"There are no beggars here . . ."
A Cuban official's clueless remarks about the poor sparks indignation—and a rare "resignation."
17-23 julio 2025
Hola y welcome back to CubaCurious.
This week a follower on the island gave me one of the best compliments I’ve ever received as a writer. But their message also chilled me. “I give you likes and support your work, fully aware that at any moment they’ll come for me, but . . . you write the truth.”
We know that protests are illegal in Cuba. But it’s also illegal to criticize the regime in writing, through speech, and certainly online. Even “liking” the wrong person’s comments can land you in jail, bring the Ministry of the Interior to your door, cost you your job, expel you from school, and ruin your future and your family’s.
This reader’s message shows the self-censorship required to survive in Cuba. Yet more and more Cubans are daring to express frustrations with the regime online, as you’ll see in this week’s story. The regime can’t punish them all at the same time, but the evidence is there when authorities choose to act.
I’m sharing this with you warily, understanding that I’m increasing the risk that the reader’s comment will attract officials’ attention. But I hope that risk is mitigated by the two benefits. First, concrete evidence of the various forms of repression in Cuba, something many defenders of the revolution refuse to acknowledge. Second, to build support for this person, and any other Cuban reader, should authorities come after them.
That international support is crucial for dissidents and activists. I think it’s even more crucial for average Cubans, who are unaffiliated with opposition groups, when they are persecuted by the regime.
The international network of Cuba-watchers, activists, writers, researchers, and NGOs has improved outcomes for some of the regime’s victims. People sound the alarm, contact the media, foreign officials, celebrities—anyone with influence—to maintain a spotlight on the victim.
The efforts don’t always succeed, but the victims and their families send heartfelt messages thanking those who are trying to help them or their relatives. They understand the paradox they face. They’re being punished for publicly opposing the regime, but more publicity is often their best protection from further harm.
I often wonder if risking anyone’s well-being is worth this work. Then I remember that I’m not the source of the risk or the harm. The Cuban dictatorship is.
So, for now, I’ll keep doing my bit by writing what can’t be written in Cuba. The daring reader on the island is doing theirs by staying informed and occasionally expressing themselves online. And you are doing yours by caring about these stories and supporting my work.
Gracias for that.
Hasta la semana que viene.
Ana
There are no beggars here . . .
Sources: Yoani Sánchez’s 16 July 2025 podcast, Cafecito Informativo Sobre Cuba, and articles in 14ymedio.
On Monday the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Marta Elena Feitó, delivered a bitter diatribe to the National Assembly about Cubans who ask for money on public roads or rummage through the dumpsters for food.
Feitó said those citizens are “not living in extreme poverty” but are only “disguised as beggars.” According to indie journalist Yoani Sánchez, no parliamentarian in the audience raised their hand to ask for the floor to question the minister’s opinions.
The minister claimed these citizens are simulating poverty for opportunistic reasons. She described them as “drunks, fakers, and delinquents.” She said the government’s role is to “prevent social opportunism” and “combat it.” The social deterioration in Cuba is not the system’s fault, Feitó said, but due to “individual selfishness” and a “lack of values.”
People who clean windshields at traffic lights “have found an easy way of life,” the minister said. She advised against giving them money.“
According to Feitó, hunger is not the reason Cubans are being seen rummaging through overflowing dumpsters. "Divers [dumpster divers]? No, divers are in the water. Those people . . . are looking for cans. They are confiscating raw materials," and not reporting the income.
"They are not looking for food,” she said. “That is not true either. These are patterns that they [regime opponents, local and foreign] try to impose on us. They are illegally self-employed people who are not generating traceable income and are violating the treasury."
“We have to call things by their name,” she said, “we must all combat these negative behaviors . . . children in the street and prostitutes at streetlights are things from movies. We must not allow those images to take root in our society. And we do nothing by lowering our windows and giving them money. We are creating deformity. We cannot permit this behavior.”
Feitó revealed in that statement that she travels by car—and that her windows are frequently closed, because she has air conditioning. Yet the majority of Cubans rely on unreliable overcrowded, hot buses and trains, or, if they’re lucky, hired cabs and private cars, which rarely have air conditioning.
The outcry about the minister’s distorted view of reality was so widespread that that officials announced Feitó’s resignation the following day.
In a brief statement, the Ministry announced that Feitó had been "released from her position" after an "analysis" by the Party [the Communist Party of Cuba, the only legal political party on the island] and the government of her statements.
"The comrade recognized her mistakes and presented her resignation from the position," the report says, which adds that the dismissal—which is referred to as a "liberation”— occurred "due to the lack of objectivity and sensitivity with which she addressed issues that are the focus of political and governmental management today, focused on addressing real phenomena that are never desired by our society."
On Wednesday, Yoani Sánchez offered another view of what had happened on her podcast.. “In the Cuba that I know, no one is allowed to resign from office. So if Feitó said she was resigning, it is to make believe that there has been self-criticism by the regime. But it is a simple damage control measure and a way to take advantage of the scandal and show Miguel Díaz-Canel in a more magnanimous way.”
Later on Tuesday, without naming the minister, Díaz Canel posted on X that it was ““The lack of sensitivity in the approach to vulnerability is very questionable. The Revolution cannot leave anyone behind, that is our motto, our militant responsibility."
I’ve heard the same abject disregard for the poor from other Cuban officials in past years—and blaming the victim excuses. So I’m not surprised by the minister’s sentiments and accusations.
But I am surprised by the vehemence of her statement and the cluelessness she revealed. It shows how out of touch the political and military caste is, how far removed they are from the dire conditions average Cubans face each day.
Of all those challenges, putting food on the table seems to be the primary concern for them. A 2023 study by the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) estimated that approximately 4.2 million Cubans (40% of the population at the time) faced food insecurity. The food and energy crises have only worsened since then.
How ironic—and tragic. The revolution’s basic promise was that no Cuban would go hungry. Not only has it failed to deliver on that promise, but its leaders have to be reminded to care about the poor.
And if you appreciated today’s post, please click the heart at the end to help others find CubaCurious.
Cuban Treat of the Week
Cuban-Dominican-American comic Marcello Heranández, cracks me up. Here he is on the unique yo no sé qué that Latino ballplayers bring to the game.
I was looking at my analytics for my podcast and I realized I have a few listeners in Cuba, which I found interesting. Also, my sister attends Boston College and she's part of the Dominican association there, they attend a conference in Harvard, I believe and she met Marcelo.
I gave a talk here in the US a couple of years ago, in which I said, "In Cuba, things are either mandatory or illegal." So lots of things like begging and prostitution were illegal and also pursued with a vengeance. As things became more desperate, especially after the end of Soviet add, they started to reappear, perhaps starting with prostitution. The government has been embarrassed by those signs of degeneration for a few decades now, so the erstwhile minister made the mistake of voicing what is probably a common talking point within the Party.
As far as I'm concerned, people don't pretend to be desperately poor no matter where they are.