A professor from the Communist Party Faculty in Las Tunas warned that the package of 176 economic and social transformations approved by the Cuban government implicitly carries the concept of "class differentiation" and may generate a "proto-bourgeoisie" that could ultimately challenge the very system that is creating it.
"The measures themselves already imply the concept of class differentiation that we had overlooked since January First. This suggests the reemergence of wealth in Cuban society," a phenomenon that "is already being observed," emphasized educator Eugenio Ramos in an interview published on Friday by the official newspaper 26.
The statement represents one of the most direct warnings coming from within the ideological apparatus of the regime regarding the social risks of the reforms approved in the extraordinary session of the National Assembly last June.
The professor candidly acknowledged that the reforms involve accepting that "capitalist modes of production will indeed be present" in the Cuban economy.
He warned about the risk that new large entrepreneurs and owners might demand changes that benefit them individually while leaving the vast majority unprotected.
"What is needed is for those great entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and owners not to become protobourgeois in the classic style of the bourgeoisie," he warned.
Ramos went further by pointing out that if market forces and socialist planning fail to harmonize, "a proto-bourgeoisie might be created that could question the very system that is bringing it into existence."
The educator also acknowledged that there is debate regarding how the measures were approved and the level of citizen participation, although he clarified that "the political decision has already been made."
According to the professor at the Communist Party Faculty in Las Tunas, the responsibility for preventing that drift falls on the only permitted political organization on the island.
"The responsibility of harmonizing these forces falls on the Party, which must socialize the ideas to engage people in understanding the measures. Everyone should feel that they have been taken into account and that everyone is prepared to assume the risks," he concluded.
Ramos' statements are part of a broader debate that has shaken the government since the regime approved the most radical reforms since 1959, organized into 23 thematic areas, which include the authorization of private banking, the removal of the limit of 100 workers for small and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes), and the opening of the foreign exchange market.
The ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged the fear of the growth of private capital, although he insisted that the transformations do not aim for "more capitalism" but rather to strengthen socialism.
Meanwhile, the official press warned in July that the greatest danger of the opening is not the entrepreneur, but "the state official who sees in the new regulation an opportunity for personal profit disguised as modernization."
The economist Pedro Monreal described the package as "a monster, perhaps more of a deformed hybrid", while The Economist warned that the reforms come at a time when Cuba is already on the brink of collapse, with an economic contraction exceeding 20% since 2020 and power outages lasting more than 24 continuous hours in numerous localities.
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