This essay was first published on Facebook on July 18, 2025. The author, Ernesto Limia Díaz, is First Vice-president of the Writers Association of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. His essay is part of a public discussion that has swept Cuba over the last week. The debate broke out into the open in the aftermath of the resignation of Cuba’s Minister of Labor and Social Security, Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, on July 15.
This article, published on July 15, 2025, on the website of the Presidency of the Cuban government, reports on the response by Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s president, to controversial remarks a day earlier by the country’s Minister of Labor and Social Security, Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera. On July 14, Feitó Cabrera told Cuba’s parliament that there are no beggars in Cuba, that the island’s beggars are faking poverty in search of easy money, and that those cleaning windshields on the streets or collecting rubbish from trash bins are actually collecting raw materials without paying taxes. Her televised remarks went viral on social media, causing an uproar by the public and government officials alike. Feitó Cabrera resigned her post on July 15.