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The Cuban regime has launched a new offensive against the independent media outlet El Toque, this time disguised as a "popular denunciation", in a special broadcast of the program Razones de Cuba in which, despite the title, not a single ordinary citizen appeared.
The speakers were Colonel Francisco Estrada Portales, an instructor of crimes against state security at MININT, and former Cuban intelligence agent Raúl Capote. Another political operation wrapped in propaganda.
The broadcast was presented as if "the people of Cuba" were pointing fingers at the independent media, but what actually happened was an attempt to criminalize El Toque through a familiar script involving associations with "terrorism," accusing it of "subversion," and blaming it for the economic crisis suffocating the island.
The repeated script: terrorism, foreign funding, and "war"
For half an hour, Razones de Cuba insisted on linking El Toque with alleged funding from the NED, USAID, and the State Department, repeating the script used since the 90s to connect any critical actor with "the anti-Cuban mafia" and terrorism.
Colonel Estrada even went so far as to compare the work of the media to that of Salvadoran terrorists sent by Luis Posada Carriles three decades ago to Havana, to carry out attacks against hotels in the Cuban capital.
The presenter Humberto López, who the previous week publicly accused the outlet of “financial terrorism”, reinforced the idea that El Toque “depresses the standard of living of Cubans” and that it manipulates the exchange rate to “sabotage the economy.”
Not a single piece of concrete evidence was presented. Not even an independent economic assessment appeared, nor verifiable data, nor technical reports. Only political statements.
The official newspaper Granma accompanied the broadcast with an extensive text that repeats, almost word for word, the accusations regarding foreign funding programs, alleged speculative manipulation of the exchange rate, conspiracies from Eastern Europe, and the idea that El Toque operates as a “media warfare project.”
In the center of the discourse of the broadcast was a narrative that mixed old ghosts of the Cold War with unproven accusations. Raúl Capote, the former State Security agent, took on a leading role in this narrative, presenting himself as the man who "was inside the enemy" and can explain how the medium was "fabricated."
According to their account, Cuban journalists associated with Radio Nederland, an institution that has trained professionals from numerous countries, allegedly received influences from anti-communist structures in Europe. They even claimed that operatives connected to the CIA traveled across Cuba to "hunt for talent" within the emerging blogosphere of the 2010s.
Capote recounted alleged personal encounters with young individuals who are now part of the editorial team of El Toque, who, according to him, were seeking support for a “different journalism.”
His story progressed from meetings at events to visits to his own home, culminating in an anecdote worthy of a cheap novel, featuring an alleged fight on a train in Germany between José Jasán Nieves and Harold Cárdenas over the leadership of the project. None of this was supported by documents, verifiable dates, or independent testimonies.
What the people do see: power outages and a country halted
While the government exaggerates a televised accusation, the reality of the country is quite different. On the very day the propaganda program aired, Cuba faced a power deficit of almost 1,800 MW.
The Electric Union confirmed that the impact has been nearly 24 hours, with thermal power plants out of service, plants paralyzed due to a lack of fuel, and demand significantly exceeding the system's capacity.
In that context, few Cubans were even able to watch the program. Amid the lack of electricity, the precarious access to the Internet, and the fatigue built up from months of crisis, Razones de Cuba was viewed by a minimal audience.
An attempt to avert the gaze
The campaign against El Toque appears just as the government faces:
- uncontrolled inflation,
- a peso devalued in the informal market,
- food scarcity,
- collapsed hospitals,
- mass migration,
- and a power system in critical condition.
The persecution of independent media thus becomes a smokescreen, aimed at blaming a digital platform for the structural crisis caused by decades of inefficiency and centralization.
While the regime accuses, the average Cuban, the true people, continues to light candles, suffering from the devaluation of wages and seeking alternatives to survive.
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