Che’s Daughter Aleida Decries “Capitalist Anarchy” in Cuba

By Francisco Acevedo

HAVANA TIMES – On previous occasions, I have talked about the emergence of micro, small, and medium private businesses (SMEs), thanks to which Cuba remains afloat.

For months, our dear Miguel Diaz-Canel’s government hasn’t sold a single packet of chicken to the population through the so-called monthly distribution modules, which have been shrinking each time. However, Cubans acquire them thanks to imports from these private businesses, which, as we have mentioned in several articles, somehow postpone a social explosion because, despite the high prices, they bring these products closer to the citizens.

It turns out that Aleida Guevara, the eldest daughter of Ernesto Che Guevara, recently declared war on these new forms of association, even accusing them of facilitating drug trafficking.

“These private businesses pose security risks because they can facilitate the entry of drugs or other illicit goods into the country,” she said in an interview with the Italian media outlet Il Fatto Quotidiano.

From the outset, coming from someone who has been surrounded all her life by the children of other high-ranking officials, privileged consumers of all kinds of drugs as has been reported dozens of times despite official concealment, this statement is at the very least surprising.

According to her, this “capitalist anarchy” also contributes to the increase in inequalities, ignoring the mansion she lives in and the constant travels to any corner of the planet where her father sparks a minimum of admiration because, based on her own merits, she wouldn’t leave her house.

“We are experiencing a brutal economic crisis,” stated the 63-year-old pediatrician, whose salary is not enough to support her lifestyle, without knowing what it is to stand in a bread line, visit a ration store, or much less use a ration book.

Her noticeable weight (without this being interpreted as a mockery of obesity) is not from living and eating like the average Cuban.

But the most hilarious part came next:

“We need to intensify the controls by the CDRs (Committees for the Defense of the Revolution),” requested the daughter of the Argentine-born guerrilla fighter. It’s the height of absurdity, continuing to promote the policy of denunciation, but for self-destruction, because if these economic actors leave the current scene, the misery would become unbearable.

The organization, which no one remembers except at the end of September when a timid media campaign is conducted to recall its creation, and which can no longer even guarantee the traditional collective stew of that date, has for decades fostered low passions and internal conflicts among neighbors.

Among her recommendations is to regulate prices, but it is practically impossible when the state itself cannot control the exchange rate because these entities buy their products in dollars, and if the dollar price keeps rising, the retail price of the products must follow the same dynamic.

Guevara failed to acknowledge the most important factor for this, which is national production, for state companies to meet Cubans’ needs. That is the way to regulate prices, but here the (little) goods produced is intended for the international market and not the national one. The socialist state’s own firms are the first to think only about exporting, and thus the internal market cannot be supplied to lower costs.

Then the lady went a bit further and acknowledged that teachers and doctors need higher salaries. This is an obvious truth, but it can be extended to many more jobs because the salaries are truly miserable overall and cannot meet the basic needs of the vast majority of Cubans, let alone natural things like good vacations, which are exclusive to those with private businesses or who receive remittances from abroad.

She also referred to the national production of Covid-19 vaccines but lied when she said they had to be produced “because no one gave them to us or sold them to us.” Yes, they were sold, but the cost of vaccines on the open market was too high, while producing their own formula allowed the Cuban government to save money and immunize the population. Thanks to the enormous potential of the scientists, once again, they didn’t make a fool of themselves.

She’s also dishonest when referring to tourism, as she says that “the world hasn’t recovered. We are in a situation of general crisis, and travel prices are high.”

It seems she lacks information because the World Tourism Organization itself called the crisis in the industry closed early this year after 2023 reached 88 percent of the 2019 figures globally. Moreover, tourism powerhouses have exceeded those levels, and in our own region, Mexico and the Dominican Republic boast record figures, while Cuba doesn’t rise even with the influx of Russian citizens, who are unwanted anywhere else and are keeping the sector afloat.

Finally, she spoke about Fidel Castro, noting that replacing him is too difficult, “simply staying in his place is a heroic act.” In other words, just by being there, the government deserves support.

Incidentally, this week an interview with Diaz-Canel by journalist Ignacio Ramonet was broadcast on national television. The president continue his path of lies and among other things indicated that the Cuban economy has a macroeconomic plan for 2030 to survive the (never ending) US blockade.

Another chapter of the same novel, after the economic and banking reforms (2021 and 2023), reorganization (2024) and a long list of measures that solve nothing. When we reach 2030, the leader will surely still be in his position and he will say: “we couldn’t achieve the goal, but we have the plan to do so by 2050…”.

The never-ending story.

Read more from Francisco Acevedo here on Havana Times.