“He's paternalistic, you're paternalistic, I'm paternalistic,” screeched the Communist party newspaper Granma in a column by its editor, Làzaro Barredo Medina, after a month of public debate on ending gratuities and modernising the Cuban economy.
The tone caught the frustration felt by officials after the Cuban Communist party's effort to foster self-critical public debate concluded last week with every indication it had become mired in confusion.
A previous debate in 2007, shortly after Raúl Castro took over from his ailing brother Fidel, had been welcomed by the residents of a state that oversees most aspects of daily life and administers almost all economic activity.