The States of Social Right in Cuba. Report #6 (2023)

The island’s authorities continue to demonstrate a lack of will to implement the critical structural changes that Cubans need two years after the historic protests of July 11, 2021, which included demands regarding political and social rights. The vast majority of the population is currently in a state of extreme poverty and exclusion, which has been made worse by the regime’s inertia in the face of urgent problems, cumulative crises, and external circumstances like the passage of devastating hurricanes.

The findings of this sixth investigation into Cuba’s social rights situation reflect all of this reality.

For the third consecutive year, the food crisis remains the main concern of respondents, followed by salaries and inflation. “Blackouts” are still common in the lives of the majority of those interviewed, as well as difficulties in the supply of drinking water. The percentage of those who say their home is in danger of collapse has increased. Nearly nine in ten respondents say their household barely earns “enough to survive”; and 62% say they have problems “even to be able to buy the most essential things goods to survive.” These are just some notes on the reality that Cuban families deal with day after day.

Given the aforementioned, it is evident that respondents’ perceptions of the regime’s economic and social management are deteriorating: almost seven out of ten consider it “very negative”; this rises to nearly nine out of 10 when those responding ‘somewhat negative’ are included. Those consulted have been especially critical regarding the government’s social investment: more than 90% consider it insufficient in public health and hospitals, as well as in agriculture and food.

At the same time, the study reflects the positive impact of family remittances (even in the current subsistence panorama) and confirms that the main problems on the island are internal, leaving the embargo, once again, outside the main problems that cause deep concern to respondents.