The statements made by the Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío regarding the profound economic transformations that the Cuban government is preparing have sparked a wave of reactions among readers of CiberCuba on Facebook, where skepticism about the potential results of these measures predominates.
Fernández de Cossío acknowledged in an interview with the American program Breaking Points that the authorities do not know what the outcome of the changes will be, although they consider it essential to take action in response to the current situation.
«We don't know what the outcome will be, but we must do something to change the current reality», the diplomat asserted.
The statements, collected by CiberCuba, generated hundreds of comments on Facebook. Among the reactions are criticisms of the economic management of the last few decades, doubts about the ability of the new measures to enhance daily life, and concerns about the social consequences of greater market openness.
The outcome is already known. 67 years of reforms. More misery and more misery. Those who cause the problem are not the ones who will fix it.
Another comment summarized skepticism much more succinctly: "It’s very simple: no results".
The vice minister's reference to uncertainty also led several users to recall previous economic reform processes initiated by the Cuban authorities.
"Since 1959, they have been facing the same uncertainty, almost 70 years of uncertainty, reforms and more reforms, processes of rectification, expulsion of leaders, etc., and the country is increasingly devastated and mired in more misery," one of the comments noted.
In a similar vein, another user believed that the experience accumulated over decades allows for anticipating, from their perspective, the outcome of the new measures: "Maybe not you, but with 67 years of experience and the results seen by the Cuban people, it will be another failure".
Another reader associated their concerns with issues such as debt and Cuba's difficulties in obtaining financing: «Without international credit, debts, and without radical political change. The result will be the same as it has been for more than 67 years: failure».
Not all reactions were limited to questioning the effectiveness of the reforms. Some users focused their concerns on the consequences of expanding the market and private initiative in a country marked by low wages, inflation, and significant disparities in access to foreign currency.
One of the comments compared the current situation to the crisis of the 1990s and warned of the risk that the benefits of greater economic openness could become concentrated in a segment of the population.
“Remember the experience of the 1990s when the special period began, hitting the Cuban people very hard. Today, history is repeating itself, but with a different focus, walking toward capitalism,great for a few citizens and terrible for the majority who struggle day by day to survive,” expressed a reader.
Another comment was even more pessimistic, asserting that the measures could "lead the country further into misery."
There were also those who highlighted a possible contradiction between the socialist discourse upheld for decades and the increasing incorporation of market mechanisms. One reader questioned that, after years of rejecting capitalism, the authorities are now resorting to tools characteristic of a market economy to try to reactivate the country.
From another perspective, a user pointed out that a greater market presence could lead to more difficulties for those who lack sufficient income. "If you don’t have money, right now you won’t be able to buy anything," they wrote, referring to the potential impacts of the changes.
The reactions come after Fernández de Cossío described the ongoing process as the most profound social and economic transformation Cuba has experienced since the 1960s.
The measures announced by the authorities include greater space for the private sector, more flexibility for micro, small, and medium enterprises (mipymes), new opportunities for foreign investment related to the non-state sector, and financial and currency mechanisms with private participation.
Miguel Díaz-Canel has insisted, however, that the process will continue under the direction of the Communist Party of Cuba and has rejected the notion that the measures represent a transition to a capitalist system.
The uncertainty recognized by Fernández de Cossío seems to be precisely one of the elements that has garnered the most attention among readers.
For many of those who responded to the posts from CiberCuba, the issue lies not only in understanding what the new measures will be, but also in whether they will yield different results compared to previous cycles of reform.
The result is already known, one of them insisted. Another was even more emphatic: No result at all.
The opinions collected on Facebook reflect the ratings of users who participated in those posts and do not, in themselves, constitute a representative sample of public opinion in Cuba.
They do reflect, however, the intense debate generated on the networks of CiberCuba regarding economic changes that the government itself describes as profound and whose outcome, as Fernández de Cossío acknowledged, is still unknown.
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