{"id":323570,"date":"2025-05-29T20:48:38","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T00:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=323570"},"modified":"2025-05-29T20:48:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T00:48:38","slug":"cubas-polycrisis-is-widening-inequality-gaps-sociologists-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/society-cuba\/cubas-polycrisis-is-widening-inequality-gaps-sociologists-warn\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba\u2019s \u201cpolycrisis\u201d is widening inequality gaps, sociologists warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cpolycrisis\u201d that has taken root in Cuba over the last five years has progressively widened social inequalities along economic, racial, territorial, age and gender lines, three Cuban sociologists explain in a joint interview with EFE news agency.<\/span><\/p>\n

This phenomenon is generating tensions in a country characterized for decades by extreme egalitarianism, and the government must respond with new solutions, argue these experts from the state-run Center for Psychological and Sociological Research (CIPS).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInequality is the main effect of the polycrisis,\u201d says Enrique G\u00f3mez Cabezas, coordinator of the Social Policy and Inequalities Group.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortages and difficulties in multiple areas overlap, intertwine, and feed off each other, preventing the intuition of a solution as far as the eye can see.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blackouts of up to 20 hours a day paralyze factories, offices, agriculture and homes; public transportation is at a standstill without fuel; liquefied gas cylinders for cooking are in short supply; pharmacies are almost empty; basic products like bread are being rationed.\u2026 It\u2019s a \u201cdaily life of shortages,\u201d according to G\u00f3mez Cabezas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mirlena Rojas Piedrahita, coordinator of the Network of Sociological Studies on Labor, believes that this \u201cpolycrisis\u201d is a \u201ctrait of the times\u201d that \u201cimprints a fundamental characteristic on current Cuban society.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the word resilience falls far short for me. I still can\u2019t find the word that one might sometimes use when considering survival strategies,\u201d notes this sociologist, who believes that this context generates an \u201cuncertainty\u201d that \u201cproduces and reproduces\u201d states of stress.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the situation doesn\u2019t affect everyone equally, she adds. There are those who have been able to access the more dynamic and better-paid private sector, those who can afford a generator for power outages, and those who have the resources to move to another country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Social re-stratification<\/b><\/h3>\n

These inequalities, according to these sociologists, began to emerge with the timid but liberalizing reforms introduced by former President Ra\u00fal Castro starting in 2011, the so-called \u201cupdating.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rojas explains that an \u201copportunity structure\u201d for socioeconomic development was put in place, but notes that \u201cthere were people who could access\u201d and improve their quality of life, \u201cand others who couldn\u2019t.\u201d This led to a process of social re-stratification.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gini coefficient, the main indicator of social inequality, has fallen from 0.25 (out of a maximum of 1) in 1989 to between 0.4 and 0.5 today, according to conservative official calculations, which would place Cuba in the average of Latin American countries, between Argentina and Panama.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rojas and G\u00f3mez Cabezas, however, distance themselves from those who point to a \u201cLatin Americanization\u201d of Cuba, because although some indicators \u2014 such as the Gini index \u2014 have worsened in recent years (from infant mortality to poverty and crime), they still perceive quantitative and qualitative differences.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting closer to some realities, but we\u2019re still far from them,\u201d Rojas points out.<\/span><\/p>\n

G\u00f3mez Cabezas points out that in Cuba, unlike other Latin American countries, healthcare is, by principle, universal and free, and that there\u2019s no doubt about that, although its application is limited.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not enough, G\u00f3mez Cabezas adds. In his opinion, the Cuban government must update its laws to enforce the principles of equity and social justice. \u201cThese policies must be more responsive to the current context,\u201d he affirms.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven if they are universal policies, they are not enough to prevent the reproduction of inequalities. There are sectors that are better off and will monopolize the best opportunities for themselves. And other sectors will be left behind, (thus) reproducing and amplifying these disadvantages,\u201d he explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

He advocates ending homogeneous policies and focusing on \u201caffirmative action,\u201d \u201cmanaging equity at the local level,\u201d and \u201ctargeting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe must recognize existing inequality,\u201d insists G\u00f3mez Cabezas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crisis and daily life in Cuba: What does street sociology say?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n