Related videos:
Mark Kuster, a Swiss citizen and director of the NGO Camaquito, announced on Facebook that he will invest 100,000 dollars in civil structures in Cuba over the next five years, in a deliberately countercultural message posted days before May 1st.
"I am not going to sign. And I am not going to march on May 1st. Not out of indifference, but out of conviction. I believe in actions that truly build. That’s why, in the next five years, I will invest 100,000 USD in civil structures in Cuba. Less noise. More impact," Kuster wrote in his post, accompanied by a graphic image that reads "My energy is for Cuba."
The announcement comes at a time of heightened symbolic tension: the Cuban regime has called for a march this Friday under the slogan "The Homeland is Defended," with the main event taking place at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune—not in the Plaza de la Revolución, due to the energy crisis—expressing an openly anti-American tone.
Kuster, who has been residing in Cuba since 2003 personally overseeing each project, explicitly chooses not to engage in that dynamic and advocates for concrete investment in civil infrastructure as a means of real change.
In other words, it makes it very clear that it aligns with the idea of "doing more," and not with "political propaganda."
The new commitment expands the scope of a direct action trajectory that the Swiss has maintained for over two decades.
In November 2025, following Hurricane Melissa's passage through Santiago de Cuba —which left over 137,000 homes affected and caused 22,000 total collapses—, Kuster promised 50,000 dollars from his own funds and those of close friends to repair homes, explicitly without intermediaries or bureaucracy.
This month it was confirmed that the work has already begun, with roof repairs underway in urban neighborhoods of Santiago. "I am very pleased to say that we have already started: the roof of the first house is currently being repaired. More projects will follow," he wrote at that time.
The initial delay in starting the works had a direct explanation: "The delays are also due to the current situation in Cuba, such as frequent power outages and fuel shortages, which make the entire process more complex," Kuster acknowledged.
Camaquito is an independent NGO, without political or religious aims, founded by Kuster on June 21, 2001, in Switzerland. The name merges "Camagüey" — the province that captivated him during his first trip to Cuba in 1998 when he was 25 years old — and "chamaquito," an affectionate term for children on the island.
In 25 years, the organization has raised over four million euros with volunteers in Europe and invested in education, health, culture, social inclusion, and community sports in Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba.
Among its projects are the repair of operating rooms, work with the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Suzuqui project for teaching violin to children from the age of three, and the ZUTURO program, which has benefited more than 600 entrepreneurs in Santiago de Cuba.
Cuban playwright Freddys Núñez Estenoz has publicly supported his work: "You can say this is oxygen for the regime; you might think it's another colonizer trying to take advantage... I have witnessed the real impact of his work for the people and the community."
The announcement comes amid an unprecedented demographic crisis: since 2021, over a million people have left Cuba, decreasing the population from 11.3 million to between 8.6 and 8.8 million. This makes Kuster's decision to invest in Cuban civil society a direct counterbalance to institutional deterioration and massive emigration.
Filed under: