A Cuban identified as Elizabeth González Aznar published an open letter addressed to Miguel Díaz-Canel in which she demands answers regarding the food crisis, power outages, and abuses in the private sector, describing it as a situation that jeopardizes the lives of the Cuban people.
"I don't know how many more interviews Miguel Díaz-Canel, the president of our country, has left to give, but what I am certain of is that if certain problems we have today remain unresolved, a few of us will become ill or die," writes González Aznar in the text titled "How Long and How Far?"
The letter arrives days after Díaz-Canel gave an interview to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, in which he denied that Cuba is on the verge of collapse and attributed the crisis to the U.S. embargo, without taking any responsibility for the deterioration of living conditions on the island.
González Aznar pointed directly to those statements made by the leader.
"Being interviewed by foreign journalists seems to be very important for you in your political career, which will end in two years, but don't you believe that it is more important to finally resolve the basic problems of the Cuban people?" he questioned.
The author also reproaches the leader for his lack of transparency in statements. "You continue to fail to acknowledge in interviews your responsibility for the undignified life we are leading. Where is the self-criticism from the revolutionary?"
To illustrate the crisis, González Aznar lists the prices he faces daily in the private sector, detailing that a pound of sugar costs 500 pesos, rice 400, oil 4,000 pesos, chicken 700, ground beef 650, pork loin 1,700, and an egg is worth 175 pesos, when it is available.
The rise in prices is compounded by the electricity crisis. "The blackouts prevent us from storing food; refrigerators have become mere decorative items, and every day the price increases are unstoppable," González Aznar laments.
The author also denounces that the private sector refuses bank transfers or accepts them with a limit of 1,000 pesos, and that it no longer accepts bills smaller than 50 pesos, which particularly harms workers, retirees, and pensioners.
"Seeing an elderly person trying to find their daily food and coming back empty-handed is painful. We are not asking for handouts; we want to pay for the products at their exorbitant prices, yet they won't even let us do so through bank transfers," they write.
González Aznar also spoke about the management of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes) in Cuba. "This private sector is adrift; they are unstoppable, they've figured out how to navigate this country’s disaster, and the worst part is that they know you are incapable of bringing them to order because you created them yourselves."
It is not the first time that González Aznar has publicly confronted the ruler. On August 11, he had challenged him when he spoke of "firm and creative resistance," stating that Cubans resist "because we have no other choice."
Her voice joins that of other critical figures, such as the philosopher Alina Bárbara López, who described Díaz-Canel's interview with Folha de S.Paulo as "full of lies and contradictions."
González Aznar concludes his letter with a question that encapsulates the frustration of millions of Cubans.
"This is not a question from a foreign journalist; I am asking it, a Cuban from a small town, tired of merely surviving while others live well without fulfilling their responsibilities. Until when, Mr. President?"
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