However, many observers, including Torres, stress that the government’s mismanagement of the economy and reluctance to embrace the private sector are also to blame. “Not words - answers.”įor years, the Caribbean nation has pushed much of the blame for its economic turmoil on the United States’ six-decade trade embargo on Cuba, which has strangled much of the island’s economy. “People want answers from their government,” he said. The admission provoked a standing ovation from lawmakers in the congressional assembly, the majority of them members of Díaz-Canel’s communist party.īut Ricardo Torres, a Cuban and economics fellow at American University in Washington, said he saw the words as “meaningless” without a real plan to address discontent. “I feel an enormous dissatisfaction that I haven’t been able to accomplish, through leadership of the country, the results that the Cuban people need to attain longed-desired and expected prosperity,” he said. The dissatisfaction was made even more evident during Cuba’s local elections last month, when 31.5% of eligible voters didn’t cast a ballot - a far cry from the nearly 100% turnout during Fidel Castro’s lifetime.ĭespite being the highest voting abstention rate the country had seen since the Cuban revolution, the government still hailed it as “a victory.” However in an address to Cuban lawmakers last week, President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged the government’s shortcomings in handling the country’s complex mix of crises, particularly food shortages. authorities reported stopping Cubans 34,675 times along the Mexico border in November, up 21% from 28,848 times in October. The shortages are among a number of factors stoking a broader discontent on the island, which has given rise to protests in recent years as well as an emerging migratory flight from Cuba. While Fajardo managed to buy vegetables, rice and beans, she still has no meat for Christmas or New Years. ![]() In October, the Cuban government reported that inflation had risen 40% over the past year and had a significant impact on the purchasing power for many on the island. “With the money my daughter earns and my pension, we’re trying to buy what we can, but it’s extremely hard.” “Not everyone can buy things, not everyone has a family who sends remittances (money from abroad),” Fajardo said. Nearby, a pound of pork leg was selling for 450 pesos (around $2.60.) ![]() It’s far out of the range of the average Cuban state salary, approximately 5,000 pesos a month, or $29 USD on the island’s more widely used informal exchange rate.
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