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Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel assured this Saturday that the damage caused by Hurricane Melissa in Guantánamo was "minor" and that the province will be able to recover "with its own strength and resources."
In a post on the social network X, the president congratulated the local authorities and spoke of a "spirit of victory," in a tone that stands in stark contrast to the precariousness and discontent experienced by the people of Guantanamo since the passage of the cyclone.
While Díaz-Canel tries to project an image of control and resilience, the testimonies coming from the province describe a very different reality marked by a lack of water, electricity, and food, street protests, and a growing sense of neglect among the residents.
The government management, presented by the leader appointed by Raúl Castro as efficient and supportive, is seen by many as an attempt to downplay the severity of the crisis and quell social discontent.
Just hours before its release, dozens of residents from the Ho Chi Minh neighborhood in the city of Guantánamo, took to the streets to protest the lack of basic services and the absence of official responses.
“We are desperate. We have no electricity, we have no water, and no one is responding to us. There are children and elderly people here who cannot continue like this,” a neighbor told CiberCuba on condition of anonymity. The protest, which gathered around a hundred people, was dispersed by police and State Security agents.
The protesters also reported irregularities in the distribution of donations and criticized the slow recovery process. “This is a dictatorship; the whole world knows it,” said one of the attendees, while others shouted, “We are not dogs, we are people,” and “How long will this abuse last?”
Although state media such as Radio Guantánamo have insisted that there were no human casualties and that reservoirs reached optimal levels after the rains, images circulating on social media show flooded streets, destroyed homes, and families still awaiting assistance.
The disconnect between the official discourse and the everyday experience of citizens reinforces the feeling that the regime is attempting to downplay the severity of the damages to maintain its narrative of control.
The hurricane Melissa severely affected eastern Cuba, with damage also reported in Santiago de Cuba, Granma, and Holguín. In all these provinces, power outages, food shortages, and the deterioration of infrastructure are worsening the social crisis that was already impacting the region before the cyclone's passage.
Despite the government's attempts to convey calm, the reality in Guantánamo reveals an exhausted population, fed up with unfulfilled promises and a state that once again proves to be absent when it is needed the most.
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