Under communism, you are expected not only to take the abuse, but give thanks to your abuser as well. In a struggle session of sorts, Cuba’s former Minister of the Economy Alejandro Gil, who was unceremoniously removed from office after the Cuban dictatorship’s economic reforms failed once again, went on social media to thank the Castro regime’s sock puppet president, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
This is not to say Gil is innocent, but in all communist regimes, there always has to be a fall guy to take the blame for the Party’s failures. This time, it was Gil’s turn. And like a good subservient communist, he took the abuse and said: “Thank you sir, can I have another.”
Via Diario de Cuba (my translation):
Gil’s last act of ‘guataconeria’: ‘Thank you, Diaz-Canel, I am at your service to continue building Cuba’
Ousted Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, responded this Sunday to a message from Miguel Díaz-Canel, expressing gratitude to the leader for having worked with him. Despite his removal, Gil placed himself at Díaz-Canel’s disposal.
“Thank you, President @DiazCanelB. It has been my pride and honor to work alongside you in service to our people and our Revolution. As always, I am at your service, to continue #BuildingXCuba,” wrote Gil in a message that also included the hashtags #IContinueWithMyPresident and #UnitedForCuba.
Earlier, Díaz-Canel sent a “grateful embrace” to Gil and the other dismissed ministers. The leader emphasized that they “dedicated their energies in very difficult years for the country” and promised “tasks to continue working for Cuba.”
In the same message, Díaz-Canel wished success to the newly appointed ministers.
“Renewal is natural,” said Enrique Villuendas, an official from the Ideological Department of the Communist Party, paraphrasing General Raúl Castro, who, on the first day of the current year, delivered a speech specifically addressed to the regime’s “cadres.”
“I call on you to reflect every day on what more can be done (…), to find realistic solutions with what we have, to work harder, and above all, to do it well,” said the general at that time.
“Only a weak and pusillanimous leader is forced to issue a message like this to justify an organizational decision,” commented a user identified as Liborio.
“Gil is not the first scapegoat, nor the first to thank for his dismissal. It remains to be seen where they will assign him. After his confession, internationally recognized poet Heberto Padilla was sent by Fidel Castro to pick oranges and later to translate technical texts,” commented Fernando Calzón.
Another user considered the exchange of messages as “embarrassing theater.”
Gil’s fall from grace comes after a series of bad economic news, such as the acknowledgment of the failure of the Ordering Task, implemented in January 2021; the collapse of the economy at the end of 2023, and the announced failure of the economic package, which the government unsuccessfully sells as “measures to correct distortions,” despite causing further impoverishment of Cubans and exacerbating already critical inflation.
Last September, Cuban economist Rafaela Cruz predicted Gil’s downfall for DIARIO DE CUBA. In an opinion article, she warned that among the minister’s recent functions would be to “absorb the popular discontent over the announcement that things will continue to worsen in Cuba.”
“Gil is the minister of the Ordering Task, of the designed inflation, of the dollar at 120 pesos that now costs 300, of monetary unification, of MLC stores, blackouts, hunger, the escape of hundreds of thousands of Cubans…,” enumerated Cruz.
“His lies regarding MLC stores are legendary: his ‘2023 will be a better year’ and the crude way in which he presents national accounts with growth to the National Assembly, when the people’s debacle does not admit nuances. Gil is the minister under whose signatures self-employment was destroyed to build, with its remains, a ‘private’ sector to the government’s liking.”
“In summary, Gil’s record as minister does not deserve dismissal but a genocide trial. But until the Cuban Nuremberg arrives, what we have is the Revolution devouring one of its most incompetent sons or one of the most loyal, considering how well he has carried out the mission of not doing the best for the economy but the best for the dictatorship, and disguising it, packaging it, and selling it as positive changes,” he pointed out.
The “president” is no more qualified for his job than Gil was for his, but it’s all moot, since competence is NOT the issue. It’s simply a matter of what works best for the regime politically.