The Cuban regime continues to bet on “My Neighborhood for the Homeland”, a structure created to strengthen mobilization and the so-called “popular control” in communities, while the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) face increasing difficulties in maintaining the influence they held in neighborhoods for decades.
The State Council dedicated part of its regular session on Wednesday to review the progress of the initiative, as reported by the official Canal Caribe.
The meeting was led by Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly and a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party (PCC), and included the participation of the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The Vice President of the National Assembly, Ana María Mari Machado, presented a report on the implementation of the movement based on data collected from governors, municipal authorities, and mass organizations.
Lazo resorted to the usual official discourse to describe the project as an expression of "popular participation and mass movement as the essence of the revolution."
But the officials' own interventions revealed that one of the central components of the initiative is neighborhood-level control.
"This action of popular oversight and the encouragement of participation are elements inseparably linked to popular power and the essence of our system," affirmed Carlos Rafael Fuentes León, president of the Commission for the Attention to Local Bodies of the Popular Power of the ANPP.
José Luis Toledo Santander, secretary of the ANPP, also presented actions aimed at reinforcing "popular control as a complement to administrative control in the demarcation" within the municipal assemblies.
The emphasis on "control" is particularly significant in a country where, for decades, the CDR operated not only as organizations for political mobilization but also as an extensive neighborhood surveillance network at the service of the regime.
A new mechanism to control the neighborhoods
"My Neighborhood for the Homeland" operates on three pillars designated by the authorities as Safe Neighborhood, Productive Neighborhood, and Participatory Neighborhood, and aims to encompass more than 12,000 constituencies across the country.
The movement began to unfold in March and was formally presented on May 8 at the National Capitol.
Although the government promotes it as a mechanism for community participation, its structure, language, and objectives replicate several of the functions that the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution historically performed.
For this reason, independent media and analysts have described it as a sort of reinforced CDR, tailored to a time when the traditional mass organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to mobilize the population.
The erosion of the CDR is no longer a problem that the official apparatus can hide.
In April 2025, the organization publicly acknowledged a "leadership deficit." Months later, its national coordinator, Gerardo Hernández, called to "revitalize" the CDR, amidst issues of participation, aging members, and disinterest from new generations.
"Mi Barrio por la Patria" appears precisely in that context: a new structure aimed at regaining political presence where the CDRs have been losing it.
The Council of State approves four more decree-laws
Wednesday's session also resulted in four new economic decree-laws, although the details released so far primarily stem from information provided by state media.
One modifies the regulations applicable to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes), non-agricultural cooperatives, and self-employed workers, with the stated aim of "eliminating restrictions."
Another establishes a mandatory liability insurance for motor vehicles, while a third regulates the bidding processes involving state resources.
The room authorizes the commercial importation of goods by individuals, both as passengers and through shipments.
The measures continue the changes approved in July, when the State Council adopted two additional decree-laws as part of the 176 economic transformation measures announced by the authorities.
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