René Fidel González García, a Cuban legal expert and Doctor of Legal Sciences, shared a political reflection on Facebook this Friday, accompanied by a brief video. He asserts that Cuba is experiencing a profound stagnation: "Today, we are a society stalled by political underdevelopment. Pinpointing the exact moment this began is challenging, but undeniably—and tragically—this process is ongoing."
González García's analysis starts with a statistic acknowledged by the Cuban government itself: 876,522 individuals are identified as highly vulnerable, according to Prime Minister Manuel Marrero's report in late July 2026, during the review of the 176 economic and social reforms approved the previous month.
Residing in Santiago de Cuba and a former professor at the University of Oriente, González García emphasizes that this number is not just an abstract figure: "These 876,522 individuals are not just numbers; they are people enduring conditions that are utterly unacceptable. This is the number that reflects pain, absence, loneliness, and neglect."
Building on this reality, the legal expert presents an "irreversible" judgment on the current government's performance. "No other government in our history has impoverished the Cuban majority so structurally and materially as a direct result of its actions and failed decisions, its inconsistency, variability, and policy improvisation, and its incapacity to devise a strategy beyond maintaining power for as long as possible," he writes.
González García highlights an insurmountable contradiction: by excluding, persecuting, and punishing those who seek to foster diverse political thought and action, the regime has eroded its own legitimacy. He encapsulates this in a phrase: "In its success lies its failure."
The legal scholar dismisses interpretations that describe Cuba's situation as "political survival" or a "diversified crisis." To him, the accurate term is different: "Some claim it's a political survival process, others describe Cuba's situation as a diversified, multi-faceted crisis with internal and external variables. However, perhaps it is neither, at least not entirely. It is decay." He elaborates: "It has become the decay of a society, of a civilizational model, but most importantly, of the political model once implemented to overcome underdevelopment."
This publication is part of a series of commentaries that González García has maintained throughout 2026. On September 20, he diagnosed a structural and irreversible disconnect between the regime and its citizens. On September 11, he denounced a "historical betrayal" against the Cuban people, highlighting emaciated children and elderly without dreams. In August, he coined the term "political indigence" to describe the exclusion of the majority, and in July, he asserted that Cubans have fewer political freedoms today than in 1953, under Batista's dictatorship.
The context of his writings is an unprecedented structural crisis. In August 2026, the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights estimated that extreme poverty affects 94% of Cubans—an increase of nine points from 2025—using a benchmark of $1.90 per person per day. Prisoners Defenders recorded 1,339 political prisoners by the end of August. Meanwhile, CEPAL projects a 6.5% decline in Cuba's GDP for 2026.
González García was dismissed from his position at the University of Oriente in November 2016 after publishing critical articles in independent outlets; he and human rights organizations condemned this as political retaliation. Since then, he shares his reflections with the hashtag #PensarEnCuba. His latest text concludes with a statement that serves both as diagnosis and directive: "There is only one way out of this: it is political."
Understanding Cuba's Political and Societal Challenges
What is René Fidel González García's main argument about Cuba's current situation?
González García argues that Cuba is experiencing a deep-rooted stagnation due to political underdevelopment, which he believes is an ongoing process that has not yet been resolved.
How many people in Cuba are considered highly vulnerable according to the government?
The Cuban government has identified 876,522 individuals as highly vulnerable, as reported by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero in July 2026.
What term does González García use to describe Cuba's current condition?
He describes Cuba's current condition as "decay," particularly of its societal and political models, rather than merely a political survival or diversified crisis.