The recent interview with Miguel Díaz-Canel aired by NBC News was an opportunity—an opportunity to help a broader audience understand the true nature of power in Cuba.
It was also a missed one.
Not because of bad intentions, but because of a fundamental misunderstanding that continues to shape much of the international coverage of the island.
Cuba is not governed as a traditional presidential system.
Power in Cuba does not reside in the office of the president. It resides in the structure of the Communist Party—a centralized, unelected body that operates above public accountability and beyond meaningful scrutiny.
This distinction is not semantic. It is essential.
When questions are directed at Díaz-Canel as if he were the ultimate decision-maker, the conversation risks becoming performative rather than informative. It engages a representative of the system, not the system itself.
Díaz-Canel does not define Cuba’s political direction. He executes it.
The real decision-makers remain shielded within the upper ranks of the Communist Party, where authority is exercised without transparency and without direct responsibility to the Cuban people.
This is why many interviews with Cuban officials fail to produce meaningful insight. They are structured around the wrong premise: that visible leadership equals real power.
It does not.
The Cuban people are not facing a communication problem. They are facing a structural one.
And until that structure is properly understood—and questioned—journalistic efforts, no matter how well intentioned, will continue to fall short.
Media institutions carry a responsibility that goes beyond access. It requires depth, context, and a willingness to challenge appearances.
Cuba’s reality demands nothing less.
Pastor Herrera Macuran
Horizonte Cubano – Serious analysis for the future of Cuba and the hemisphere.