In the absence of May Day in the Plaza de la Revolución, a propaganda tweet to anesthetize reality. The Cuban revolution has not celebrated today the main annual mass event, suspended last week due to the fuel crisis, which has caused days of queues to load gasoline and made public and private transport as difficult as possible. But he was also unable to carry out the smaller rallies in Havana with which he intended to replace Fidel Castro’s favorite quote for decades.
The disbelief of the Havanans grew at the same time that the small logistics deployed on the Malecón withdrew. The justification of the authorities was the rains that fell on Sunday on the capital, which had never before prevented the celebration of May Day.
As the storm passed and the sun shone like a Caribbean sun for hours, the jokes spread on the networks at the same time that the regime opted to display its propaganda and to give transcendental importance to the visit of a group of American activists to the Palace of the Revolution. “There is always a noble and useful work to do for Cuba. Don’t let the celebration pass without contributing something to the well-being of the homeland,” the president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, harangued while the digital revolutionary troop tried to multiply the message “To the homeland , hands and heart”.
The authorities have removed the protest acts for next Friday, knowing that the country is far from partying. Added to the energy crisis are the new food rationing, which throughout May will limit chicken, one of the island’s staple foods, to children under 13 and those who need a diet for health reasons.
“It would be understandable if they were at war, besieged in the worst medieval style, in a castle surrounded by the enemy on all four sides. But it is not like that. When a group to defend an ideology sacrifices the rest. Put on the table not the chicken, not the oil, use logic,” the popular actor Erdwin Fernández Collado acidly criticized on his social networks.
“Recent official data illustrate the deep crisis of the food industry and the ostensible inability of economic policy to mitigate, not to resolve, a food safety crisis that seems to have hit rock bottom. It would seem that it is not a priority,” the economist reproached. Pedro Monreal to the Government.
Nor is an improvement in energy failures envisioned, as recognized by the president. Mexico has come out in defense of its Cuban ally and has already sent two ships full of oil to the island to replace what Venezuela cannot supply today, whose citizens also suffer continuous ups and downs when it comes to accessing fuel.
“This year, Venezuela’s oil exports to Cuba have fallen to 55,000 barrels a day. In 2020, Venezuela was sending almost 80,000 barrels a day to the island. The gap is being filled by Mexico and Russia, although there is no clarity on how much of oil they are sending,” said internationalist Mariano de Alba, a senior adviser to the Crisis Group.
The calculation of the Cuban authorities is that its economy needs between 500 and 600 tons of gasoline per day, but currently it does not even reach 400.
In the absence of fuel, Cuba does not lack the diplomatic support of its main European ally. A few hours into his second five-year term at the helm of the country, Díaz-Canel received a visit and endorsement from the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov. And only a week and a half later it was Viacheslav Volodin, president of the State Duma, who went to Havana to follow up on the agreements between the two countries, while at the same time annoying Washington with his presence less than 200 kilometers from its shores.
“Cuba’s communist regime is at its weakest point in decades. The island’s economic problems, the brain drain, the regime’s persecution of dissidents and decaying state institutions are taking a heavy toll,” he summed up. internationalist Will Freeman.
Hope is again on the other side of the sea, in the United States, the dream paradise for many Cubans who flee as best they can in what already represents the largest exodus in its history, ahead of Mariel and the crisis of the rafters. There are already more than 500,000 Cubans on the run, although the US deports a good part of those it rescues at sea.
Washington has even recovered deportation flights, which had not been carried out since 2020. On the first trip, 123 Cubans returned to the island, 83 detained in the Río Grande and 40 who were trying to sail to Florida.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
