On October 8, 2026, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who also serves as First Secretary of the Party Central Committee, used the second installment of the nationally broadcast radio program *Criterio Compartido* (Shared Views) to lay out a people-centered approach to addressing public grievances and advancing policy solutions from the grassroots level.
Speaking from the studios of Radio Rebelde, the head of state opened the discussion by updating listeners on progress made in addressing concerns raised during the program’s debut broadcast. He emphasized that the agenda of *Criterio Compartido* is not crafted in government offices, but shaped directly by the input of Cuban citizens: their opinions, proposals, anxieties, and complaints directly drive what topics the program covers. “This is an agenda we are building together; it is an agenda we are building with the people,” he told the audience.
Díaz-Canel shared detailed data from the first broadcast, noting that 23 callers placed 24 separate contacts to the program. Of these submissions, eight were categorized as formal complaints, with five found to be fully justified and three partially justified. Another nine contacts covered broad concerns of general public interest. To date, the most frequently raised issues center on access to basic public services, with water supply, electricity reliability, and sanitation topping the list of citizen concerns.
All citizen submissions to the program are transcribed verbatim and forwarded immediately to the relevant Party and government bodies for review and action, the President explained. He clarified that immediate resolutions are not always possible for complex, long-standing issues, but mandated that any response must include a clear explanation for citizens and consistent follow-up until the matter is resolved.
Beyond basic services, a wide range of economic and social topics were raised by callers, including economic and social equity, expanded support for retirees and other vulnerable populations, boosting domestic food production, deepening citizen participation in governance, and strengthening popular oversight of public institutions. When addressing growing public concern over commodity prices, Díaz-Canel announced that a future full broadcast will be dedicated exclusively to the issue, and outlined the government’s core strategy: “We will resolve this by producing more and offering a greater supply of goods and services to our population.”
A central theme of the President’s remarks was a push to reorient governance around local community action. He stressed the urgent need to maximize existing local capacities, and better coordinate those resources with both state and non-state economic actors to solve problems closer to where citizens live. “The community is the most strategic space we have; it is where life happens, and where the full potential of our people’s talent and capacity for participation lies,” he said.
On the topic of domestic food production, Díaz-Canel highlighted three key priorities: putting all available unused land into active production, speeding up bureaucratic processes for land allocation to producers, and strengthening local production networks and public-private partnerships to boost output.
Turning to ongoing instability in Cuba’s national electric grid, the President reported that new mitigation efforts are already underway, including a plan to install photovoltaic solar systems at every bank branch across the country. The measure, he explained, was developed in direct response to public dissatisfaction and service disruptions tied to the ongoing national banking integration process. Despite the challenges, Díaz-Canel reaffirmed the government’s commitment to continuing the rollout of banking integration, saying that work is ongoing to solidify the reform’s core foundational goals.
He closed the broadcast by confirming that all issues raised by citizens during the program will receive formal follow-up from responsible institutions, and called for expanding this model of direct, open dialogue to all levels of governance, from institutional work to community and municipal administration. “We are listening to the people, learning from the people, and—as a people—we are seeking solutions,” he said.