Cuba’s labor minister resigns after stating that there are no beggars on the island

It was, at least indirectly, one of the greatest acts of civic expression by Cubans in the last 60 years. It took just 48 hours for the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, to resign after claiming that there are no beggars in Cuba — only people “pretending to be beggars.” The country’s streets, filled with people rummaging through garbage bins, elderly individuals sleeping in doorways, and others holding out their hands to ask for money, directly contradict the minister’s words and challenge the image of the Cuban Revolution’s social project.

The statement provoked such a wave of outrage among Cubans both on the island and abroad that the crisis not only ended with her resignation, but also pushed President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero to publicly disagree with one of their own and to acknowledge the “vulnerability” in which part of the Cuban population lives.

On Tuesday night, the official press released what everyone had been demanding but no one expected: the announcement that “Comrade” Minister “recognized her mistakes and submitted her resignation.” While it was likely the government itself that demanded her resignation, it is telling that this time they used the word “resignation” rather than “release from duties,” as they did last year when they dismissed Alejandro Gil from his roles as deputy prime minister and minister of economy and planning. This marks the first time a senior Cuban official has stepped down in response to public anger.

Feitó Cabrera, 63, had served as minister since 2019. She holds a degree in Engineering in Economics and Organization of the Construction Machinery Industry, a master’s in Social Security Management and Administration Systems, and is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Her remarks in the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) had a big impact on Cubans, fed up with the profound disconnect between the country’s leaders and its people.

“We’ve seen people who appear to be beggars. When you look at their hands, at the clothes these people are wearing, they’re disguised as beggars; they’re not beggars. There are no beggars in Cuba,” said Feitó Cabrera during a session specifically convened to present public policies aimed at protecting the most vulnerable sectors of society.

“When there are people on the street cleaning windshields [...] they’ve sought an easy way of life, at traffic lights, begging, cleaning, and possibly later, with that money, what they’re going to do is drink,” she added, referring to alcohol consumption. She even went as far as to claim that “these people are collecting raw materials, and what they really are... are illegal self-employed workers.”

The minister’s comments directly contradict the data she herself presented last year at a Council of Ministers meeting. According to her own figures, the country has just over 3,700 individuals housed in seven Social Protection Centers across the island — 38% of them under 60 years old and with no home to return to. Yet, there is no official statistic that fully reflects the scope of the issue in Cuba or the true number of people living in poverty.

Her remarks were enough to spark a wave of public outrage. Citizens denounced the minister on social media, while a group of intellectuals, activists, and ordinary Cubans began gathering signatures to demand her removal. In the midst of the uproar, President Díaz-Canel stepped in, saying he didn’t agree with “some of the views” expressed at the assembly. “It’s counterproductive to make statements like these when we are acknowledging the existence of a problem,” he said.

Prime Minister Marrero fell back on the regime’s classic rhetoric, reminding the public that “people, families, and communities in vulnerable situations have always been — and will continue to be — a priority of the revolution, a project built on humanism and social justice.”

Indeed, sectors like healthcare, education, and social security were once Fidel Castro’s frontline battles and Cuba’s calling card to the world. But for decades now, Cubans have been enduring the collapse of these once-iconic pillars — in a country where medical supplies and professionals are scarce, where teachers and school materials are lacking, and where violence rises in tandem with homelessness and food shortages.

This deepening crisis has pushed many Cubans into exile, with nearly 2 million people leaving the island since 2022 alone. Although people of all ages are now visibly living on the streets or begging in Cuba, it is the elderly who suffer the most — left behind by family members who have emigrated, crushed by the high cost of goods, and reliant on meager pensions. According to official data, more than 39% of Cuba’s retirees and pensioners — nearly 3 million people — receive the minimum pension of 1,528 pesos, equivalent to less than $5 a month.

Amid this controversy, Díaz-Canel also reiterated the message that Cubans have heard for years: “The revolution cannot leave anyone behind; that is our motto, our militant responsibility.” But the reality is that Castroism — which is facing the worst crisis in its history — is increasingly failing to take care of its people.

In an interview last year with EL PAÍS, Cuban economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago described the loss of the revolution’s achievements as a “tragedy.”

“Indicators in the 1990s placed Cuba in first place in terms of equality, health, pensions, but never in housing. The Cuba of today has nothing to do with the Cuba of the 1980s, today’s Cuba is a catastrophe. The revolution took steps to expand education, health and pensions, especially in the rural sector, but that no longer has anything to do with what we are experiencing today,” he said.

He continued: “For me, it is a tragedy. When Fidel Castro died, the first thing that came to mind was: how sad that this man who did these things and who could have done many others opted for a system that has failed all over the world and has destroyed the country. Because whatever you look at, housing, health, education, everything is finished."

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