The Cuban journalist Diane Hernández, exiled in Spain, appeared this Tuesday on the program Código10 to refute point by point the narrative that Pablo Iglesias and Podemos have constructed following their visit to Havana, providing concrete figures on the crisis facing the island and documented cases of repression.
Iglesias traveled to Cuba during the week of March 21 as part of the international convoy 'Nuestra América', which transported over 20 tons of humanitarian aid with around 630 activists from 33 countries.
During his stay, he lodged at the Gran Bristol hotel, a five-star establishment managed by Meliá, interviewed President Miguel Díaz-Canel in the Plaza de la Revolución, met with officials from the Cuban Communist Party, and had dinner with the troubadour Silvio Rodríguez.
On the first day of the visit, he stated that "the situation is certainly difficult, but not as it is being presented from the outside." A claim that the Cubans responded to harshly, rejecting the notion that the leader of Podemos downplayed the seriousness of the situation on the island.
Hernández, specializing in audiovisual production and public policy, has been unable to return to Cuba for years. She has not yet met her seven-month-old niece and was unable to say goodbye to her deceased grandparents.
From that personal experience, she responded to Iglesias with concrete data. "They have taken so much from us that we have no fear left", she had declared days earlier in another outlet, summarizing the mood of those who live or have lived under the regime's repression.
The journalist is not the only voice from the exile that has spoken out. Another Cuban resident in Spain, Náyare Menoyo, challenged Iglesias to live for a month in her home in Cuba without privileges, so he could experience firsthand the real conditions of the population.
The controversy surrounding the trip to Havana also extended to other members of Podemos. The party spokesperson publicly defended the regime, while various voices from Spanish and Cuban civil society were increasingly rising in opposition.
The debate about investment in luxury tourism amid the crisis did not go unnoticed. The Cuban questioned the hotel investment while the population lacks food, medicine, and electricity, a contradiction that Iglesias' trip to the Gran Bristol brought back to the forefront.
The exodus of Cubans fleeing these conditions shows no signs of stopping. The Cuban migration in 2025 has continued to redistribute globally, with thousands of people leaving the island in recent years in search of decent living conditions.
In light of all this, the Cubans have dismantled Podemos for its support of the regime, pointing out that the visit of the convoy primarily served as a propaganda tool for the authorities in Havana, without transparent delivery of humanitarian aid to those who need it most.
Filed under: