The Cuban state has gone AWOL
I know everyone is incredibly anxious right now - with the election looming and the atrocities in Palestine, Sudan and the Congo. (I think it’s important to point out how much less media coverage the atrocities in Africa get because African and Black suffering has been normalized for centuries). The situation in Cuba seems insignificant when compared to living in a war zone, and I get why it’s not front-page news, but I felt the need to write about it. I understand if you don’t have the emotional bandwidth to read about yet another really depressing thing - but if you do find the information useful, please share with others who might want to know.
I began the year with a post about my family’s trip to Cuba in December-January. Despite how wonderful it was to spend time with family, I spoke about how difficult the economic situation was, particularly the staggering inflation rates and general feeling of despair.
Things were very bad then. Now, they are worse. On Oct. 18, the entire electrical grid collapsed. Cubans had already been enduring frequent, rolling blackouts, but the island-wide blackout was a tipping point. Every aspect of Cuba’s infrastructure has been neglected for decades—whether it’s the colonial-era homes in Old Havana that have been crumbling for years and are in fact a huge safety risk for those living in and around them; the failing healthcare system that was once the crowning jewel of the Revolution but now requires that patients who are hospitalized bring their own bed sheets, food, and even medical supplies/medicine; or the impoverished educational system that has hemorrhaged teachers. In recent months, the problems have become even more basic: 5-10% of Cuba’s population doesn’t have access to running water.
And now, we have the collapse of the electrical system, which independent journalist Yoani Sánchez so eloquently summed up last week. I translated her Facebook post, called “Keys to an Energy Collapse,” here:
Last week, on top of the island-wide blackout, Hurricane Oscar blew through the easternmost province of Guantánamo, flooding the city of Baracoa and destroying towns like San Antonio del Sur, where at least 7 people have died. Whereas in the past, the Cuban government was able to quickly mobilize to evacuate people before hurricanes, this time the affected residents didn’t even receive a warning because of the blackout. They were left to fend for themselves, as this video from El Toque’s Instagram page explains:
Essentially, this lack of government mobilization is just the latest example of the fact that the Cuban government has gone AWOL. I highly recommend reading this piece, by Cuban law professor Julio Antonio Fernandez, explaining how the Cuban government can no longer provide for its citizens. It’s published in El Toque, an independent media outlet that publishes in both Spanish and English.
https://eltoque.com/en/the-cuban-state-has-gone-awol
Whenever Cuba finds itself in crisis, leftists and progressives routinely blame the US embargo, parroting the Cuban government’s 60+ year mantra of scapegoating all its problems onto US policy. Frustratingly, many people here in the US and all over the world continue to repeat this tired argument, despite never having been to Cuba or speaking with any Cubans.
If people were listening to and talking to Cubans, they would hear about how angry and exhausted they are with a regime that has completely mismanaged every aspect of the island's infrastructure and economy. This is a government that, in a historic blackout, could have given away all the perishable meat/food that would otherwise spoil inside stores with no electricity, but didn’t. Some Cubans believe government officials routinely allow the meat to thaw & then refreeze it (a public health no-no of course) to sell to citizens once electricity is restored.
According to many reports, the government restored electricity to hotels and tourist venues first, before attending to their own citizens. And yes, tourism has become vital for Cuba's economy, but tourist apartheid measures since the 1990s are well-documented and contradict the nationalist rhetoric that has been trumpeted for 60+ years. It’s not surprising that Global South countries dependent on tourism put the comfort and wellbeing of foreigners before nationals—but most of those nations are not loudly proclaiming their sovereignty and saying they will never live under the thumb of foreign imperialism! That’s what makes the whole situation so frustrating: while its reputation has fallen in recent years around the world, the Cuban government still gets moral credit for socialism without actually providing for its citizens anymore.
I’m not one of those critics of the Cuban government who dismisses the impact of the embargo. I would lift it right away if I could. Cuba is obviously not a threat to the US in any way and placing it on the state-sponsored terrorism list is a joke. Also, I have always said: lift the embargo and take away the only excuse the Cuban government has ever had to explain away the country's many internal problems. The mismanagement & corruption would be laid bare.
But what really irks me are the Americans and other non-Cuban leftists continuing to act as apologists for a morally bankrupt Cuban government that hasn't had the best interests of Cuban citizens in mind for years, decades even. Throughout the pandemic the government continued building large tourist hotels (despite no tourists coming) instead of funding incredibly needed infrastructure for Cubans, like the electrical grid!! And good luck finding a foreign partner to help upgrade the system, given that everyone knows Cuba is broke.
Just a few days ago Cuba begged Putin to join Brics+ and was admitted. While I know Cuba desperately needs foreign aid, this feels like the government trading its soul once again to Russia, to the most dangerous dictator in the world. And this will likely mean the government continuing to postpone reinvesting in national agriculture (which is all but dead) and to keep relying on foreign food imports, part of the reason Cuba is broke to begin with! The government, following the tired Soviet centralized model, has never truly allowed small businesses to flourish: since the 1990s, every time the private sector is thriving, the regime steps in and imposes onerous new laws, regulations and taxes. They say it’s to stave off wealth inequality among Cubans (which is definitely needed), but every year the state subsidies (food, toiletries) shrink and the social safety net frays. Where does the revenue that’s supposed to be generated by taxing business owners go, as the safety net continues to erode?
I want to speak for a minute about the situation of Cubans who live in the diaspora, because obviously, I live with one. Miami Cubans get a bad rap, and for good reason: they’re the core of Trump’s Latino base. However, independent of their political leanings in the U.S., I don’t know one Cuban who supports the Díaz-Canel regime. Everyone feels increasingly helpless and angry, because no matter how much we send to relatives on the island, it's never enough. It’s not hyperbole to say that Cubans in the diaspora (not only in the US, but also in Spain, Mexico, Canada and other places) are propping up a failing government and economy through remittances. We provide money for food, medical supplies and other basic items that the Cuban government is supposed to provide under a socialist system. Do you know what the government advised Cubans to do in the wake of this recent blackout: invest in solar panels.
It’s the height of absurdity. Most Cubans don’t have more than $5-10 to their names. As CNN’s Cuba reporter Oppmann posted a few weeks ago, a bag of limes and tomatoes cost him $27:
So what do you mean, “invest in solar panels?” This is just one of the many ways the Cuban government now outsources its infrastructure costs to the diaspora, while still claiming the moral superiority of a socialist system. They’re pushing individual solutions to major infrastructure problems.
And the government does all this while suppressing dissent! Forcing journalists into exile. Jailing people who participated in the 2021 protests for 10-25 years. There was a recent crackdown on independent journalists just weeks ago.
All of *waves hands around wildly* this is why Cuba has lost more than 10% of its population since 2020. The brain drain and youth drain is astonishing. Everyone who can is selling their homes and possessions to try and get out.
I wish I had some words to convey some sort of hope about Cuba’s future, but I can’t find any “bright side” that feels true right now. All I can do is keep doing my little part to help friends and family on the island, and donate to mutual aid efforts.
In that vein, I have a trustworthy contact (a Cuban literature professor who lives in Houston) who is collecting donations that are being used to distribute food and clothes and medicine directly to people in San Antonio del Sur, the town in Guantanamo badly affected by the recent hurricane. She shares updates about the donations on her Facebook page. I’ve already sent her money. Please let me know if you’d like to contribute to their efforts and I’ll put you in touch with her.
I hope you’re all finding some love, light and laughter in your lives.
Here’s a picture I took tonight on my dog walk that gave me a sense of peace. It’s never a bad idea to go outside and “touch grass,” as the kids say.
