Raúl Torres Advocates for "Market Socialism" in Cuba: "We Can't Wait for People to Take to the Streets"

The musician Raúl Torres, a supporter of the Cuban government, has called for the establishment of "market socialism"—a "market economy with socialist principles"—warning that "we can't wait for people to take to the streets." On Tuesday, he shared his thoughts in a text urging controlled economic changes to ease social unrest without disrupting political authority. "The Revolution is not for self-sacrifice, but for perpetuating power in the hands of the people," Torres emphasized.

He suggests a gradual economic opening: allowing private enterprises in non-strategic sectors, supporting cooperatives with credit, and balancing central planning with regulated market mechanisms for consumer goods. At the same time, he insists that the state must retain control over natural resources, energy, communications, and other "highly sensitive" areas.

Aligned with the regime's tenets, Torres calls for "revolutionary vigilance" against "deviations," proposing to ideologically neutralize and denounce business owners with political ambitions. He advocates strengthening oversight through the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) and mass organizations to monitor "capitalist accumulation" and maintaining progressive taxation to fund public health and education.

Torres reiterates that the socialist state enterprise should remain the guiding force and that social ownership of essential production means is "non-negotiable." He attributes shortages to a mix of the U.S. blockade and internal failures, citing Chile's 2019 unrest as a cautionary example of what happens when social demands are not anticipated.

His urgency is clear: "we can't wait for people to take to the streets"; instead, the initiative must be taken to "allow the people to breathe easier without giving up the system's achievements." He noted, "Fidel, in his eternal legacy, taught us that the Revolution is a dynamic process requiring tactical audacity without losing strategic direction."

A Proposal with Strings Attached

Although Torres calls for using the market to "provide relief," his framework insists on protecting power and disciplining the private sector: he opens the door with one hand (by allowing entrepreneurship) and closes it with the other (by urging the neutralization of politically ambitious entrepreneurs and maintaining control over the emerging economy).

The text itself encapsulates this boundary: maintaining power while enabling economic "valves." The proposal, penned by a regime supporter, acknowledges the risk of unrest and turns "market socialism" into a managed shock therapy: more freedom to produce and sell, but without political pluralism or a redistribution of power.

In practical terms, the opening would be conditioned by ideological filters and the state's dominance in key sectors. Torres calls for "updating" the economy with market tools to prevent protests, yet he does so from a continuity script prioritizing political control, state enterprises, and oversight of the private sector; a stance that exposes the hypocrisy of invoking the market while safeguarding the power structure.