MIAMI, United States. – In the midst of one of the deepest economic and social crises in the history of the Island, the Cuban Government reiterated this Monday the “deeply social and humanist” nature of the State budget, but without announcing new measures, specific schedules or structural changes capable of responding to the magnitude of the deterioration that the country is going through.
During an intervention in the official program Round Table, The Minister of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro Ale, defended that the budget guarantees universal and free access to education, health, social security and social assistance, even under the impact of the intensification of United States sanctions.
However, his presentation focused on discursive reiterations of general principles and did not include specific announcements that would allow us to evaluate how these services will be sustained in a context of chronic shortages, high inflation, a drop in production and accelerated deterioration in the quality of life.
“The budget is a concrete expression of the social achievements of the Revolution,” stated the minister, who insisted that “there is a group of actions that have been adopted to ratify that humanist role.” However, these actions were not detailed beyond general formulations on rearrangements, redesigns and priorities, without disaggregated figures, verifiable goals or defined deadlines.
Reorganization of spending without admitting collapse of services
Regueiro Ale acknowledged that sectors such as Education, Higher Education and Transportation have been subject to “reorganization” and “redesign of activity levels,” although he assured that services “are guaranteed” to the population. The minister avoided referring to the real impact of these adjustments on daily practice, in a country where public transportation barely works and hospitals face critical shortages of basic supplies.
“They are ratified in a reorganization, in a redesign of activity levels, but they are guaranteed to our population,” he said, without explaining how that guarantee materializes in a scenario of prolonged blackouts, fuel deficits and massive migration of professionals.
Although he admitted that sustaining social spending requires “additional efforts,” the official transferred responsibility for budget control to the administrative units and labor groups, without alluding to structural flaws in the economic management model or the objective reduction of the State’s capabilities.
Savings, postponements and more control, without immediate relief
The head of the Ministry of Finance and Prices defended the rationality of spending, savings and the postponement of “non-essential” disbursements, as a way to protect social rights. However, it did not specify what expenses are considered dispensable or how these postponements will be prevented from deepening the contraction of already weakened services.
In parallel, he presented the budget as an instrument to redirect resources towards strategic productive activities, in particular the fund for agricultural development. Also at this point, no data was offered on amounts allocated, results achieved or real impacts on the availability of food, one of the main sources of social unrest in the country.
“The budget is a guarantee, but it is also a tool that the State and the Government have to direct the economy,” said Regueiro Ale, without recognizing that the structural problems of production and supply persist despite years of similar rearrangements.
One of the few concrete data mentioned was the partial increase in pensions, backed by more than 20,000 million pesos in 2026. The minister himself admitted that this measure “does not provide the total solution,” although he presented it as a budgetary effort.
“There is a commitment to partially increase pensions that does not provide a total solution,” he said, while ensuring that monthly payments are guaranteed. The statement did not address the gap between pensions and the real cost of living, marked by persistent inflation and unaffordable prices for large sectors of retirees.
Tax discipline as a central response
Given the fall in some production levels, the minister insisted on the need to reinforce income collection through greater tax discipline. He defined the payment of taxes as a duty of solidarity and promoted a strengthening of the control mechanisms of the tax administration.
“It is the convergence of a solidarity right and also a duty to contribute to the maintenance of social expenses,” he stated, without referring to the impact that greater fiscal pressure can have on economic actors already suffocated by the lack of inputs, financing and market.
Regueiro Ale highlighted local renewable energy projects with tax incentives and participation of the non-state sector, presented as a way to sustain social services. However, he avoided offering a quantitative evaluation of the real scope of these initiatives in the face of the national energy crisis.
Regarding prices, he recognized irregularities in consultation and control, and called for strengthening popular participation mechanisms and consultation committees, a formula reiterated for years without translating into effective containment of inflation or the informal market.
At the end of his speech, the minister reiterated that the budget supports the protection of essential services and the “philosophy” of the Cuban social project. However, the appearance at the Round Table It left more questions than answers in a country plagued by prolonged blackouts, food shortages, deterioration in purchasing power and an unprecedented migratory exodus.
(News under construction)
