maximize the use of our own capacities and resources
Government officials stressed need for innovative approaches to implement economic directives while facing fuel shortages and U.S. executive orders against Cuba. Council approved new petroleum and gas decree to establish legal framework for energy activities, aiming to achieve national energy sovereignty and efficient resource use.
- State Council session led by Esteban Lazo Hernández, with President Díaz-Canel and PM Marrero Cruz present
- Government mapped 25 specific social policy objectives and 87 concrete actions with 68 measurable indicators
- Customs audit involved 40 deputies across 8 provinces, visiting 24 facilities and interviewing approximately 10,630 people
- Council approved new petroleum and gas decree establishing legal framework for energy activities on land and offshore
- Grassroots movement 'Mi Barrio por La Patria' organized around three pillars: Safe, Participatory, and Productive Neighborhoods
Cuba's State Council met to evaluate implementation of the 2026 Economic and Social Program, emphasizing maximizing endogenous resources amid U.S. blockade pressures and energy constraints.
Cuba's State Council convened on a Wednesday in mid-May to take stock of how the government's economic and social blueprint for 2026 was actually being executed. Esteban Lazo Hernández, who chairs the council, presided over the session alongside President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz. The timing was deliberate. The country faces a tightening vise: the U.S. blockade has intensified, energy supplies are constrained, and executive orders from Washington continue to pile pressure on the island's economy. Against this backdrop, officials needed to assess whether their plans were working.
Marrero Cruz opened the discussion by laying out what had consumed the government's attention since the last council session. Preparation for national defense and internal order had dominated the agenda. So had updating government directives to cope with fuel shortages. The administration had also pushed forward on restructuring the central state apparatus and decentralizing authority to lower levels. But the prime minister's core message was blunt: the moment demanded raising the bar. "We have to elevate our demands in implementing the Program and the Government Directives," he said, "with innovative formulas that maximize the use of our own capacities and resources." The phrase—potenciar al máximo—kept circling back. Cuba would have to do more with what it had.
Lazo then pivoted to what he saw as essential: getting ordinary Cubans involved. He stressed the importance of a grassroots movement called "Mi Barrio por La Patria"—My Neighborhood for the Homeland—which aims to mobilize communities around three pillars: Safe Neighborhoods, Participatory Neighborhoods, and Productive Neighborhoods. The idea was to channel popular energy into solving concrete local problems while keeping national priorities in view. Without that popular participation, Lazo suggested, the government's plans would remain abstractions on paper.
The council then turned to social policy, which officials framed as the heart of the revolution's achievements. Vice Prime Ministers Inés María Chapman and Eduardo Martínez Díaz, along with ministers from various state agencies, walked through the implementation of what the government calls its seventh major objective: consolidating and strengthening social protections for people, families, and communities in vulnerable situations. The scope was ambitious. The government had mapped out 25 specific targets and 87 concrete actions, supported by 68 measurable indicators. Commissions focused on social policy were functioning at national, provincial, and municipal levels, though officials acknowledged that work groups at the neighborhood council level still needed strengthening. The agenda included policies on childhood, adolescence, and youth; demographic change; women's advancement; prevention of gender violence; and a national program against racism and racial discrimination.
Marta Hernández Romero, who coordinates the parliamentary commissions, read the formal assessment into the record. She emphasized that these social objectives represented the bedrock of the revolution's legacy—health, education, housing, water services. The parliament's permanent committees had identified these as the priorities that mattered most.
The council also reviewed the 2026 state budget, presented by Finance Minister Vladimir Regueiro Ale. Félix Martínez Suárez, who heads the parliamentary economic affairs commission, noted a hard constraint: spending could only be cut so far before essential services to the population suffered. The government would have to find revenue elsewhere—collecting unpaid taxes and fines, for instance. And it would need to tighten control over how public money was actually being spent.
In a separate action, the council examined results from a sweeping audit of Cuba's customs authority that had been ordered in January 2025. Forty deputies, organized into nine teams, had fanned out across eight provinces and visited 24 customs facilities, interviewing roughly 10,630 people—workers, technicians, experts, and members of the public. General José Antonio Carrillo Gómez, who heads the parliament's defense and internal order commission, reported that the deputies had identified the most pressing problems and mapped out priorities for the year ahead. The audit produced 13 recommendations, which the customs authority would now have to address through a formal action plan.
Finally, the council approved a new decree on petroleum and gas. The measure establishes the legal framework for all oil and gas activities—exploration, extraction, refining, transport, storage, and sale—both on land and offshore, across Cuba's continental shelf and exclusive economic zone. The stated aim was to guarantee efficient, sustainable, and secure production and use of these resources, ultimately achieving what officials call energy sovereignty. In a country where fuel shortages have become routine, the symbolic weight of that language was clear.
Citas Notables
We have to elevate our demands in implementing the Program and the Government Directives, with innovative formulas that maximize the use of our own capacities and resources.— Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz
These social objectives represent the bedrock of the revolution's legacy—health, education, housing, water services.— Marta Hernández Romero, parliamentary commission coordinator
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does the council keep emphasizing "endogenous resources"? What does that actually mean in practice?
It means Cuba is betting on itself because it has to. With the blockade tightening and fuel hard to come by, the government can't rely on imports. So they're asking: what do we have here, right now, that we can use? Local production, local knowledge, local labor. It's partly pragmatism, partly ideology.
The "Mi Barrio por La Patria" movement—is that new?
It sounds like a rebranding or intensification of something already underway. The council is trying to channel neighborhood energy into three concrete areas: safety, participation, and productivity. It's a way of saying the revolution needs people to be active, not passive, in solving local problems.
What struck you about the social policy section?
The sheer ambition of it, actually. Twenty-five objectives, eighty-seven actions. They're trying to protect vulnerable people—children, women, people facing discrimination—while the economy is under siege. It's a statement about priorities: we're not abandoning the social conquests even when money is tight.
The customs audit involved 10,630 people. That's a lot of interviews.
It was a deliberate show of transparency and accountability. Forty deputies going out into the provinces, talking to workers and the public. The council wanted to demonstrate that even in hard times, the system is checking itself, listening to problems, and making adjustments.
And the new petroleum decree—is that about finding more oil?
Partly. But it's also about legal clarity. If Cuba is going to develop its offshore resources or improve refining, it needs a modern legal framework. The decree signals that energy independence is a strategic priority, not just a slogan.
What's the underlying anxiety here?
That the blockade and fuel shortages will break the social contract. If the government can't deliver basic services—health, education, water—people lose faith. So the council is trying to prove it's still managing, still planning, still protecting the vulnerable. It's a performance of competence under pressure.