Cuba Suffers from Multi-Organ Fragility

It’s more than a terminal crisis

What can a patient who suffers from all possible diseases die from?

By Reinaldo Escobar (14ymedio)

HAVANA TIMES – No foreign power has invaded Cuba in October 2024; there has been no earthquake; no devastating hurricane has crossed the island; there is no civil war nor has an epidemic broken out. Parliament has not declared itself in rebellion, disapproving the laws sent to it by the Government for consideration, the military remains in its barracks, there have been no social explosions like those that occurred in July 2021, nor has there even been a disagreement in the ranks of the Communist Party. No forest fires, no plagues, no tornadoes, but nevertheless, the consensus is growing that the currenation is the unequivocal sign of a terminal crisis.

The “current situation” refers to the collapse of the National Electric System (SEN) which in less than 72 hours left most of the population in a state of calamity accompanied by the uncertainty of not knowing, or even imagining, how and when solutions will appear.

The voices from within and outside the country demanding that the Government resign do so mostly from peaceful positions, basing their claim on the evident ineptitude of the leaders who remain in their positions for the simple reason that there is no legal way to remove them from their posts.

Those in power in Cuba have no intention of standing down. In their absolute lack of self-criticism, they do not even review the past (i.e., Fidel Castro’s legacy) and instead the furthest they go is to acknowledge that they have not been capable of being worthy of that legacy. They blame all the ills on the United States government, which does not want to lift the embargo and persists in keeping Cuba on the list of countries that cooperate with terrorism or that do not fight it adequately.

Those who cross the red lines of denying legitimacy to the leaders of the single party, pointing out the unviability of the socialist system or denouncing the repressive actions of State Security run the risk of ending up in prison.

The collapse of the National Electrical System is a sign of the country’s fragility, and this fragility is nothing new. A poorly tightened nut on a thermoelectric plant can cause another similar collapse at any time. But it is not the only fragility. If Nicolas Maduro were forced to leave power in Venezuela, if something happens to Vladimir Putin in Russia, if the Chinese opt for another path, if President Lula slips in the bathtub again in Brazil, if the Paris Club does not want to forgive the debts again, if Cuba’s ousted Economy Minister Alejandro Gil escapes his detention and tells everything he knows…

Terminal crisis? More like multisystem or multiorgan fragility. What can a patient with every possible disease die of? You never know, maybe they get struck by lightning or hit by a train.

Translated by Translating Cuba.

Read more from Cuba here on Havana Times.