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In the last 48 hours, Bayamo, the capital of Granma province, has witnessed one of the most visible expressions of the growing public discontent in Cuba: spontaneous protests driven by prolonged power outages, food shortages, and lack of water.
Dozens of people took to the streets in various neighborhoods, demanding immediate solutions and shouting, "We don't want more muela!", in open reference to the empty promises of the authorities.
In response to public pressure, the regime's reaction was felt not only on the ground with the deployment of special troops and Communist Party officials, but also in the digital realm.
In addition to the usual internet outages and connectivity issues on mobile devices, an intense campaign of propaganda on official social media aimed to project an image of calm, dialogue, and absolute control of the situation.
While videos circulated on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) showed residents of Bayamo confronting leaders surrounded by officials from the Ministry of the Interior and the army, several profiles connected to the government began posting images of empty streets, lit streetlights, and phrases like “everything is calm” or “in peace, dialoguing with the people.”
In X, the user Tania María Heredia shared images of an alleged exchange between leaders and residents at the Bayamo roundabout, while highlighting hashtags like #UnidosPorCuba and mentioning figures of power such as @DiazCanelB and @PartidoPCC.
Similar messages were shared by Carlos Borges Oliveros, the communications director of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), and Eduardo López Leyva, a spokesperson for the regime residing in Mexico, who insisted that the situation was "complex, but calm."
"Always the calm on this hot night," Borges wrote, in open contradiction to the testimonies and viral videos showing cries of "freedom!" and a military presence.
A post by the "cybercombatant" Frank Enrique sparked criticism for displaying an empty street with the phrase "Bayamo right now. Everything is calm," an image reminiscent of previous campaigns where the regime attempted to silence protests through a narrative of normalcy.
This is not the first time the Cuban government has resorted to this type of narrative containment strategy.
During the protests of 11J in 2021, the demonstrations in Nuevitas in 2022, and the sporadic outbreaks in Santiago or Guantánamo in recent months, a pattern has emerged: initial denial, criminalization of protesters, repressive deployment and subsequent dissemination of images aimed at conveying calm and institutional cohesion.
Alongside these publications, the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel once again resorted to the rhetoric of "enemy strategies" to delegitimize the demonstrations, and warned that “disorders will not be tolerated,” thereby downplaying the real causes of the social unrest: hunger, blackouts, shortages, inflation, and a loss of trust in political power.
Meanwhile, figures from the government such as Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, coordinator of the CDR, tried to connect with the community through a narrative of solidarity. On social media, he shared an image with neighbors in the dark as a gesture of empathy, but many users perceived it as an attempt at empty propaganda.
In contrast, the images shared by citizens depict a town that has lost its fear, women confronting officials with strong words, and young people capturing every moment with their cell phones.
In this scenario of widespread crisis, social media has become a battleground between a citizenry that demands accountability and documents events, and a regime that strives to maintain an appearance of normalcy at all costs.
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