Amid a regional landscape marked by tensions, warnings, and strong rhetoric, a political event in Guantánamo once again turned to the most extreme revolutionary epic to respond to what the Cuban authorities depict as an imminent threat against the island.
In a clip circulating on social media, recorded during a revolutionary reaffirmation event in that eastern province, a speaker asserted from the podium that if Cuba were the next target following the events in Venezuela, the country would respond with a symbolic "army" risen from the dead.
"It will emerge from the depths of the ocean, the machine gun and the everlasting image of Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán," he proclaimed, before invoking Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro, and the current ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel as part of a continental response to "once again bring peace to America."
The words, laden with warlike imagery and references to deceased leaders, appeal to a narrative that has been used by those in power in Cuba for decades during times of crisis: that of eternal resistance, heroic sacrifice, and an ever-watchful external enemy.
In this case, the message directly addresses the new political climate following the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the statements coming from the United States, which have once again placed Cuba at the center of the regional chessboard.
While outside the island there is talk of sanctions, international pressure, and possible changes in the situation, within the country the official discourse is once again taking refuge in the symbols of the past.
There is no mention of blackouts, shortages, inflation, or the massive migration that has emptied entire neighborhoods, but rather the promise of an epic response led by figures who are no longer present and by slogans that many Cubans have been hearing for generations.
The contrast does not go unnoticed by a population exhausted by the daily crisis. For many, it is difficult to connect the rhetoric of "rapid response detachments" and legendary guerrillas with a reality defined by the daily struggle for survival, uncertainty, and the official silence regarding the most pressing issues.
The video from Guantánamo not only revives the more belligerent tone of the revolutionary discourse but also shows how, in response to every external shock, the power in Cuba chooses to look to the past and summon the dead, while the living continue to await answers.
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