The new minister replaces Marta Elena Feitó, who resigned a month ago after the controversy for denying begging in Cuba.
Madrid, Spain.- The Cuban regime appointed Jesús Otamendiz Campos, 50, as the new Minister of Labor and Social Security (MTSS), replacing Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, who He resigned in July after the controversy generated by his statements in the National Assembly on begging in the country.
The State Council, at the proposal of Miguel Díaz-Canel and with approval of the political bureau of the Communist Party, formalized the designation. According to him official statementOtamendiz was promoted by his “positive results” and for having demonstrated “capacity and leadership” in his performance as Vice Governor of Havana, a position he held since 2023.
🇨🇺| El Consejo de Estado, a propuesta del Presidente de la República y previa aprobación del Buró Político del Comité Central del Partido Comunista, acordó promover al cargo de ministro de Trabajo y Seguridad Social al compañero Jesús Otamendiz Campos.https://t.co/7A3n3MC7nG pic.twitter.com/jc1i5C20VP
— Presidencia Cuba 🇨🇺 (@PresidenciaCuba) August 19, 2025
However, its passage through the capital administration was not free of questions. Neighbors of the city remember him as an official unable to solve basic problems, such as garbage collection, one of the main citizen demands. Its ascent is interpreted as another continuity movement within the bureaucratic scheme of the regime.
Otamendiz has a law degree, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences and studied a diploma in Public Administration. He has traveled by the Union of Young Communists (UJC), the Social Workers Program and the Ministry of Labor itself, where he was director of several areas, Vice Minister and Vice Minister First.
His predecessor, Marta Elena Feitó, caused a wave of popular indignation when she assured in the National Assembly that in Cuba “there are no beggars, but disguised people”, and that those who clean windshield or search in the trash are tax evaders.
The new minister assumes in a context marked by the deterioration of the labor market, the collapse of purchasing power, the mass exodus of workers and Retirees in conditions of extreme vulnerability.
The designation of Otamendiz, more than a relay, reinforces the commitment of the regime to maintain the bureaucratic continuity line, in the midst of an economic and social crisis that hits Cuban workers hard.
