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The Cuban regime displayed military maneuvers this Friday in the province of Villa Clara, featuring armed militiamen, mules carrying supplies, and an oxcart, images that sparked a wave of mockery on social media for resembling a war from another century.
The "Soy Villa Clara" Facebook page published images and details of the maneuvers carried out as part of National Defense Day, a weekly event that the regime has been conducting since the beginning of the year.
The Army Corps General Joaquín Quintas Solá, Deputy Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, presided over the exercises accompanied by Brigade General Israel Cubertier Valdés, head of the Villa Clara Military Region, and Susely Morfa González, president of the Provincial Defense Council due to her role as First Secretary of the Communist Party.
In the Jibacoa Dam's curtain, units of the Militias of Territorial Troops simulated taking down the crew of a vessel acting as an enemy boat, while other images displayed civilians armed with AKM rifles and a line of mules loaded with saddlebags moving along a mountain path.
The president of the Municipal Defense Council of Manicaragua, Amaury Rodríguez Linares, quoted the historic phrase of Raúl Castro: "Yes, it was possible, yes, it is possible, and it will always be possible."
On his part, Ismel López Martín, at the head of the Zone Defense Council, assured that "efforts are being made to produce local food from the mountainous region with the aim of achieving local self-sufficiency."
The photographs sparked an avalanche of ironic and indignant comments. "The world's most powerful military is scared to death after seeing those images, just look at the mules they have," wrote Yasmani Enriquez, who added in another comment: "I died laughing at the ox cart; it's the 18th-century war they think they're heading into."
Other users pointed out the contrast between the propaganda display and the crisis facing the population. "In the 21st century and these people are carrying things on donkeys," noted Yasmani Santiesteban. Danilo Fuentes-Viñoly asked, "Do any of those 'comrades' know what a military-grade drone or a B-2 bomber is?"
Rudy González was more direct: "Always the same nonsense. When will they start producing food and save the nonsense for another time?"
One comment stood out particularly for what it reveals about everyday precarity: "Thanks to the visit, we got a little bit of electricity," wrote Ariagnelis Cruz, implying that the area's electricity supply depended on the presence of military authorities.
The episode is part of a sustained militaristic escalation that began in January 2026, when the United States' Operation Absolute Resolution captured the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and resulted in the collateral death of 32 Cuban military personnel in Venezuela.
In response, the regime declared 2026 the "Year of Preparation for Defense" and established National Defense Day as a weekly observance.
The pattern of mockery regarding precarious military exhibitions is recurring. In January, exercises supervised by the ruling Miguel Díaz-Canel and Quintas Solá himself generated laughter for displaying camouflaged university students, rusty helicopters, and maneuvers on old motorcycles.
In March, the Sancti Spíritus Military Region was the subject of memes for showcasing the delivery of coal as "care for personnel."
Just four days before the exercises in Villa Clara, Díaz-Canel warned in an interview with Newsweek that Cuba would respond with "guerrilla warfare" to any potential military intervention from Washington, statements that also generated nearly 3,000 mocking comments in less than 24 hours.
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