“… The decisions Cuba made this February showed that its way of governing is capable of renewing itself internally, not only to resist the threats of Trump and Rubio, but to change what does not work on its path to socialism. These measures cannot remain as responses to an emergency, much less as slogans. They have to contribute to urgently renewing the macroeconomy, to extirpating bureaucracy and corruption at all levels, to eliminating inequalities, poverty, so that Cubans do not see external migration as the only way out of their difficulties, but solve them here.”

President Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio insist that Cuba will collapse because of its inability to change. To accelerate the disaster, the President announced that he will impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba, which reinforced the naval blockade of the Caribbean that he imposed last December and, of course, the one that the United States has applied to my country since 1962.

But Cuba did not crumble because it continued to change as it has since 1959, when it decided to break free from capitalism to create a socialism “Cuban-style.”

Today it does so by suffering a crisis of blackouts, lack of medicines, unaffordable food prices, accumulated garbage, unstable water supply and emerging from an epidemic of chikungunya and dengue. All this with a population in which almost 26% is over 60 years old, fertility is 1.4 births per woman and two million Cubans emigrated since 2022.

I estimate that in the last 67 years, Cuba produced at least ten models of what we call the “transition to socialism.” Each one transformed what did not work in the previous one to affirm sovereignty and social justice, which are the essences of our socialism.

We Cubans learn to get out of our crises, especially when we do so under the pressure of a permanently reinforced blockade. This is demonstrated by the decisions taken by the Cuban government in all areas between February 5 and 28 so that the country does not stagnate in the conditions of zero imported fuel.

The measures in the energy sector accelerate the transformations to achieve energy sovereignty with the use of national crude oil, accompanying gas and, especially, photovoltaic energy. Since the total blackout in October 2024, the country has prioritized investments in the sector, which were postponed for a decade, in addition to accumulating experiences to keep the sector alive.

In 2024, renewable energy sources in electricity generation contributed 3%. A year later, Cuba accelerated the installation of photovoltaic parks throughout the territory until they produced 10% of electricity generation. During the hours when they operate with the sun, they have contributed up to 38% of the energy that the country consumes. It was originally thought that by 2030 renewable energy sources would provide 25% of electricity generation. On Wednesday, February 25, photovoltaic panel sites supplied 18% of the country’s electricity, so it is realistic that the 2030 date will be brought forward.

The new measures make it easier for the private sector and citizens to benefit from solar energy. They grant tax benefits to private owners who import photovoltaic equipment to install in their companies and become independent from the national electricity system. Citizens who import this equipment and its parts for their homes will not pay customs taxes. Banks will grant them loans to acquire them.

The private sector can import its own fuel under the safe conditions provided by the State.

Cuba created new opportunities for foreign entrepreneurs and Cubans living abroad to invest here. There are already positive experiences in energy and food production.

While this energy emergency lasts, in order to keep the economy functioning, although to a lesser extent, the working week will be from Monday to Thursday. On weekends the population will have more hours of electricity.

Since 2023, light electric transport equipment known as “tricycles”, motorcycles and bicycles, both private and state-owned, have gradually moved the population in the face of fuel shortages in public transport. Today they flood the streets, outnumbering the private “almendrones”. The new decisions grant tax benefits to those who import them. At the same time, the authorities streamlined the procedures that grant driver’s licenses to those who operate these vehicles to control road safety.

I see solar panels on traffic lights that regulate traffic at dangerous intersections. The others will come later.

Ten thousand photovoltaic energy kits were installed in the institutions that welcome the elderly, pregnant women, children and adolescents without family protection. They also benefited the homes of those who work in health and education. Photovoltaic equipment in health, education and banking facilities is growing.

I expanded on energy decisions because, without it, the country succumbs.

I will not dwell on the other measures to prevent the country from coming to a standstill. They begin by decentralizing the forms of government so that they are molded in each locality, they continue with those that reorganize health, education, food production and distribution, transportation, culture, social justice, the media and defense.

The decisions Cuba made this February showed that its way of governing is capable of renewing itself internally, not only to resist the threats of Trump and Rubio, but to change what does not work on its path to socialism. These measures cannot remain as responses to an emergency, much less as slogans. They have to contribute to urgently renewing the macroeconomy, to extirpating bureaucracy and corruption at all levels, to eliminating inequalities and poverty, so that Cubans do not see external migration as the only way out of their difficulties, but rather solve them here.

My country emerged from two major crises in the last thirty years.

The first happened after the fall of the Berlin Wall along with the disappearance of the USSR. The 1990s were so terrible that more than 90,000 Cubans emigrated. Cuba opted for tourism to “get out of the hole.” With his income he created the high-tech pharmaceutical industry. In 2019, the top three export items were professional services abroad, tourism, and high-tech-based pharmaceuticals.

The global Covid-19 crisis has arrived.

Cuba surpassed it because it allocated a large part of its budget to protect the population, as well as to create, produce and certify three vaccines against this disease, with which it immunized its population from the age of two. About nine thousand people died out of a population of eleven million.

Dr. Belinda Sánchez, who participated in the creation of one of these vaccines, said that this was achieved because they all worked with the “Covid Mark”. This meant that science, technology and innovation contributed their knowledge to decision-makers, in an environment of intersectionality and popular participation.

But the economy suffered. Between 2022 and 2025, two million Cubans left the country. Since then, Cuba began to emerge from its second crisis in just over thirty years.

The measures announced globally by President Díaz Canel on February 5 continue to take shape in Cuban daily life, which is described very well in the series “Asphyxiation/Oxygen”. They are one-minute spots that show how serious the effects of energy blockage are. In one of them, Dr. Belinda Sánchez shows that young people who create new cancer drugs cannot work on it because the fuel from the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM) is only used to produce drugs. With a “Until when!” he ends his brief speech. [1]

The other side of the blockade, the one that affects the US population and its businessmen, is omitted by the major media in that country along with digital networks. “Belly of the Beast,” which is a digital site dedicated to spreading the word about the real Cuba, posted the video “US Citizens in Cuba for New Breakthrough Alzheimer’s Treatment” on Feb. 27. Dr. Bill Blanchet of Colorado has accompanied his patients to Havana to benefit from Neural CIM, a drug that not only stabilizes their disease, but also reverses many Alzheimer’s symptoms for more than half of them. [2]

This is an example of how much the blockade prevents American businessmen from trading with my country and investing here.

Cuban tourism is also off-limits to U.S. citizens and businessmen. The number of “visitors” from this country in Cuba has grown since the beginning of this century, despite the travel ban (Travel Ban). The influx multiplied between 2015 and 2017, after the reestablishment of embassies in 2014.

During these years I have talked with them about Cuban women’s issues and about Cuba in general. They are amazed that Cubans treat them amicably despite the hardships of the blockade. They know the cultural interrelations between the two countries in the idioms of language, food, dress, and baseball. They learn that Cuban television has been showing free films, serials, “dolls” and music videos produced in their country for more than twenty years, practically when they are released. They know that “Santiago” rums are produced in the original Bacardi barrels. In short, they comment that coming to Cuba is a unique experience that “opened their eyes” to what really happens here.

I conclude this testimony on March 3, the day in 1962 that John F. Kennedy proclaimed an embargo on all trade with Cuba. [3]

Despite so much suffocation, Cuba is alive and resisting.

Havana, March 3, 2026

[1] https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1418567286672784

[2] https://www.bellyofthebeastcuba.com/us-citizens-in-cuba-for-new-breakthrough-alzheimers-treatment

[3] https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-76/pdf/STATUTE-76-Pg1446.pdf