The former Cuban spy and current national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, published a video on his where he filmed his youngest son explaining a family game designed to cope with the general blackout affecting Cuba since last Friday.
In the recording, made on Saturday night, the boy is seen explaining the game called "balloon doesn't touch the ground," which involves a circle of family members (Hernández Nordelo, his wife, a daughter, and the little boy) trying to keep a balloon afloat in the air without it touching the ground.
"We do it because there is no electricity throughout Havana and we have to entertain ourselves somehow," explained the son of the national coordinator of the "mass organization" created by dictator Fidel Castro to promote "revolutionary vigilance" and anonymous denunciation (snitching) at the neighborhood level.
The seemingly innocent initiative serves the propaganda purposes of the CDR leader, who seeks to portray himself as a "regular Cuban" also suffering from the blackouts. At the same time, he aims to "romanticize," and thus "normalize," the energy crisis affecting the island, presenting it from a more pleasant and bearable perspective.
The video is part of a series of previous posts by Hernández Nordelo, in which he has tried to downplay the daily difficulties in Cuba.
Recently, he published a video amplifying the celebration of an "anti-imperialist neighborhood debate" in Holguín, sharing images of himself in front of a group of people on the street. "There is indeed support for that", responded Cuban internet users.
In October, he encouraged the CDR members to "fight on social media" in defense of the so-called "revolution", appealing for digital activism to counter the criticisms of the Cuban regime. A month earlier, he shared an image pushing a bus amid the transportation crisis on the island, trying to project an image of solidarity and personal effort.
In February, the official press was criticized for trying to romanticize power outages with phrases like "it unites us" and "it brings us closer," in an attempt to soften the harsh reality of the energy crisis.
The video of the new "documentalist" of the Cuban regime is part of a broader discursive shift undertaken by the authorities and official media, which aim to portray the image of a "heroic people" that "creatively resists" the difficulties it faces due to the "American blockade."
In that context, in March 2024 it was reported that Cuban “cederistas” dismissed a group of Canadians in Guantánamo amid a general blackout and a severe water supply crisis.
Examples of this propaganda tactic are abundant. In September 2022, Hernández Nordelo rejoiced that Cubans were looking forward to September 28, the anniversary of the founding of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, despite the shortages and energy crisis on the island.
The recent video by the former spy is part of a propaganda strategy to normalize the energy crisis in Cuba. While millions of Cubans suffer from prolonged blackouts and deteriorating living conditions, Hernández and other government spokespersons try to depict the situation as "bearable" and even as an opportunity for family unity.
However, the reality is that power outages worsen the supply shortages, hinder the operation of basic kitchen appliances, and
In the end, it seems that the real game of Hernández Nordelo is not the "the balloon doesn't touch the ground," but rather keeping afloat, with propagandistic air, the lie that the regime's elite, which he represents, suffers the same hardships as the Cuban people.
But while their balloon remains suspended, disconnected from reality, ordinary Cubans do not just touch the ground; they live in the underground of oppression and misery imposed by the very system itself.
In Cuba, "globo" is also synonymous with a lie, and this one, inflated by the official propaganda machine, will soon deflate in the face of the unbearable reality that can no longer be concealed with tricks or empty speeches.
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