Cuba transition plan: free humanitarian aid with no political conditions in the first 72 hours

Lawyer Yaxys Cires Dib presented in Madrid a Cuba humanitarian plan that would cover the first 180 days of a transition, with food, drinking water and medicine from the first 72 hours. He laid it out on Nov. 3 at the event “Cuba en el umbral” (Cuba on the Threshold), organized by Pasos de Cambio.

Cires is vice president of the Christian Democrat Organization of America and Director of Strategy at the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH, by its Spanish acronym). The event’s introduction credited him with coordinating major studies on the social situation in Cuba from that observatory. Immediate humanitarian assistance is one of the points in the Cuba transition plan, presented by Rosa María Payá and her team one day before the 30th Ibero-American Summit, which Madrid hosts on Nov. 4 and 5.

What the Cuba humanitarian plan proposes

Cires said the transition, besides being political and economic, “has to be profoundly social,” because the country’s deterioration demands “a rapid and extraordinary response.” Hence, he explained, this plan to address urgent needs and help stabilize the country. He highlighted three elements.

First, immediate attention to essential needs: a deployment in the first 72 hours to guarantee food rations, drinking water, medicine and sanitary supplies, with priority for vulnerable families, older adults and the chronically ill.

Second, a national authority and a legal framework to facilitate the emergency response, with operational and logistics points inside and outside the country. There, he said, Cuban professionals, civil society, religious communities and the exile community will play a key role.

Third, a guarantee that the aid will be free and transparent. No Cuban, he said, will have to prove a political affiliation or meet any condition to receive it.

Extreme poverty in Cuba: where the 94% comes from

Cires started from the premise that 94% of Cubans live in extreme poverty, and said millions of people struggle every day to get food, medicine, drinking water and electricity. The 94% is the figure from the OCDH’s Ninth Study on Social Rights, published by the organization where he directs strategy, and which Cubanos por el Mundo has already covered in detail.

The study is based on 1,318 interviews in 79 municipalities, conducted between June 27 and July 29, 2026. It uses household-reported income and the World Bank reference of a personal daily income below $1.90, and concludes that “at least 94% of Cubans remain in extreme poverty.” It is an estimate by that independent organization, not an official statistic.

The support he is seeking and what remains to be defined

According to Cires, a response of that magnitude requires support from allies: the United States, which he called the main partner or ally, as well as Ibero-America, Spain and the European Union. In the video of his remarks he does not mention funding figures or specific commitments from those governments, nor does he say who would lead the national authority or where the operational points would be located.

The plan stems from the Liberation Accord, signed on March 2 in Miami by Pasos de Cambio and the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance. It proposes a transition government with a limited mandate of 18 to 36 months, with no extensions, leading to a binding plebiscite and free elections. The Cuba humanitarian plan is an opposition proposal that would apply only once a transition begins, and Cires gave no date for that.

Cires closed with a message to the Cubans who, he said, the regime has condemned to live in extreme poverty: “no one will be left abandoned.” A democratic transition, he added, would mean not only winning freedom but also respect for a dignified life.

Read the full coverage of the presentation of the Cuba transition plan.