Endless Cycle: Cuban Government Clings to "Social Policies" Amidst Power Outages

This past Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Eduardo Martínez appeared on the state-run television program, Mesa Redonda, to staunchly defend the regime's 13 so-called social policies. These are supposedly implemented through over thirty programs that, according to him, have been "a constant in the lives of Cubans" since 1959. However, what he failed to acknowledge was that thousands of Cubans couldn't watch the broadcast due to widespread power outages.

The pro-government outlet Cubadebate reported that Martínez began with the usual reminder: "From the very beginning of the Revolution, our country initiated a series of social policies." He was unequivocal, asserting, "we can categorically say that they have achieved significant results over the years."

To highlight these achievements, Martínez referenced the healthcare system: prior to 1959, there were only "around seventy entities, including hospitals and private clinics." Today, he claimed, the nation boasts over ten thousand healthcare facilities, 149 hospitals, more than 451 polyclinics, and over seventy thousand doctors.

Contradictions Within the Narrative

Yet, even Martínez inadvertently admitted that the narrative of success is crumbling: "social indicators in our country have been deteriorating." The infant mortality rate, which once stood at four per thousand live births, has risen to 9.3. "It's doubled primarily due to the tightening of the blockade," he insisted, resorting to the usual rhetoric.

What Martínez omitted is that infant mortality spiked by 148% between 2018 and 2025, climbing from 4.0 to 9.9 per thousand live births, according to the U.S. Center for Economic and Policy Research. In Havana, the rate soared to 14 per thousand by early 2026. Maternal mortality, which he reported at 30.8 per hundred thousand live births, had already reached 44.1 in 2025, a recent decline he chose to sidestep.

Healthcare in Crisis

He also failed to mention that the survival rate for children with cancer plummeted from 85% to 65% due to drug shortages, or that Cuba is only meeting 30% of its basic medication list. However, he did acknowledge that over one hundred thousand individuals are on surgical waiting lists—including more than a thousand children—and that pharmaceutical production plants are stalled "because they lack fuel for their boilers."

Martínez coined the situation a "genocide," stating, "The impact is real; it's a siege that is truly a genocide, there's no other term for it." He then presented a $5 million investment to revive the oncological drug production facility as a major achievement.

Blaming External Forces

Regarding international medical cooperation, he targeted the U.S. Secretary of State, claiming, "Policies led by Marco Rubio have primarily aimed to cut off all medical cooperation and intimidate countries." The embargo and Washington remain the perennial scapegoats, as the energy crisis results in power outages lasting between twenty and forty hours consecutively, with a deficit that has frequently surpassed 2,000 MW in recent weeks due to decades of underinvestment and mismanagement.

Comments on the Facebook broadcast were more telling than any official slide. "No electricity to watch the Mesa Redonda... not even a triangular one," quipped one user. Another remarked, "Institutionalized infamy, this program shouldn't even exist anymore; no one watches it because there's no power." A third commented, "Seems there's electricity for those who produce nothing, contribute nothing, just talk and talk."

Martínez concluded by announcing that the changes approved by the parliament—a package of 176 measures, including a minimum wage of 3,210 pesos starting this month—are "deep transformations" that "require greater speed," thus acknowledging the years of accumulated delays. A Cuban summed it all up with four words in the comments: "An endless cycle."