The Cuban musician and activist Yotuel reacted to Miguel Díaz-Canel's televised appearance with a public message directed to the Cuban people, in which he questioned the official discourse and called for a change of system.
"Cuban people, do not let more lies be fed to you; those people have no future plan for you," he stated in the video. In that same message, he asserted: "There is no future plan for Cubans; under that dictatorship, it does not exist, nothing is going to change."
During his speech, Yotuel asserted that the solution does not lie in new promises or sacrifices. "The only option is the streets, the only option is a change of system," he said, adding, "The only option is you, demanding freedom, demanding homeland and life."
The artist stated that the regime only offers "homeland or death" and that "those people are not going to give anything" to the people. He also accused the political power of benefiting from citizens' precariousness. "It suits them to keep you hungry, in misery," he expressed, describing this relationship as a "malignant psychology that this dictatorship has with the Cuban people."
The message concluded with phrases such as: “This is the street, this is homeland and life, this is over, now is the moment for the Cuban people.”
Subsequently, and in response to comments received after that first post, Yotuel published another video on social media in which he addressed the criticisms related to the fear of repression and the prison situation in Cuba.
In that message, he stated: "In Cuba, there are ninety thousand prisoners; of those ninety thousand prisoners, only one thousand two hundred are political prisoners, the rest are common prisoners." Based on those figures, he argued that there is a contradiction between the fear of confronting political power and other behaviors within society.
“To fight for freedom, they are questioning by saying ‘you come over here, because here the police are’,” he pointed out, concluding that if there had been greater collective determination against the political system, “we would have been free a long time ago.”
A day before Díaz-Canel's appearance, the musician had already published a warning message on his social media. “Attention, Cuban people: critical hours are approaching. Everything indicates a deep collapse of services,” he wrote.
In that text, he urged Cubans to stay united and vigilant. "Stay alert, take care of each other, document everything, don't be alone," he pointed out. The message concluded with the phrase: "Fear belongs to them, dignity is ours," and was accompanied by another post in which he stated: "The dominoes are set! My piece is 2:2."
Yotuel's statements come after Díaz-Canel publicly admitted that Cuba is preparing for “more difficult times” and acknowledged that the country is reliving the hard years of the Special Period, amidst a profound energy and economic crisis.
The presidential message generated multiple critical reactions, including those from the opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer and the intellectual Alina Bárbara López Hernández, who also questioned the content of the speech and the official call for new sacrifices.
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