Manuel Marrero Accuses Small Business Owners of Spreading Corruption and Profiteering

Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz has accused the country's small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners of spreading corruption and charging the state exorbitant amounts for inflated projects. During a governmental visit to Cienfuegos aimed at "correcting distortions and revitalizing the economy," Marrero, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), spoke about the alleged violations committed by the province's business owners. He criticized them for both their management practices and the inflated pricing and billing to state companies and organizations.

"Twenty-one million… Contracts we've paid to those millionaires, which, according to the Ministry of Construction (MICONS), are for tasks that do not cost that much! They cost much less!" Marrero Cruz stated in his speech, as reported by the National Television News (NTV). Without citing specific cases, Marrero cast a shadow of suspicion over the emerging private business sector, which the regime itself has fostered due to the evident failure of its planned and state-controlled socialist economy.

"In all the work by the SMEs, we pay them 600 pesos per worker so they can buy their lunch. And what about the hospital lunch, and the doctors we're paying?" Marrero Cruz questioned, implicitly shifting the blame for collapsing public services onto the "new economic actors."

The Cuban regime's rhetoric exposes the contradictions facing the ruling class and the military-controlled elite that manages the dollarized economy and national wealth through the Business Administration Group S.A. (GAESA). Desperately needing a private business sector to revitalize the economy, create jobs, produce goods, improve their image, and establish synergies between the state and private sectors, the so-called "revolutionary" leaders (and de facto rulers of the country) fear the growing influence and power of the private sector. They condition it in every possible way to remain "loyal" to the "social cause" and the "principles" of a failed ideology.

Instead of having the courage and decency to promote a true economic and political transition, the Palace of the Revolution is steering the Cuban nation towards the worst possible outcomes, against the interests of a population deprived of rights and freedoms and subjected to the unyielding power of a repressive and violent regime.

The so-called "new economic actors" are pawns in the regime's strategy to survive and perpetuate itself in power. By promoting private enterprises in Cuba, the regime aims to create a clientelist network and an empowered social class that serves its interests and remains under its control. Many SME owners have strong familial or professional ties to the Cuban regime and are maneuvered to replace the state's social functions, or to lower foreign currency prices in the informal market, among other "missions."

However, history and facts demonstrate that the Cuban regime is not a reliable partner and could turn against the "actors" it created and promoted at any time. Everything is geared towards its survival. The arrival of Russian, Mexican, or Venezuelan oil, or any other "windfall" for GAESA, could threaten the existence of the nascent Cuban private sector, especially since the regime insists that one of its roles is to bolster the state economy. The state (meaning its rulers) will never relinquish the "centrality" of the state-owned enterprise and socialist economy, a pretext to keep national wealth under its control.

Cuban entrepreneurs also face the sword of "public opinion" and could be scapegoated at any moment for high prices, inequality, or the "plundering" of the state, which prevents it from providing quality public services.

Marrero Cruz's words in Cienfuegos, like many times before, serve as a warning to those entrepreneurs whom the regime begins to label as "millionaires" and corrupt figures responsible for the socio-economic disaster on the island. For now, they are allowed to continue their activities, but they are increasingly being labeled as tax evaders, importers, speculators, and corrupters in public discourse. Entrepreneurship in Cuba rests on a foundation of great legal insecurity, typical of a totalitarian communist regime.

Anyone who believes they are safe due to their business prowess, connections with power, or personal wealth is being naive and might find themselves in the same situation as Alejandro Gil Fernández, paying the price for the regime's failures.