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After the devastating passage of Hurricane Melissa through eastern Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel traveled to the province of Holguín to assess the damage and "encourage recovery," as reported by the Presidency of Cuba on X.
The president visited the José Martí Vocational Pre-University Institute of Exact Sciences, which has been converted into an evacuation center for more than 300 people from the municipalities of Cacocún and Urbano Noris.
There, according to the official note, he expressed interest in the care provided to the victims and was informed that they receive "good nutrition, health care, and psychological support."
The institutional message added that "families expressed feeling protected" and that Díaz-Canel insisted that "they could not return to their communities until there was no danger."
As is customary on these types of tours, the leader expressed that he would take away a "good impression" of the work in Holguín and conveyed greetings from Raúl Castro, "who is aware of the entire situation."
However, the scene carefully described by the Presidency contrasts with the reality of thousands of Cubans who have not received state assistance or basic resources following the hurricane.
In the midst of the crisis shaking the country, the official statement about the "good nutrition" of the evacuees sounds, for many, more like propaganda than relief.
Official triumphalism amidst the disaster
The government has once again presented itself as a model of "organization and foresight," although the official figures reveal the opposite.
According to the newspaper Granma, more than 95% of those evacuated during Hurricane Melissa sought refuge in the homes of family or neighbors, rather than in state facilities.
Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, acknowledged on television the "solidarity" of the people during the emergency, but this same information highlights the state's inability to provide institutional shelter.
In practice, disaster protection relies on mutual assistance among Cubans, not on a solid state system or efficient government logistics.
Despite the devastation, the official discourse maintains its triumphant tone.
Through the media controlled by the Communist Party, there is a constant emphasis on the "unity" and "discipline" of the people, while the testimonies of entire communities lacking electricity, potable water, and with collapsed infrastructure are concealed.
A crisis that repeats itself
Each new hurricane exposes the same structural cracks: insufficient and poorly equipped shelters, makeshift kitchens, food shortages, and a lack of adequate medical care.
In many cases, families remain in evacuation centers for weeks without sufficient material support, while the authorities celebrate the "effectiveness" of the civil defense system.
In Holguín and other provinces in the east, Hurricane Melissa left villages cut off, destroyed roads, and thousands of uninhabitable homes in its wake.
However, the leadership prefers to emphasize that "everything is under control," that "no one has been left helpless," and that the evacuees "are being well taken care of."
That speech, repeated every time a cyclone strikes, attempts to uphold an image of efficiency that crumbles in the face of evidence: the Cuban population confronts natural disasters with the same neglect with which they survive everyday life, lacking means, resources, and real responses from the State.
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