Cuba is bleeding

The current Cuban migratory exodus is not one of those that have cyclically shaken the island.

In the last 11 months, nearly 180,000 Cubans have entered the United States illegally through the Mexican border, according to data from the United States Customs and Border Protection Office.

Another 8,000 have tried it by sea: among these, 5,421 rafters were intercepted while crossing the Straits of Florida in fragile boats.

This is the largest migratory wave since the triumph of the Castro revolution, and already exceeds the figures of the last two great exoduses together, that of Mariel, in 1980, when 125,000 people entered the United States in six months, and the crisis of the rafters, when 35,000 Cubans jumped into the sea in 1994.

The causes have to do with the serious deterioration of living conditions that the population has been suffering for years, and also with the lack of future prospects.

Cubans have been trapped in a centralized, statist and inefficient system for too long, incapable of guaranteeing the progress of the country and of the people.

This, coupled with the lack of mechanisms for real participation of the people in political decision-making and the absence of democratic spaces to criticize the Government, is a deadly equation.

To get out of the crisis, prominent Cuban economists have recommended that the Government implement reforms that serve to free the productive forces, favor private initiative and decisively stimulate foreign investment.

But the Executive, instead of being inspired by models such as the Chinese or the Vietnamese, acts slowly and fearfully, betting on reviving the inefficient state company and trying to maintain its omnipresence in society.

Liberalizing measures have been introduced piecemeal.

Since the problem is structural, it is no longer time to put patches and perform cosmetic reforms.

The economic hardships, the merciless blackouts —of up to 12 hours a day, and more—, runaway inflation, the shortage of basic necessities and medicines, or the deterioration of health services have the Cuban population exhausted.

Proof of this were the historic protests of July 11 last year: it is not surprising, then, that tens of thousands of people want to leave the country.

The Government accuses the US of exacerbating this illegal flow by maintaining the economic embargo and favoring laws that benefit emigrants from the island.

A policy like that of former President Barack Obama, which promoted rapprochement and exchange between the two countries, would contribute to the solution of the current crisis.

But make no mistake, despite or precisely because of the adverse conditions, the Cuban government is responsible for making the necessary far-reaching changes that will allow the country to get out of the economic hole and give hope to its population so that the nation does not continue to bleed to death.