The Embassy of Cuba in Canada released a promotional video in which a senior tourism official claims that the tourism sector is operating at "full normality," despite the prolonged blackouts and fuel shortages affecting millions of Cubans.
“Cuba continues to be a safe tourist destination” and the fuel for flights, transfers, and excursions “is guaranteed,” stated Lessner Gómez Molina, director of the Office of Tourism of Cuba in Canada, in a video released by the Cuban Embassy's Facebook page in that country.
The message, designed as a promotional piece, aims to reassure Canadian tour operators and travelers, the main source market of tourists to the island, while also seeking to mitigate the impact of news regarding the energy and fuel crisis currently facing Cuba.
However, the effect was the opposite, as it unleashed a wave of criticism on social media due to the contrast between the "normalcy" portrayed to the outside world and the precarious situation faced by the population within the country.
While Gómez insisted that "everything remains the same" and that there are sufficient fuel reserves, including from "other partners, like Mexico," the Cuban authorities themselves have acknowledged a critical situation.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines recently acknowledged the shortage of diesel for distributed generation, with thermal power plants collapsed, generating equipment and engines out of service, as well as deficits approaching 2,000 MW during peak hours.
The controversy quickly shifted to the comments section of the video. Some foreign users defended the tourist experience, describing Cuba as a "safe," "beautiful," and "affordable" destination.
In response, dozens of Cubans recalled that this perception is often limited to all-inclusive hotels and tourist circuits, detached from the blackouts lasting over 12 hours, the lack of transportation, food shortages, and the collapse of basic services.
"The fuel that is not secured is the one that the population needs to live," summarized one of the most shared comments.
Others were more direct; they pointed out that while the country remains in darkness, the hotels—with their own power plants and guaranteed supply—remain lit, protected by a system of privileges that excludes the rest of society.
The economic background explains the official emphasis. Canadian tourists account for about 40% of arrivals in Cuba and are a key source of foreign currency for the regime.
Behind that strategy is GAESA, the military conglomerate that controls a large portion of the hotel infrastructure, tourism chains, and the financial flows associated with the sector.
This tourism makeup strategy is complemented by the repeated use of emblematic figures from Cuban sports as a symbolic endorsement of the official narrative.
The regime once again showcased five-time Olympic champion Mijaín López as a face of international promotion, presenting him at fairs and tourist events as proof of “prestige” and “normalcy,” while avoiding any mention of the economic, social, and human rights crisis facing the country.
For critical sectors, López's image reinforces the same logic that underpins the Mintur's discourse, aimed at showcasing icons, hotels, and postcards, while deliberately concealing everyday precariousness, energy inequality, and the military control that, through GAESA, manages both tourism and the foreign currencies that never reach the population.
The image of stability being projected from Canada clashes with increasingly frequent scenes on the Caribbean island, with entire cities plunged into darkness, hospitals operating at their limits, public transport paralyzed, and neighborhoods engulfed in gloom.
Regarding this situation, the Government of Canada updated its travel advisory and on January 15 urged its citizens to exercise "a high degree of caution" when visiting Cuba, due to the supply crisis, frequent blackouts, and the deterioration of basic services, even in tourist areas.
For many Cubans, electricity has ceased to be a basic service and has become a marker of power, with hotels and tourist areas well-lit; the rest of the country remains in darkness.
The official discourse insists on referring to this situation as "creative resistance." On social media, the response has been much harsher, highlighting a collapsed country where the leisure of visitors takes precedence over the daily survival of its citizens.
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