The province of Santiago de Cuba commemorated the 67th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution on Thursday in an event where authorities praised the fidelity to the revolutionary legacy, while many residents of Santiago recalled that everyday problems remain unresolved.
The provincial event commemorating the anniversary took place in the municipality of Palma Soriano and was led by Beatriz Johnson Urrutia and Manuel Falcón Hernández, president and vice president of the Santiago de Cuba Defense Council, showed a report from state television.
The ceremony reaffirmed, according to the official speech, the loyalty of the people of Santiago to the legacy of Fidel Castro Ruz.
The staging followed the usual script: uniforms, slogans, directed applause, and a carefully rehearsed speech from the podium.
In his remarks, Johnson reiterated phrases of political commitment and promises of continuity, without specific references to immediate solutions for the issues affecting the population.
The event took place just a few hours after a Christmas Eve in Santiago de Cuba marked by darkness and sadness, as large areas of the city were left without electricity from the afternoon of December 24 due to power outages that lasted throughout the night.
Through his profile on Facebook, independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada described the event as an exercise in empty rhetoric, where “a lot is said without saying anything” and promises are made without being fulfilled.
In his chronicle, he highlighted the contrast between the solemn tone of the stage and the reality that remains outside the event, with neighborhoods lacking electricity, families without basic food, and a population trapped in the constant rise of prices.
Citizen reactions on social media reinforced that distance. Comments reported power outages of over 20 hours, lack of water, children without access to milk and homes in precarious conditions.
Other users expressed fatigue towards what they describe as "repeated political acts" that do not result in tangible improvements, and pointed out that Santiago de Cuba "is falling apart", while the official discourse insists on future victories.
Beyond the commemoration, the event once again highlighted a deep fracture, that of the power expressed from the microphone and a citizenry that perceives institutional silence in the face of its most urgent needs.
In a province that has historically been symbolic for the revolutionary narrative, discontent is no longer expressed solely in private but openly in the digital public space.
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