Cuban Minister for Labour Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera has been forced to resign after she made comments denying the existence of beggars on the Communist-run island.
The minister had said there was no such thing as “beggars” in Cuba and people going through rubbish were doing so out of choice to make “easy money”.
Her comments, made in parliament, were widely criticised by Cubans at home and abroad, and prompted a response from the island’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel. She resigned soon after.
Poverty levels and food shortages have worsened in Cuba as it continues to grapple with an economic crisis the Cuban government blames on the US embargo.
Both the public criticism her comments triggered and the rebuke the minister received are unusual in Cuba, a country where anti-government protests are banned and open dissent can land critics in jail.
Feitó Cabrera made the comments earlier this week at a session of the National Assembly.
“There are no beggars in Cuba. There are people pretending to be beggars to make easy money,” she said.
Furthermore, Feitó Cabrera accused people searching through the rubbish of being “illegal participants in the recycling service”.
The minister clearly misjudged the anger her comments would cause and the extent to which they portrayed the country’s leadership as unfeeling, authoritarian and deeply removed from the dire economic struggles of ordinary Cubans.
President Díaz-Canel criticised Feitó Cabrera at the parliamentary session – albeit without mentioning her by name – saying the leadership could not “act with condescension” or be “disconnected from the realities” of the people.
Amid food and housing shortages, the sight of people rummaging through rubbish bins for food and sleeping in doorways has become more common.
Daily life is further disrupted by fuel shortages and frequent power cuts. Many Cubans also have to hunt for basic medicines by going from pharmacy to pharmacy.
Critics say that the problems are the result of the Cuban government’s mismanagement of the economy but its supporters point to the damaging effects of the long-standing US embargo on the island as the main factor.
Sanctions tightened under US President Trump’s first administration were kept in place under President Biden.
A number of Cuban activists and intellectuals also published a letter calling for the minister’s removal, saying the comments were “an insult to the Cuban people”.
Feitó Cabrera’s resignation was accepted by the Cuban Communist Party and the government.
