According to a report by the BBC, Cuba’s Minister for Labour, Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, has resigned after sparking outrage by claiming there are no beggars in Cuba and that those searching through rubbish do so by choice to make “easy money.”
Feitó Cabrera made the comments this week during a session of the National Assembly, saying, “There are no beggars in Cuba. There are people pretending to be beggars to make easy money,” and accusing people who rummage through trash of being “illegal participants in the recycling service.”
Her remarks drew swift backlash from Cubans both at home and abroad, who say the comments ignored the daily reality of poverty, food shortages, and a struggling economy. The BBC reports that even President Miguel Díaz-Canel indirectly rebuked the minister in parliament, warning that the leadership must not “act with condescension” or be “disconnected from the realities” faced by ordinary Cubans.
Public criticism of government officials is rare in Cuba, where anti-government protests are banned and open dissent is often punished. The BBC says a group of Cuban activists and intellectuals even published a letter calling Feitó Cabrera’s remarks “an insult to the Cuban people” and demanding her removal.