Cuba Faces Total System Collapse, Dissident Warns

Kenia Rodríguez says internal opposition grows as energy and economic crises deepen

Cuba is facing one of the most critical periods in its recent history, grappling with energy shortages, economic collapse, and rising social tensions. Kenia Rodríguez, a Cuban dissident living in Italy and activist with the Las Guerreras Movement and the Association 17 December, says the country has passed a breaking point, with internal opposition increasingly unwilling to remain silent.

“There is a growing internal opposition movement in Cuba, which already existed. Now it has grown even more because people have lost their fear of the Cuban regime,” Rodríguez told Adnkronos, describing a profound shift in the nation’s political landscape.

Rodríguez painted a stark picture of systemic failure. “Cuba is collapsing, not just in terms of energy: it is a total collapse of the system. There is no turning back. The Cuban communist dictatorship is a completely failed system,” she said.

According to Rodríguez, the crisis is not new. “The Cuban economic system has never been stable in these 67 years. It has always survived thanks to humanitarian aid and donations from the rest of the world. But 90% of these resources went to the dictatorship and only 10% to the population.” This chronic scarcity created a society where fear often outweighed civility and dignity.

Today, the situation has deteriorated further. “The economy is imploding: there is nothing left, no oil, nothing,” Rodríguez said, attributing the collapse to the government’s mismanagement. Historic sectors have declined, she added. “Sugar factories have been left to deteriorate until they no longer function. The tobacco sector has also collapsed: people, crushed by hunger and poverty, either fled the country or stopped working because the profits went to the dictatorship.”

In this context, Rodríguez views the United States as a potential ally. “Negotiations are an opportunity. The United States has been the only country to hear our cry for help, while others have looked the other way,” she said, linking this to the Cuban diaspora. “Most of the Cuban exile community is in the United States, and we all want the same thing: a free Cuba.”

Addressing sovereignty concerns, she noted, “We don’t believe there are risks because we have never truly been sovereign. For much of these 67 years, we have been under Russian influence.” Statements by Donald Trump are seen as leverage, not a threat. “They are a negotiating pressure, a great negotiating pressure,” Rodríguez said, highlighting the role of Marco Rubio, “of Cuban descent,” who “knows well what the dictatorship has done.”

Rodríguez also recalled the human cost of exile. “We grew up listening to the pain of mothers and children separated, of people dying at sea while trying to escape, in the jungles of Nicaragua or the Rio Bravo.”

Despite the tensions, she emphasized the goal of avoiding war. “We don’t want a war: we just want to be left in peace, and for the Castros, Díaz-Canel, and all those supporting the Communist Party to leave.” She insists that the “negotiating pressure” should lead to a peaceful transition: “They must leave the country peacefully and return Cuba to the Cuban people, even with U.S. assistance.” Rodríguez criticized other international actors for failing to respond. “We asked the UN, the European Parliament, the OAS for help, but no one listened. The only one was Trump.” Among dissidents, this approach is seen as “a light at the end of the tunnel, a hope.”

Rodríguez concluded with the words of her mother: “I was born there, I am not the one who has to leave. It is they, the dictators, who must go.” She denounced common narratives about the Cuban system, particularly the claim of free education. “From ages 11 to 18-19, we had to work in the fields for hours every day for agricultural export. They called it volunteering, but it wasn’t.” Her testimony underscores a country where material crisis intersects with an ongoing political and civil struggle.

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(Photo: © AndKronos)