Cuban Minister Resigns After Controversial Comments on Poverty Spark Outrage
Minister’s claim that “there are no beggars in Cuba” draws fierce backlash amid deepening economic crisis
Cuba’s Minister for Labour, Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, has resigned following widespread backlash over remarks dismissing the presence of beggars on the island. Speaking during a recent parliamentary session, Feitó claimed, “There are no beggars in Cuba,” and suggested that those seen rummaging through garbage were doing so voluntarily to make “easy money.”
Her comments, made amid worsening poverty, food shortages, and a severe economic crisis, triggered public outrage both domestically and among the Cuban diaspora. Critics, including economists and activists, accused her of being out of touch with the harsh realities facing ordinary Cubans.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel indirectly rebuked the minister, warning that government officials must not be “disconnected from the realities” of the people or act with “condescension.”
Feitó also controversially described people digging through trash as “illegal participants in the recycling service,” further intensifying criticism.
The minister’s remarks sparked online condemnation, with Cuban economist Pedro Monreal sarcastically responding, “It must be that there are also people disguised as ‘ministers.’” A group of intellectuals and activists published an open letter demanding her dismissal, calling her statements “an insult to the Cuban people.”
The government and the ruling Communist Party accepted her resignation, marking a rare instance of public accountability in a country where dissent is often punished and anti-government protests are prohibited by law.
