Cuba X-ray: Power Doesn’t Pay Debts but Demands Obedience
By Yenys Laura Prieto (El Toque)
HAVANA TIMES – In the midst of blackouts lasting up to 25 hours and more than 3 million Cubans facing limited access to drinking water, Miguel Díaz-Canel once again promised “victories.” Yet while his talk centers on creative resistance, families turn to homemade inventions to collect rainwater and survive in increasingly precarious conditions.
The electricity problem has become one of the main sources of social unrest. Prolonged outages affect not only domestic life but also production, hospitals, and water supply. Government propaganda insists that the people must adapt without losing optimism, but offers no viable solutions. Far from taking responsibility, the government argues that solutions to manage the crisis must come from local and provincial governments.
According to Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, some leaders feel “overwhelmed” by “objective and subjective problems.” But in reality, municipal structures lack technical and financial resources, leaving them trapped in a political game where the top leadership retains control while shifting the blame.
The combination of blackouts and water shortages generates social tension, reflected in protests, social media complaints, and public expressions of frustration. Instead of providing answers, the government tries to silence those who expose the magnitude of the problem.
Repression in the Streets
Meanwhile, repression continues. The People’s Municipal Court of Santiago de Cuba sentenced Julio Cesar Duque to more than four years in prison for recording a line to buy liquefied cooking gas, according to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights. Duque’s case shows the extent to which Cuban justice criminalizes the simple act of documenting reality. Filming a line, in a country where they have become a symbol of shortages, ended up costing him his freedom.
This week it was also reported that at least 27 people were arrested after protests in Gibara, Holguin. To date, four remain imprisoned on charges of “contempt.” Several independent organizations have noted that in Cuba, citizen protest continues to be punished with prison, fines, and arbitrary trials.
Summary trials and disproportionate sentences are legal tools systematically used against dissenters. In this way, repression functions as a political control valve in the face of discontent fueled by blackouts, inflation, and food shortages.
Debts to Farmers and Production Crisis
One of the central issues in this episode of X-ray of Cuba is the State’s multimillion-peso debt with food producers. Thousands of farmers have been waiting months for payment for their harvests. One of the most extreme cases is that of a producer owed more than 4 million pesos ($9,520 USD) for delivered sugarcane.
The problem is not new. In 2021, 63 measures were announced to boost food production, with eliminating late payments listed as a priority. Four years later, the situation not only persists, but has worsened. A report in the state-run newspaper Trabajadores acknowledged in July 2025 that there are debts in 33 sugar cooperatives, affecting 4,700 producers.
Payment delays force farmers to limit investment in fertilizers, pesticides, and maintenance. In Holguín, one cooperative reported debts of more than 22 million pesos, which reduced sugarcane yields from 100 to 45 tons per hectare.
Honey production shows the same pattern. Although Cuban honey is exported to Europe at good prices, local producers receive late payments on cards usable only on the island, limiting their access to foreign currency and supplies, as a El Toque investigation revealed.
In livestock, the picture is equally bleak. In Sancti Spíritus, more than 1,100 milk producers were owed over 150 million pesos as of March this year.
This vicious circle reduces production, hurts household economies, and ultimately worsens shortages in the domestic market. The State loses credibility as a buyer but maintains the monopoly, leaving farmers without legal alternatives.
Freemasonry Under Surveillance
Another recent source of tension has arisen in Cuban Freemasonry, with leaders subjected to police summons and infiltration by State Security. Historic leaders such as Jose Ramon Viñas Alonso and Angel Santiesteban Prats have been targets of harassment, arrests, and smear campaigns, in an attempt to neutralize any autonomous voices within the fraternity.
Just days ago, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree in Cuba was again summoned for a supposed “interview” at a Havana police station. Viñas Alonso is seen as an inconvenient leader after publicly condemning the July 11, 2021, repression. Since then, persecution against him has not ceased.
One interviewee for X-ray of Cuba, the writer and high-ranking Mason Angel Santiesteban, warned about the presence of agents inside the organization and was accused of “treason” and “contempt.” In July 2024, he was briefly detained after protests at the Grand Lodge.
Despite repression, some Masons continue to denounce and maintain contact with the independent press, though under constant surveillance and threats. In the new video podcast, we presented the testimony of two members of the Fraternity who share their perspectives on what is happening in Cuba.
Forced Labor in Prisons
The episode also covers findings by the NGO Prisoners Defenders, which documented the use of forced labor in Cuban prisons. According to the report, more than 60,000 inmates are forced to work in inhumane conditions, without contracts or protection, producing goods that end up in European markets.
The study is based on 53 direct testimonies collected between April and August 2025. Prisoners reported being victims of coercion, threats, and physical violence. More than 45% said they had been beaten during the grueling daily shifts.
Physical and psychological deterioration is evident, according to the report, with 80% of interviewees reporting serious aftereffects. It also highlights that workplace accidents are frequent and that lack of medical care worsens the consequences.
The investigation documents work weeks of up to 63 hours and symbolic payments that do not exceed seven dollars a month. Most troubling is that part of the products manufactured by prisoners end up in European markets. The report concluded that this is a highly lucrative economic model, where forced labor generates foreign currency for the regime.
Prisoners Defenders demands sanctions on companies that import these products and calls for thorough investigations to halt the systematic exploitation of prisoners on the island.
First published in Spanish by El Toque and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.