The Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz concluded a three-day training session for presidents of Business Groups and Governing Boards this week, held at the Higher School of State and Government Leaders. He took the opportunity to emphasize to the press "the ability to integrate, to motivate everyone, including the general public," that the government must possess for Cubans to begin to appreciate "the results" of the 176 economic transformations approved in June.
The phrase, uttered with the confidence of someone who seems unaware of their own irony, aptly summarizes the state of affairs in Cuba: a government that has spent decades managing scarcity now needs to "motivate" the population to acknowledge the improvements.
The training was sponsored by the National Institute of State Business Assets and reaffirmed the socialist state-owned enterprise as "the main subject of the national economy," as reported by Canal Caribe. This action is part of a series of training sessions that the regime has been conducting since the National Assembly approved the package of measures last June.
Marrero referred with a "didactic" effort to the measures that have already been implemented, the regulations that support them, and his views on the matter: "The transformations are the what, what we want. [...] So far, there are 158 implemented out of the 194 regulations; the regulation is the how we will turn that what into results," he explained with a clarity that, paradoxically, does not clarify much for those who have been unable to buy chicken for months.
The head of government expressed that he is "optimistic" —as usual— and promised that the increased productive capacity will allow us to "gradually lower prices and somewhat curb this inflation that harms our economy so much." The detail that Marrero omitted is that the official year-on-year inflation reached 25.19% in August 2026.
Economists even estimate that the real inflation, incorporating the informal market, could be much higher. The informal dollar was trading at 738 pesos at the close of this Saturday, and the euro at 840.
The contrast with the minimum wage is striking: 3,210 Cuban pesos per month —equivalent to less than five dollars at the informal exchange rate— since July 2026, compared to an estimate of 96,000 pesos needed to cover basic needs. Against this backdrop, the promise to "motivate the population" takes on a peculiar tone.
Marrero did acknowledge, at least, that there is "a lot of uncertainty" in the community, although he was quick to add that the process is "complex" and "very inclusive," and that he and his team are "optimistic because we are seeing precisely that these [productive] forces are beginning to be unleashed." The same forces that the regime has been binding (and promising to release) for almost seven decades.
He also celebrated that business owners are "becoming open" and "seeking their own solutions", although last July, when he called for "bold entrepreneurs," the public response on social media was to label any investment on the island as "economic suicide."
It is not the first time that the Prime Minister acknowledges that the greatest obstacle lies within the apparatus itself. In June, he admitted that "the greatest transformation must be in our way of thinking", pointing directly at the State officials.
After three days of intensive training for business executives, the diagnosis seems to have broadened: it is no longer just about changing the mindset of officials, but also about "motivating" the millions of Cubans who, while waiting for prices to drop, continue to stand in lines, suffer from power outages, and emigrate in record numbers.
"Now what remains is the most important thing: being able to feel those results," admitted Marrero Cruz at the conclusion of the meeting. A phrase that could easily have been spoken by any ordinary Cuban standing in front of an empty shelf.
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