Cuban leader: "People don't accept explanations."

Low state production and inflation mark the beginning of the 2025, while the real effectiveness of public companies is questioned.

"People don't eat explanations." This was stated by the first secretary of the Party in Las Tunas, Osbel Lorenzo Rodríguez, during an analysis that attempted to explain, without entirely succeeding, why many state-owned companies in the territory are not fulfilling their production plans, despite showing positive financial results. The meeting, held to evaluate the economic situation of the first quarter of 2018, 2025, left more questions than solutions.

Although the effects of the US embargo were mentioned as part of the external context, the official discourse focused on internal shortcomings.

Lorenzo warned that subjective reasons cannot continue to be used as an excuse to justify noncompliance. However, the economic reality of the territory, with paralyzed industries, broken payment chains, and inflated figures due to rising prices, leaves little room for optimism.

Production on the ground, prices on the rise

The data presented show that only a third of the physical production planned for the quarter was achieved. Simply put: of every three products that companies promised to have ready in April, only one reached the people's hands. In contrast, sales and merchandise circulation indicators remained stable, a worrying sign.cupbefore companies compensate for the lack of supply by raising prices.

In key sectors such as the sugar agroindustry, the situation is critical. Las Tunas, which had the largest sugar production plan in the country, will not reach its goal. The negative figures are masked by the sale of molasses, a strategy that alleviates accounting balances but does not resolve the sugar shortage in households. The solution, as has happened before, could be to import sugar, with the economic costs that this entails.

Governor Yelenys Tornet Menéndez admitted that physical production is the most important indicator and one of the hardest hit. Added to this are unpaid farmers, failures in investment processes, and multiple irregularities in the control of land and livestock use. Collection and payment chains continue to be a chronic obstacle for the state sector.

The private sector is making progress, but it is being hidden under the rug.

While the state apparatus repeatedly stumbles, private entrepreneurs and cooperatives exceeded tax revenue expectations. Yet, their role was not included in the central economic analysis of the quarter. The authorities' focus was solely on monitoring their ties to state entities, which has already resulted in more than 50 administrative measures and some 90 political sanctions, the reasons for which are unclear.

This contrast between the growth of the non-state sector and the stagnation of the state sector highlights a reality that is not always presented. Official figures acknowledge private contributions to the budget, but any in-depth analysis of their true impact on the local economy remains absent from economic debates.

Unexecuted social spending and the final warning

One of the most controversial data was the inequalitycuc4% of the budget allocated to social assistance in the first quarter. The First Secretary himself described this as incomprehensible. These funds were allocated to serve the most vulnerable sectors of the country, and they simply went unused. There is no technical explanation to justify this delay, nor were any concrete solutions offered.

The meeting concluded with calls to "change mentalities," to work more closely with the people, and to recapture the spirit of development that, according to the official narrative, once defined the province. But neither the data nor the facts support this unqualified narrative.

The self-critical statements by provincial authorities contrast with the persistence of the same problems year after year. In Las Tunas, as in many other Cuban provinces, the gap between economic reports and the reality of the people remains enormous.