Related videos:
Abel Prieto, former Minister of Culture of Cuba and current president of the Casa de las Américas, posted this Wednesday on his Facebook profile a quote from Fidel Castro under the official hashtag #100AñosConFidel, and the response from Cubans in the comments made it clear.
The phrase chosen by Prieto comes from a speech by Castro delivered on May 14, 2004, known as the Proclamation of an Opponent to the U.S. Government, given during a massive march along the Havana Malecón in front of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.
The published quote reads: "This people can be exterminated —it is worth knowing— wiped from the face of the Earth, but not subjugated or subjected again to the humiliating condition of neocolony of the U.S."
The post, accompanied by a photograph of Castro in olive green military uniform with his index finger raised in front of a microphone, quickly received an avalanche of comments that debunked the official rhetoric.
The first to point out the contradiction was emphatic: "It is more humiliating to die of hunger and live off the work of a relative in the U.S. (precisely)", wrote a user, directly highlighting the dependence of millions of Cubans on remittances sent from the country that the regime has been presenting as the great enemy for decades.
Another comment was even more direct about Castro's legacy: "None of what the chief caganer has foretold has come to pass. Cuba has never been free or sovereign, it has always depended on some power. And it never will be."
A third user summarized the feelings of many Cubans with a phrase that completely reverses Prieto's argument: "It is better to be a Yankee colony than to live under the oppression of a dictatorship controlled by a family."
Among the comments, specific demands also emerged: free and democratic elections, freedom for all political prisoners, a free market, and pluralism.
The publication on Wednesday is not an isolated event. In January 2026, Prieto had already faced backlash for accusing the counter-revolution of being euphoric about Trump's executive order, closing his message with "¡Venceremos!". Last Tuesday, a day before this publication, he was again criticized for evoking the death of John Lennon alongside troubadour Amaury Pérez, in what many pointed out as hypocrisy from a regime that banned the music of the Beatles as "ideological diversionism."
In February 2026, the Cuban Julia Elena Jareno Varcarcel publicly responded with words that encapsulate the disconnection between Prieto and the reality of the Island: "Cuba today works for those, like you, who enjoy privileges: trips, positions, access, protection. For the rest, there are blackouts, collapsed hospitals, and symbolic salaries."
The campaign #100YearsWithFidel was officially launched on August 13, 2025 by the Cuban government to commemorate the centenary of the revolutionary leader's birth, with activities extending until December 4, 2026, as Cuba faces one of its worst humanitarian crises in decades.
Filed under: