A Cuban woman who had been claiming an uncultivated plot of land in her community for over ten years obtained it just three days after she reported her case on the radio program of Miguel Díaz-Canel, as revealed in the second broadcast of the show "Criterio Compartido", aired on Wednesday by Radio Rebelde.
Natalia Caridad Quintana López, a resident of Arroyo Naranjo, Havana, had called the first program on September 23 to share her situation: "For more than ten years, we have been requesting an uncultivated piece of land here within the community, which is now filled with garbage," she recounted at that time.
Díaz-Canel responded with a promise: "Comrade Natalia, you will receive a response regarding your land, and I believe that you should be granted the land, because, in addition, we are expediting the deliveries."
What followed reveals the extent of the bureaucratic problem: the Ministry of Agriculture had previously investigated the case and ruled in favor of Quintana, but the Municipal Delegation of Arroyo Naranjo never executed the delivery. Only public pressure from the program unlocked the process.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Telce Abdel González Morera, acknowledged via phone in the second broadcast that there was "a misstep" in the handling of the file, attributing it to personnel changes in the municipal delegation and a lack of follow-up.
According to him, it is a topic that "we are refining and taking as a negative case study to explain to everyone so that issues like this do not happen again."
The official further explained that the area originally requested by Quintana had already been assigned to another production company and was in full production, so the ministry identified an alternative available site and proceeded to allocate it to them.
The official notification of the Provisional Administration Resolution was handed to the woman on September 25 in Arroyo Naranjo, in the presence of the Municipal Delegation of Agriculture. The cadastral process and the final resolution were expected to be completed this week.
Quintana is the coordinator of the Family Community Project "Vida," dedicated to food production, environmental education, and community work, and is part of a network of 101 gardens and productive spaces led by women.
The case exemplifies the obstacles that hinder the land transfer process, despite the agricultural reforms adopted by the regime to attempt to reverse the deep productive crisis facing Cuban agriculture. The episode illustrates a reality that the regime itself acknowledges: without direct intervention from higher authorities, procedures can remain stalled for years.
Díaz-Canel reported on Wednesday that the first program "Criterio Compartido" received 24 calls, of which 16 were attended to by officials. Out of the eight formal complaints, five were deemed valid and three were partially valid.
The second broadcast received over 50 calls on issues such as social vulnerability, shortage of medications, basic services, and bureaucracy, highlighting the depth of the challenges faced by the Cuban population after decades of the regime's management.
The program is broadcast biweekly on Wednesdays at 7:15 a.m. on Radio Rebelde nationwide.
The regime presents it as a space for citizen participation, but Cubans point out that the format does not replace real structural reforms nor does it guarantee that cases without media coverage receive equal attention.
The space has generated criticism on social media, where it was labeled as "the circus", and citizens are questioning the government's intention to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles that it has created over decades.
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