Three weeks after the passage of the powerful , in early November, the situation remains extremely difficult. At least 750,000 people were forced from their homes, many of whom have yet to return. Power outages are daily and last for many hours.
But the worst thing is that the typhoon hit a country that has long been bleeding, after 67 years of communist rule that was established by the revolution of Fidel Castro in 1959.
Cuba, frozen in time, can no longer live its inhabitants. According to the Economist correspondent, the average monthly salary is 6,506 pesos ($14.46). This is the salary of doctors and teachers, while “low-paid” museum guards are paid 2,500 pesos (less than $5). All Cubans are required to survive in this wage frame, when a carton of 30 eggs costs 2,800 pesos.
Broken infrastructure
The infrastructure in Cuba is antiquated, if not broken. Power outages last at least four hours a day almost all over the island. Water outages are also frequent and long. According to the Spanish think tank DESCA (Observatory of Social Rights), 89% of families in Cuba “live in extreme poverty” and 70% skip at least one meal a day. 58% of Cubans over the age of 70 live on less than 4,500 pesos a month (about $10), while only 3% can find the necessary drugs in pharmacies.
Public transport is non-existent; buses are few and far between. Groups of Cubans stop cars on the street, trying to get from one point to another. Vehicle owners can neither find nor pay for fuel. Besides, gas stations are often not working.
Millions of Cubans depend on remittances from their more than three million relatives abroad. More and more people in the country are turning to the limited private sector where wages are said to be eight times that of the state. And those Cubans who can immigrate. According to estimates, about 25% of the 11.2 million inhabitants have left the country in the last five years. However, since the beginning of the year, due to US President Donald Trump’s harsh immigration policy, Cubans have found it difficult to immigrate to the United States.
Subfertility problem
And those who do not emigrate remain in Cuba but do not have children: the fertility rate has fallen to 1.29 children per woman.
The Cuban economy is in a coma. The country that was one of the biggest exporters of sugar in the world is now forced to import sugar. Tourism that supported the economy has collapsed.
When President Barack Obama visited the island in 2016 (the first US president to visit the country since the 1962 Missile Crisis and the US embargo on Cuba), the number of tourists increased. For a moment, the situation seemed to change – huge crowds attended the Rolling Stones’ free concert in Havana that year. But after the coronavirus pandemic, the tourism industry, which like in almost all countries of the world was seriously affected, in Cuba never recovered.
Hope the private sector
The only ray of light is the rise of the private sector. The change in legislation, in 2021, made it possible to create 11,000 small and medium-sized businesses. According to recent figures, private companies, with a maximum of 100 employees, account for 55% of retail trade and employ a third of the workforce.
But since everything in Cuba depends on the state, it is unknown whether the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel (who in 2018 succeeded Raul Castro, brother of Fidel Castro, as president) will simply tolerate or encourage the private sector. The government fears that if the private sector opens up, the system will collapse, economically and politically.
The Communist Party still controls everything in Cuba from the economy to the media. And many see President Díaz-Canel, 65, as following the Marxist dogma of Raul Castro, who at age 94 still pulls the strings of power. No senior official in the Cuban Communist Party is willing to reform in order to save the economy and ultimately the country.
Opposition without a leader
The opposition is fragmented and lacks a leadership figure. And the last major wave of anti-government protests, in 2021, was suppressed and hundreds of people imprisoned.
Recent evidence that the Cuban regime is lasting well is an article in Monde, which reports that on November 13, the trial of former Cuban Vice President Alejandro Gil Fernandez for corruption began behind closed doors. His family is asking for “transparency” during the trial.
It is not at all certain that he will succeed: Hill, who has been in prison since the beginning of 2024, has also been accused since October of this year of espionage, while the Cuban regime does not give any information about this new charge attributed to him.
