession.
That mindset is not exclusive to Guevara March; it is the consistent thread in the economic policy of the regime.
The Prime Minister Manuel Marrero presented the 176 measures to the National Assembly in June 2026 with a clear message: «These transformations do not represent a deviation from the socialist project».
The stated purpose is to "preserve the essential" and "save the Revolution," not to open the economy out of conviction.
Miguel Díaz-Canel, for his part, was even more explicit in April 2026: "The socialist character of our Revolution is not a phrase from the past. It is the shield of the present and the guarantee of the future." The reforms, he said, are "to defend and advance in the socialist construction, not for more capitalism".
The contrast with the reality faced by Cuban entrepreneurs is stark.
While the regime announces openings —the removal of the cap of 100 workers for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes), authorization of private banking, the possibility for an individual to own multiple businesses— it simultaneously intensifies controls over private businesses with fines, confiscations, and threats of closure for up to three months for alleged price violations.
In Las Tunas, more than 2,000 sanctions were imposed on entrepreneurs in August 2026, with fines of up to 72,000 Cuban pesos; in Sancti Spíritus, a joint operation by the Prosecutor's Office, the Comptroller's Office, and the Party resulted in over 200 fines and at least five establishments closed.
The government itself had acknowledged that the general price caps failed to contain inflation, yet it continued to apply them as a tool for selective pressure.
This pattern —opening under external pressure, restricting once the pressure eases— is the backdrop that gives meaning to Aleida's words, who in May 2024 had already urged the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution to intensify surveillance over the mipymes due to "the risks they pose to security."
Díaz-Canel admitted in June 2026 that "creative resistance is no longer enough", abandoning the formula he had invoked for years as a response to the crisis without structural reforms.
But this rhetorical shift does not imply a change of conviction: the statements from figures like Guevara March serve as ideological signals that the opening has limits and could be reversed once external pressures cease.
The daughter of Che summarized it with a phrase that encapsulates the view of an entire elite: «For me personally, this is a small cancer within society. That's my opinion. I am very radical about these things».
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