Osbel Lorenzo pointed out that only a third of the “production plans” in the province were implemented.
14ymedio, Madrid, 30 April 2025 — The arrival of the Party’s first secretary in Las Tunas will be hard to forget. Osbel Lorenzo Rodríguez, who assumed the position just a month ago, didn’t mince his words in his first analysis of the province’s economy. “People can’t eat explanations,” he retorted, “in response to the justifications of representatives of state-owned companies in this region for clearly failing to meet their production plans,” reported Periódico 26 this Wednesday.
The description of the province’s economic ruins is, however, less surprising than the leader’s forcefulness, who, while not missing the opportunity to blame the negative context on “external factors,” demanded that the executives find solutions. “No one is empowered to fail to comply for subjective reasons,” he retorted.
Among the biggest dramas unfolding was the agonizing sugar harvest. On a day when the Sancti Spíritus press was celebrating on its front pages because the Melanio Hernández sugar mill in Tuinucú had met its planned schedule, Lorenzo Rodríguez—also from Sancti Spíritus—lamented that sugar production in Las Tunas “will reach historic lows.” The company could see its targets saved thanks to the sugar cane syrup, but the concern is paramount, since the province had been entrusted with the largest production plan — 45,000 tons — which could “force the country to import the sweet grain and thus satisfy minimal domestic demand.”
All of them are doing poorly “without this being attributable to the commercial and financial siege.”
Lorenzo Rodríguez referred to the “slow economic recovery” and listed sectors such as certain crops, sheep and rabbit meat, and charcoal. All of these are doing poorly “without this being attributed to the commercial and financial siege,” the leader noted.
There was a lot for the new party leader to criticize, but the failure to execute 4% of the quarterly budget for social assistance took the cake. “We’re talking about money that must be spent efficiently, but without unnecessary delays, because it benefits the most vulnerable segment of the population,” argued Lorenzo Rodríguez, who called the incident “incomprehensible.”
Data from the results analysis for this period, between January and March, indicate that only a third of the planned production was realized. “Simply put, this means that we can only touch with our hands one out of every three products or inputs that public entities forecast to have at the beginning of April,” the scolding continued.
In addition, an aggravating factor is that sales and retail trade remain stable, “an unequivocal sign that too many state-owned companies are still boosting their balance sheets with high prices; something that lines the pockets of their workers, but is terrible news for the economy of Las Tunas as a whole, because it perpetuates the vicious cycle of inflation and depressed supply,” he charged.
“They pale in comparison to the failure to deliver the agreed quantities of merchandise to be created, which are literally what people need.”
On the positive side, the official noted, are the balanced budget and the reduction in cash flow, but “they pale in comparison to the failure to meet the agreed quantities of goods to be produced, which are literally what people need.”
Although there are no figures, it has tentatively emerged that the private sector is the only one that meets the targets. “According to official figures, individual entrepreneurs, private companies, and cooperatives as a whole exceed the estimates made before the beginning of the year,” states the official press release, which nevertheless indicates that administrative measures and other sanctions have been taken against the non-state sector for violations of the regulations.
Lorenzo rose to his current position due to his “perseverance and determination to promote and recover decisive economic and social programs,” according to PCC officials at the end of March, when Walter Simón Noris, who had held the position for barely a year, was removed from office. The new 51-year-old secretary general faced the challenge of leading a province that the previous governor, Jaime Chiang —removed in December 2023—had declared “ungovernable.”
The latter was succeeded by Yelenys Tornet Menéndez, who joined forces with Lorenzo at the economic meeting to emphasize that physical production “is the key indicator and what makes the difference.” The governor requested that these issues be discussed immediately “in order to find solutions,” as serious problems remain, the most significant being non-payments, coupled with illegalities related to land use and livestock.
Las Tunas has recently stood out for serious problems that go beyond the economic and include uncontrolled dumping of trash, use of the drug known as ‘químico‘ [chemical], and violence. “The opinion of the people,” said Lorenzo, “is a barometer for measuring the efficiency of the management of the leaders and their connection with the people, especially in areas farthest from urban centers. And this popular judgment is showing that the connection between decision-makers and their constituents is not occurring as it should.”
The problem is inherited by the new cadres, as Simón Noris had already warned that the situation was such that in just one week, 300 crimes had been detected, most of them “felonies against state entities” in which members of the bureaucracy had participated. The provincial leader was also undeterred and called for firm action against corruption. “Police are not enough,” he said in early March 2024. He only lasted another twenty days in office.
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