A report from Azteca Noticias described Cuba as "a country that is in agony," with widespread shortages of food and medicine, prolonged blackouts, and deteriorating public services, according to images and testimonies gathered in Havana.
The piece begins at José Martí International Airport and travels through the streets of the capital where, according to correspondent Rodrigo Lema, the lack of basic goods is evident.
Interviewed citizens indicate that "nothing comes in" to the stores and that food prices are very high, while the purchasing power of the average worker is extremely low. Other testimonies refer to the transportation crisis, the shortage of medicines, and the lack of freedom of expression.
“In hospitals, health is free but there is never any medicine,” declares a young man in front of the cameras. Another person summarizes the situation with a direct demand: “We want electricity, we want food, we want water, and the government pays no attention.”
The report also includes critiques of 67 years of revolution and discourse on utopia, while showing streets flooded with potholes and garbage, and pharmacies where not even a paracetamol can be found to relieve pain.
Regarding the stance of the Cuban government, Azteca Noticias reports its call for greater resistance to face the "difficult times." Resistance that ordinary Cubans no longer know where to draw from.
The dissemination of the work generated hundreds of comments on social media, many of them linking the situation of the Island to the political debate in Mexico. Some users questioned the aid shipment promoted by the government of Claudia Sheinbaum, while others expressed fear that their country, under leftist policies, might face a similar scenario.
The report is produced in the context of the recent arrival of more than 800 tons of food and hygiene products sent by the Mexican government, as well as the establishment of collection centers in Mexico City to gather supplies and medicines intended for the island's population.
While President Sheinbaum has defended these shipments as humanitarian aid, U.S. President Donald Trump has pressed for the suspension of energy supplies to the Island. This has led to a scenario of high tensions and balancing acts for Mexico, which is trying to maintain its historic relationship with Cuba without jeopardizing its trade agreements with the U.S.
The suffering Cuba presented by Azteca Noticias stands in stark contrast to the idealized epic of Cuban resistance depicted by other Mexican media such as La Jornada.
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