The musician and deputy Arnaldo Rodríguez, close to the government, stated this Saturday that Morón is a city "cultured, educated, full of love," full of patriotism and bravery, in a message that many Cubans interpreted as an attempt to erase the memory of the protests that shook the city just three weeks ago.
The video, published on the Facebook page of the Piña Colada Festival 2026, corresponds to the Second Edition of the Águila de la Trocha: History, Culture, and Traditions, held as part of the XXIII Piña Colada Festival, which was inaugurated on April 2 in Ciego de Ávila.
From the stage, Rodríguez exclaimed: "What a joy today to be able to share the image of a cultured, educated city, full of love, full of patriotism, and full of courage on all social media! Long live the people of Morón!" as the audience applauded and danced around him.
His words are a direct arrow at the protests of March 13, when a massive demonstration took to the streets of Morón after more than 26 hours of continuous blackout, food shortages, and widespread deterioration of living conditions.
That night, the protesters stormed the municipal headquarters of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), set furniture and Castroist symbols on fire in the public square, and chanted slogans of "Freedom!" and "Homeland and Life."
Additionally, a young man was shot -the bullet had to be surgically removed, and at least 14 people were detained, including the 16-year-old Jonathan David Muir Burgos, whose habeas corpus was denied on March 25.
Rodríguez did not remain silent. On March 16, he described the protesters as "anti-social" and "riffraff" on social media, in line with the first secretary of the PCC in Ciego de Ávila, Julio Góngora Casanova, who called them "counter-revolutionary elements", and with the spokesperson for the state program Con Filo, Michel Torres Corona, who labeled them as "beasts that insult and destroy".
Now, with the festival as a backdrop, the musician and deputy for Morón since 2023 is attempting to project an image of a festive and loyal city, while the province of Ciego de Ávila endures daily blackouts of up to 21 hours and has been in a "maximum blackout condition" since March 16.
The contradiction did not go unnoticed, and several comments on the video were harsh: "That's what Russian oil is for, to entertain the people and divert attention from the reality that afflicts them," wrote an internet user.
Others were just as direct: "Up, to celebrate misery"; "For God's sake, without water and electricity"; "What a joke, I can't believe it—without power and hungry"; and "They must have already promoted that singer to colonel."
Rodríguez's strategy is framed within the narrative control pattern that the regime implemented after the protests, which included direct repression, discrediting of the demonstrators, and an act of "reaffirmation" like the one organized in front of the rooster in Morón on March 16.
On his part, the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel threatened that "there will be no impunity for vandalism and violence" and blamed the U.S. embargo for the energy crisis.
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