Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz gives a lecture to students of the Diploma in Public and Business Administration at ESCEG

On March 11, 2026, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz delivered the keynote address, “Government Economic and Social Program 2026,” at the Higher School of State and Government Cadres to students of the 8th edition of the Diploma in Public and Business Administration and to the institution's directors. He discussed the current state of the Cuban economy within the international and national context, marked by the intensification of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade, the energy strangulation imposed by the U.S. government, and the Cuban government's directives for addressing fuel shortages. He presented the evolution of the Government Program from 2023 to the present, noting that the current version is the result of an extensive consultation process throughout the country. Several of the General Objectives, Specific Objectives, actions, indicators, and targets were modified and contextualized, which will require a shift in mindset among cadres for their implementation. Working groups were also formed, one for each General Objective. The Prime Minister recalled the words of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, at the closing of the Sixth Ordinary Session of the National Assembly of People's Power: “This program is a call for the conscious participation of all, for every Cuban man and woman, from their own position, to be a protagonist of rectification and progress.” Of the Army General and leader of the Cuban Revolution, he said: “…the greater the difficulties and dangers, the greater the demands, discipline, and unity required.” He recalled the words of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, on October 14, 1991, at the closing of the Fourth Congress of the Communist Party, which are highly relevant today: “…to move forward in these difficult conditions, and following the principle of protecting everyone, ensuring that no citizen is left unprotected in our country, by sharing what we have, we will seek ways to save the Homeland, to save the Revolution, to save Socialism.”