Survey Reveals Overwhelming Demand for Systemic Change in Cuba, Says elToque Director

Among the numerous independent Cuban media outlets involved in the collective survey "Cuba: Political and Social Perspectives," CiberCuba stands out as one of over 20 participants.

In an interview with journalist Katia Monteagudo for El Estornudo, José Jasán Nieves, director of elTOQUE, highlighted a striking detail from the survey: "Participants overwhelmingly demand a change in Cuba's system."

The survey was initiated on April 23 and remains open until May 1 on encuestascuba.net, featuring 32 questions across seven sections covering politics, economy, exile, and potential transition scenarios.

Nieves praised the level of participation as "a significant civic gesture" and "an act of liberation" in response to the regime's efforts to feign popular support.

Preliminary findings reveal a strong disapproval of the current system: 94% of respondents expressed deep dissatisfaction with the political system, 75.1% support transitioning to a liberal democracy with a market economy, and a staggering 99% believe the sole Communist Party should be abolished.

Miguel Díaz-Canel received an average rating of 1.11 out of five, with 93.7% of participants giving the Cuban leader the lowest possible score.

Within just 48 hours, the survey amassed nearly 22,000 responses: 12,711 from within Cuba and 9,191 from abroad, despite the regime blocking access to the survey URL from day one.

The Cuban regime's blockade forced participants on the island to use VPNs to participate in the independent survey.

Nieves explained that, once the data is cleaned, they can determine how many responses registered as external actually originated from within Cuba: "After cleaning the database, we can see how many people seemingly outside Cuba were actually inside, and include their data."

The elToque director candidly acknowledges the survey's methodological biases: an urban overrepresentation of Havana, university students and graduates, and participation limited to those with internet access.

However, he underscores the significance of the response volume: "Despite all the challenges, the high response rate indicates that these reflected consensuses are much larger within Cuba, especially compared to official propaganda and even those who refuse to acknowledge the reality."

Nieves contextualized the survey within the current political climate: "Since the beginning of the year, and particularly with the increasing pressure from the Trump administration on Cuba, the Cuban political scene has opened up, leading people to reconsider, for the first time in a long while, the possibility of real change."

The regime's ideological machinery reacted promptly: Razones de Cuba, a site linked to State Security, labeled the survey a "statistical fraud" and "propaganda setup" even before the initial results were released.

Journalist Mónica Baró defended the endeavor, pointing out that "this survey has been blocked in Cuba because the regime is uninterested in knowing what the population thinks," while merely 5.3% of respondents cite the embargo as the country's main issue, compared to 82.5% who highlight the lack of civil and political liberties.

The survey concludes on the night of May 1, after which organizers will finalize the data cleaning to present conclusive results of what Nieves describes not as a traditional statistical exercise, but as "a civic exercise to gather opinions in the most structured way possible from Cubans both inside and outside of Cuba, and compare them."