The States of Social Right in Cuba. Report #4 (2021)

We present the most relevant findings of the fourth consecutive report on the State of Social Rights in Cuba, the result of the work of a team of collaborators residing on the island and advised by international experts. We have managed to collect and analyze the perceptions of 1,141 Cubans on the situation and quality of their social rights. This information reflects, once again, the reality of millions of Cubans, which is increasingly evident to the world and more difficult for the regime to hide.

The survey was conducted under the serious health circumstances related to the management of the Covid-19 pandemic on the island, being one of the countries with the worst figures of infections and deaths. Along with the structural social and economic crisis, there is also the failure of the Ordering Task (Tarea Ordenamiento), the inclemency of Hurricane Elsa, as well as the historic citizen protest of July 11.

A third of the interviews were conducted during and after the July 11 protests, which gives a qualitative value to the study that goes beyond its statistical representativeness. The results presented below allow us to see more clearly the social tensions and the sensitivity regarding the critical situation to which the Cuban people are subjected. The post-July 11 data can be seen as a true “amplifier” of the people’s voice, the loss of fear, and the opinion of a country dissatisfied with the current political regime, which is summarized in the demand for change.