Cuba fires labour minister for calling all beggars fakes

HAVANA: The Cuban government fired its labour minister after she was publicly rebuked by the president for saying Cuba’s beggars were all phonies in disguise. A brief announcement Tuesday evening said labour and social security minister Marta Elena Feito had demonstrated a lack of “objectivity and sensitivity on topics that are currently central to political and governmental policy”.

The minister’s remarks on live television Monday were circulated on social media and became a lightning rod for popular frustration with years of economic crisis. “We have seen people who appear to be beggars, but when you look at their hands, when you look at the clothes they wear, they are disguised as beggars ... In Cuba, there are no beggars,” she said. President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the comments showed a lack of understanding of the roots of poverty. “The vulnerable are not our enemies.” REUTERS