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The labor and social security minister drew public outrage when she said “there are no beggars” in Cuba, where many people struggle to afford food.
July 18, 2025Updated 3:54 p.m. ET
Cuba’s communist government has long prided itself on its ability to meet the basic needs of the island’s population, despite persistent evidence to the contrary.
The contrast between the official government line and reality was brought into sharp relief this week when a government minister went on television and addressed the issue of people begging on the streets.
The minister, Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, who oversaw labor and social security, said on Monday that the island’s beggars were faking poverty to make “easy” money.
The backlash was swift in a country mired in economic misery, where many struggle to afford food. Barely 24 hours later Ms. Feitó was out of a job. The government said she had resigned because of her lack of “objectivity and sensitivity.”
While the Communist Party remains firmly in charge, Cuba’s government has faced intensifying anger among ordinary Cubans who have lost patience with the six-decade old socialist system imposed by the revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.
Ms. Feitó’s ouster was unusually fast by the standards of Cuba’s often glacial bureaucracy.
“In the past, other ministers have said very unpopular things and have not been forced to resign,” said Carlos Alzugaray, a political analyst and retired Cuban diplomat who lives in Havana. “What is unexpected in this case is the rapid popular reaction and the very quick reaction of the president.”
