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In the midst of one of the worst economic and social crises that Cuba has experienced in decades, the state-run site Cubadebate decided to issue a call that, for many users, bordered on the absurd:
"Send a photo practicing your favorite sport...", the media wrote on Facebook, accompanying the message with an image of children playing soccer in the street and a speech that praised how the State has "enhanced" sports from an early age.
The reaction came swiftly. However, it was not the one expected by the editorial team of the outlet.
Instead of happy photos, the comments were filled with irony, dark humor, and a brutal snapshot of everyday life on the Island.
A young man shot without hesitation: "Mine is target practice; but I need some communists to improve my aim!"
"I want a punching bag to hit a picture of Díaz-Canel," asserted another.
Some users expressed that their sports are cooking with charcoal or with firewood.
The crisis seeped into every line. An internet user wrote that theirs is "running after trucks to see what they bring to the store."
An entrepreneur added, "Do queues count as a sport?"
From Havana, a comment turned into almost a poem of daily resistance: "My sport is walking from work to home because there is no transportation, then there's one that resembles chess called 'buy something to eat,' followed by chopping wood, and at night, the little blind hen."
Another was more direct: "My sport is WRESTLING. Wrestling with what to eat, what to cook, how to get to work...".
In San José de las Lajas, someone summed it up in three words: "Race with obstacles."
"I just ran a marathon to buy a carton of eggs. Does that count?" asked a resident of Santa Clara.
"My passion is hunting: hunting for the current so I can cook," said a tunero.
A Cuban from Havana invented a new discipline: "The sport of the moment is apagónball: dodging obstacles in the dark until you find the candles."
And someone else bluntly concluded: "Surviving is my favorite sport."
Other internet users mocked the official propaganda: "The current has arrived: 100 meters flat," "Rowing or aviation," and "Dodging obstacles in the dark... I’m practicing it right now and you wouldn’t see anything."
A Habanero explained it this way: "I practice extreme sports: living without electricity, cooking without gas, going to work without transportation... eating what they give me at the bodega."
And a young man summed it up in Cuban: "My favorite sport is living life to the fullest day by day."
Among the comments, there were also more serious criticisms of the outlet's approach.
From Nueva Gerona, someone wrote: "They are the musicians of the Titanic; while the country collapses, you continue playing as if nothing is happening."
A woman was even clearer: "Are you announcing the country's collapse and asking for this? Do you think today is a happy day? On what planet do you live?"
And a mother of a family shared a striking reflection: "When daily life becomes a marathon... these types of publications are not clever, but disconnected from reality. Making empty humor from an official medium is not creativity: it is a lack of sensitivity and professional ethics."
The flood of comments revealed something deeper than a viral joke.
While the country endures blackouts lasting up to 20 hours, uncontrolled inflation, food shortages, and a non-existent transportation system, Cubadebate acts as if Cuba were in a state of normalcy, inviting people to send in sports photos as if they had the time, energy, and motivation for that.
The problem is not the humor of Cubans—which always surfaces even in misfortune—but rather the complete disconnect of the official apparatus from real life.
Publications like this are not only frivolous; they are an indirect mockery of those who are struggling to survive day by day.
When citizens turn survival into a joke, it is because tragedy has become a routine. And when a state media outlet ignores this reality and pretends that everything is fine, it is not informing: it is glossing over the collapse.
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