A video posted on TikTok by the user @jankiel_itako, a young Cuban resident on the island, has gone viral in recent days. In it, he expresses his frustration with the difficult living conditions in Cuba and holds the authorities responsible not only for the management of evacuations following Hurricane Melissa but also for the overall decline that, he claims, the population is experiencing.
"All the deceased, all the injured from the hurricane is your fault too," the young man states in the video. "When you evacuate people, you have to take them to safe places... you are even putting people into caves."
The young man also questions the lack of basic services and the general precariousness of the country: “Cuba is plagued by illnesses due to the blackouts… all the streets are filled with puddles because everything here is destroyed.” In his message, he urges the authorities to take responsibility and demands the right for families to live with dignity: “Leave now, my brother, leave, because the life of a child is worth more than anything else in life. We don’t want you.”
The video generated hundreds of supportive and concerned comments. Many users highlighted the young man's courage for speaking from Cuba about a reality that affects millions of people on the island. Among the most common messages, calls for the unity of the people and the phrase “freedom for Cuba” were repeated, while others expressed fear of potential repercussions.
The young man's criticisms align with the testimonies gathered in the eastern regions of Cuba following the passage of Hurricane Melissa. In the Santiaguero municipality of Guamá, where the cyclone made landfall, numerous residents sought refuge in natural caves for protection, due to the lack of safe shelters and widespread destruction.
In Río Cauto and Grito de Yara, in the province of Granma, the residents reported neglect and a lack of food, drinking water, and medical care, as well as prolonged power outages and a lack of official information, according to reports from the affected communities .
At the Orlando Lara school, designated as an evacuation center in Río Cauto, families with children were housed without sufficient mattresses or food, as reported by a neighbor on social media amid the disaster, relating the lack of mattresses, milk, and basic conditions for the evacuees.
In Santiago de Cuba, family members confirmed the death of Roberto Rodríguez Munder, who was swept away by a river in the La Pedrera neighborhood, an incident that was verified by his relatives and international media, although there has been no official confirmation from the government.
In Contramaestre, another man remains missing following the passage of the cyclone, according to public appeals from family members and neighbors involved in his search .
The government announced the evacuation of more than 735,000 people in the eastern part of the country, although it acknowledged that 95% sought refuge in the homes of relatives or neighbors, according to statements by the Communist Party Secretary Roberto Morales Ojeda .
In the municipality of Guamo, Granma province, more than 2,600 people were transported by train to safe areas following the overflow of the Cauto River, in a joint operation of the Civil Defense, the FAR, and the MININT, according to official reports on the rescue efforts .
Activists and clergymen have reported that the regime has established checkpoints to prevent independent aid from entering eastern Cuba, according to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights . Meanwhile, the United States government allocated three million dollars in humanitarian assistance to be distributed directly through the Catholic Church.
In Guantánamo, a group of residents protested over the lack of water and electricity, where a woman stated in front of a local leader that “the blockade is internal, not external”, alluding to the internal responsibility for the crisis.
The video by @jankiel_itako joins a wave of testimonies that reflect the precarious situation, the lack of governmental response, and the citizen discontent following Hurricane Melissa. His message, recorded from the island, has articulated the feelings of many Cubans who demand accountability, decent conditions, and transparency in the face of an emergency that has left destruction and abandonment in much of the eastern part of the country.
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