Related videos:
The Cuban poet Jorje Luis Veleta Mederos published on his Facebook profile the poem "I Don’t Want My Country to be Bombed," a text that uses the language of war to depict the silent destruction that Cuba endures under the regime.
The poem has a strong circular structure: the lyrical I lists everything he does not want to see if his country is bombed —broken houses, streets turned to rubble, children unable to sleep, schools without teachers, hospitals without doors— and then he goes out into the street and discovers that all of this already exists.
" I step out into the street / and the autumn wind greets me, / the afternoon collapsing into spirals of smoke. / I am welcomed by dogs rummaging through trash, / children unable to sleep, / the school without teachers / and a silence deeper than the bomb," writes Veleta Mederos.
The poetic twist transforms the denunciation into something more powerful than any report: what the author describes as a consequence of a military attack is, simply, the everyday reality of Cuba.
The image accompanying the poem reinforces that message: a building in ruins with the "RCA Victor" sign on the facade, two figures walking among the rubble, a blue door that withstands amidst crumbling walls. The scene could be Havana any day.
And the data confirms that it is not a metaphor. Around 1,000 buildings collapse annually in the Cuban capital due to lack of maintenance, humidity, and state negligence. The national housing deficit exceeds 800,000 homes, and in the first quarter of 2025, the government only completed 12.4% of its construction plan.
The schools without teachers described in the poem are also real: Cuba began the 2024-2025 school year with a deficit of 24,000 teachers, one in every eight positions unfilled. In the 2025-2026 school year, Camagüey reported more than 2,000 missing teachers, Matanzas recorded 2,033 vacant positions, and Sancti Spíritus achieved only 68% teacher coverage.
The doorless hospitals of the poem find their equivalent in February 2026, when medical centers across the country suspended surgeries due to a lack of diesel, alongside a simultaneous shortage of analgesics, antibiotics, IV fluids, and diagnostic reagents. Cuba also lost over 30,000 doctors due to emigration in three years.
The power outages lasting between 12 and 15 hours a day complete the picture that Veleta Mederos translates into images of war: dogs rummaging through garbage, elderly people with lost gazes, a faith that "frays like a broken rosary."
The poem is part of a recent trend in Cuban poetry that circulates on social media as a form of protest against state control over traditional media. In March 2026, another similar text, "Where Are the Boys?", went viral, addressing educational neglect in rural areas.
The final verse of Veleta Mederos leaves no room for interpretation: "The wretches who bombard my country / have already conquered the night and terror."
Filed under: