The Cuban comedian Reuel Remedios, known as Lindoro Incapaz, published a new sketch on Facebook featuring his character — a corrupt and brash business leader — presenting the new "technical specification" for lunch for Cuban workers: a menu made entirely of marabou.
The video, titled "Let's Eat What We...", has garnered thousands of views and reactions, and in just over two minutes, it achieves what no official report has managed to: accurately portray the double standards of the Cuban system.
The character opens the scene with his usual bureaucratic solemnity, on a phone call: "You know that I am a figure who has always adhered strictly to the quality that defines us in tasks that come from beyond, from right here." He then explains that he went "in the workers' vehicle" to travel the national highway for an inspection of agricultural production, and that this inspection forms the basis of the new food proposal. The justification is flawless in its absurd logic: "All I see is marabú. To the left, marabú. To the right, marabú. In the middle of the highway, marabú."
The menu he dictates to his secretary is exquisite: "Starter, marabú spine. Side dish, a whole segment of marabú. For the main course, the marabú stem. Salad made from the marabú leaf. Juice from the marabú flower. And of course, dessert from the marabú roots." The conclusion of the description is undeniable: "That’s it, that's what we have. There’s nothing more."
But the sketch has a second, equally devastating layer. While Lindoro orchestrates that feast of thorny bushes for the workers, it becomes clear during the same phone call that he has just taken five sacks of rice and three of beans from the state warehouse to take them to his "quarters," although he ends up giving them to "comrade Pepín from the central level," a more powerful corrupt figure in the chain of command.
The scene is not so different from reality: in the first half of 2025, there were more than 163 thefts in state-run warehouses in Cuba, and the Minister of Domestic Trade, Betsy Díaz Velázquez, herself admitted that "the theft in warehouses is one of the problems that cannot be stopped." In June 2025, 197 sacks of powdered milk intended for babies were stolen in Havana del Este. This does not include high-level, "white-collar" thefts, which are rarely detected or reported in the closed-off totalitarian system of Cuba.
The final punchline of the sketch is the cherry on top: when Lindoro asks his secretary for a little mandarin juice, doubt suddenly strikes him. "Mandarin... I need to check, my dear, because I don't think that's a national product. When was the last time I saw a mandarin? There must be mistakes, my friend." The contrast between the marabou menu for the workers and the fruit juice for the management tells it all.
The irony is directly related to the statements made by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, who in March 2025 acknowledged the severe shortage of animal proteins in the Cuban diet with the phrase "we need food, and above all, proteins," and added that "the safest food comes from national production."
Lindoro brings that statement to its logical conclusion: if the only thing produced is marabú, the workers of the company will eat marabú. The marabú occupies approximately hundreds of thousands of hectares of Cuban territory and has invaded a large percentage of arable land and grazing areas.
This is not the first sketch in which Lindoro Incapaz addresses the issue directly. Earlier this month, he published another video about the only diet that works for Cuban leaders, and in March 2025 he also discussed the gasoline crisis in Havana. Other comedians have similarly portrayed the menu of typical Cuban food today with the same blend of laughter and bitterness.
Meanwhile, the United States Department of State denounced that the regime holds billions in secret accounts while the population lacks basic food items. Lindoro's character doesn't need to exaggerate much to make people laugh: reality has already done most of the work.
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