A team from the Canadian media outlet Rebel News claims that they covertly entered Cuba posing as tourists and, once on the island, spoke with residents about their opinions on the regime, Trump, and socialism.
According to statements made to our editorial team by the Production Director of the outlet, Efraín Flores Monsanto, during the trip they recorded testimonies and scenes “beyond the tourist facade.”
Flores Monsanto and his colleague Alexa Lavoie conducted an exclusive investigative report within Cuba, and they claim to have found “striking support for regime change,” along with accounts of “desperation” over living conditions in the country.
The material describes that, upon arrival, “the illusion was shattered” within minutes and that the journey aimed to document “the real streets of Havana” and everyday life outside the tourist circuits.
Support and expectation of assistance
The video captures direct responses to questions like "Do you like Donald Trump?" and "What do you think of Donald Trump?" in recorded conversations during a tour of Havana and other exchanges with residents.
One of the most striking responses comes when an interviewee answers "Do you like Donald Trump?": "Of course, I love him!" and adds that "people do not like [the] communism" and that "communism doesn't work," referring to decades of government in Cuba.
Other collected testimonies assert that Trump "wants to help us" and that his stance is linked to opposing communism: "He wants to help us, but he doesn't want communism. We don't want communism," reads a series of responses.
The harsh situation
Opinions about Trump are interspersed with descriptions of the everyday situation in Cuba, such as power outages, shortages of food and medicine, low wages, and fear of retaliation for criticizing the government, according to the account of the report itself.
In the material, people state that “today it is very difficult” and list everyday problems: “food… no oil… electricity issues… gas for cooking,” in addition to shortages related to water and hygiene, in a thread of responses that portrays the situation as a general decline in daily life.
The economic crisis emerges as a central theme in the testimonies. One interviewee asserts that “the economy is the primary problem” because “salaries are very low,” while another —who identifies as a teacher— states that he earns 2,800 Cuban pesos a month, which would amount to “around 7 dollars,” emphasizing that “I earn nothing” and that “the situation is very tough.”
In the same context, he provides examples of prices that, according to the interviewee, exceed the purchasing power of the salary: he mentions that "a carton of eggs costs 3,000 Cuban pesos," and describes it as "a person's salary," concluding, "it's not possible."
Supply issues are echoed in the statements: “there is no food... there is no medicine,” several interviewees assert, and they also mention the lack of products in pharmacies and obtaining them through alternative means.
The fear of repression
In that context, the journalists reveal that they recorded conversations “when trust was growing” and that some residents invited them to tour neighborhoods and homes to showcase “the reality,” with the intention of allowing the world to see “the injustices” and the “silent suffering” that, according to the document, is rarely inquired about by tourists.
Rebel News states that many people are afraid to speak out due to potential punishments and mentions that previous protests ended in incarcerations.
"Because in a place where speaking the truth can cost you years in prison, someone has to give a voice to ordinary Cubans. That is exactly why Rebel News exists, to go where mainstream media won't and shine a light on the realities that dictators try to conceal," the outlet maintains.
"The reality on the ground is much more serious than we expected. This is not the image that the Cuban authorities want you to see," the reporters conclude.
Overall, the collected testimonies paint a picture of shortages, insufficient salaries, fear of reprisals, and accumulated frustration.
Even though the regime tries to gloss over reality to attract tourists to the island, the crisis permeates the daily lives of Cubans, and the population faces a situation that many describe as very difficult and characterized by uncertainty.
Filed under: