Cuba marks its 65th year since the uprising that toppled the dictatorship linked to Fulgencio Batista. There will be no flashy speeches this January 1. The island confronts crisis odds, including a stalled economic program and daily pressures of a society under strain, where violence has become a troubling daily reality.
The nation has endured a social wound since mid-2021, when large protests unfolded. The history shows about 2,000 charges for contempt and sedition were filed. The measures did not silence the population, which has shown a renewed willingness to leave. In the last two years, roughly 425,000 Cubans migrated abroad, with the United States accounting for a significant share. This stark figure does not capture those who moved to Europe, Latin America, or elsewhere across the globe.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel spoke on Christmas Eve about the need to fix what is broken, noting that the leadership has learned from the past and stresses the importance of timely adjustments to safeguard socialist goals. The terms correction and self-criticism recur in official discourse as anchors in moments of disappointment and reconsideration.
Correction
Díaz-Canel recalled episodes from the mid-1980s when a veteran leader began a process of correcting mistakes and negative trends, a process that did not yield immediate results as the Soviet Union shifted its stance. He also cited Fidel Castro’s 2000 exhortation to change what must be changed, and a 2005 warning at the University of Havana about the danger of destroying the revolution from within.
Officials openly acknowledge the strain of poor results in a society already overwhelmed by practical challenges. The new call for corrective action arrives as the economy shows signs of weakness. Official calculations suggested a nearly two-point drop for 2023, and the economy minister, Alejandro Gil Fernández, told the National Assembly that inflation runs around thirty percent annually, with consumer prices rising faster than official estimates. Díaz-Canel, for his part, remains confident that the path will straighten, while some outlets question whether the traditional victory narrative of the Cuban Revolution can hold under current conditions.
From failure to failure
Tourism remains a critical, though fluctuating, pulse for the island. Visitor arrivals barely reached 2.5 million, with Canadians and Russians among the largest groups, versus an original forecast of 3.5 million. The country appears less attractive when compared with other Caribbean destinations, and this cooling tempers overall economic performance. The visible signs of hunger and poverty keep surfacing, yet the root cause is framed within a broader economic order built around macroeconomic stability and monetary policy, which include reforms and price adjustments that ripple through everyday life.
Diaz-Canel and his team have placed the focus on the program launched at the start of 2021, while acknowledging that the pandemic continues to influence outcomes. The president argues that the downturn is tied to external pressure from what he describes as a coercive external environment, while critics point to long-standing U.S. measures that have shaped domestic realities for decades. The debate centers on whether the external constraints are the primary driver or whether internal policy choices have contributed to the current disorder. A vocal digital outlet has suggested that the traditional victory narrative cannot be sustained under current circumstances.
Adjustment time
New measures reflect a broader shift labeled as structural adjustment and macroeconomic stabilization, words commonly heard across Latin American economies. The president rejects the notion that the changes amount to neoliberal shock, insisting they are a necessary step toward more revolutions and a deeper socialist project. In practice, the reforms include higher fuel prices, increased fares for public transport, and a phasing out of subsidies on food and other essentials, alongside a transition toward rationing and a tighter subsidy framework.
Officials assure the public that forward momentum remains the goal, and President Díaz-Canel emphasizes that improvement is the right path. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero notes that queues surround gas stations on the eve of the new year, a symbol of the persistent strains. Those who depend on remittances and cross-border commerce face a challenging climate, as many navigate the informal economy with improvisation and resilience. The sense that some problems may never be fully resolved lingers as the country charts its course forward.