After more than six decades of oppression and failed socialist policies, the desperation in communist Cuba is palpable this year-end as Cubans struggle to simply survive another day. Unless you have foreign currency or dollars, food, fuel, and basic items are nearly impossible to find. Meanwhile, the Castro dictatorship continues diverting resources to build and supply hotels for foreign tourists and ships doctors and nurses abroad as slave labor, leaving hospitals to collapse and the Cuban people to take the brunt of their corruption.
Via Martí Noticias (my translation):
In Cuba, ‘the people are really desperate’ over the severity of the crisis
“People are really desperate, and the difficulties are increasing,” independent journalist Miriam Leiva, residing in Havana, told Martí Noticias.
The impact of the economic crisis is felt by almost all Cubans, the journalist said.
“Prices are sky-high, there is great hunger in Cuba, but also, how are they going to solve it? The majority of Cubans don’t have money to buy in the so-called ‘free’ market, not even rice,” explained Leiva.
The inefficiency of Cuba’s economic system is one of the causes that has led to the drop in the gross domestic product, emphasized the reporter.
“Even today, I am dismayed by the news coming to me from people living in the interior (of the island) and here in Havana, that they are in a very critical situation,” Leiva highlighted.
Apart from the scarcity of food and medicine, the country is not emerging from the energy crisis.
The situation isn’t improving, stated journalist Pedro González Reinoso from Caibarién, Villa Clara.
“So, we are going to have a very bleak end of the year; apart from being poorly fed, we are also going to have poor lighting. Let’s see how this ends, because it’s really pathetic what the people of Cuba are experiencing,” González Reinoso concluded.
Cuba’s Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, wrote on his social media account, “Retail inflation is slowing down. In November, it was 2.29%, lower than the same period in 2022 when it reached 4.11%.”
“Although inflation is slowing down, the gap between prices, wages, pensions, and overall income from work remains one of the main unresolved problems that must be addressed with more production, efficiency, and control,” the official acknowledged on social media.
“The government evidently does not care about the situation of its people; what matters to them is self-preservation, getting the best ‘slices,’ and supposedly deceiving with those figures, which are also not reliable because they are the figures they provide and the people, the country, do not believe in any of that. Simply put, we have to listen to them, we have to talk to the people,” Leiva opined.
Doesn’t matter. What matters is the survival of the “revolution,” meaning the ruling dictatorship.
The usual suspects still believe Cubans are better off than they would be if there had been no “revolution.”