Cuban minister resigns after saying country has no beggars

Cuban Labour Minister Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera has had to resign following her remarks disputing the presence of beggars on the Communist-controlled island.

The minister claimed that there were no “beggars” in Cuba, asserting that individuals searching through trash were essentially doing so by choice to earn “easy money,” as she referred to it.

Her remarks during a parliamentary session faced significant criticism from Cubans both domestically and internationally, leading to a response from the island’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel. She left her position shortly thereafter.

In Cuba, poverty rates and food scarcity have increased as the country struggles with a deep economic crisis. Feitó Cabrera expressed his opinions earlier this week during 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.

In response to her claim that there were no beggars in Cuba, but people disguised as beggars, Cuban economist Pedro Monreal wrote on X: “It must be that there are also people disguised as ‘ministers'”.

Furthermore, Feitó Cabrera accused people searching through the rubbish of being “illegal participants in the recycling service”.

The minister evidently underestimated the fury and indignation her remarks would provoke and how much they represented the nation’s leadership as cold, dictatorial, and profoundly out of touch with the severe financial hardships faced by everyday Cubans.

Several Cuban activists and thinkers released a letter demanding her dismissal, stating that the remarks were “an affront to the Cuban population.” The Cuban president subsequently criticized Feitó Cabrera during the parliamentary session – though not naming her – asserting that the leadership must not “behave with condescension” or be “detached from the realities” of the populace.

The Cuban Communist Party and the government accepted Feitó Cabrera’s resignation. Although the Cuban government does not release official statistics regarding the number of individuals begging, the increase in their presence has been clear to many Cubans due to the island’s severe economic crisis.