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A horse-drawn carriage decorated with balloons, natural leaves, and Cuban flags, with a woman reclining on a green platform while personnel in surgical clothing "attends" to her: that was the image the regime presented this Friday at the May Day parade in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba, as a representation of the "achievements" of motherhood on the Island.
The images were shared by independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada and sparked dozens of ironic and indignant comments.
The Santiago de Cuba parade, led by Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly, took place, as in the rest of the country, under the slogan "The Homeland is Defended," and was dedicated to the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth. The MINSAP block opened the march in recognition of its "work."
The reaction on social media was immediate. "What a clown show, for God's sake," wrote one user. "They make me feel secondhand embarrassment; who thinks of these things..." added another. A third user captured the collective sentiment: "I can't handle these absurdities anymore; the world is moving forward while we're embarrassing ourselves in front of everyone, and to top it all off, we post it on social media as if it's something glorious. I'm at a loss for words."
The most cutting comments came quickly. "That's called creative endurance," one user quipped. "These are the achievements," another concluded in three words. Someone else remarked with resignation, "There are still 70 more years of revolution." And a warning was not absent: "The problem is that we are not far from reality; this is the trailer for a movie we’ll see if nothing really happens in this country, how embarrassing..."
A netizen who experienced motherhood in Palma Soriano was more direct: “Oh, my God, how long will this last? Proud of what? Everyone here knows that a pregnancy in Cuba is not a good thing anymore.”
The contrast between the staged event and the reality could not be more striking. Just two days before the parade, the conditions at the Maternity Hospital in Camagüey were being reported, where pregnant women wait to give birth in hallways without ventilation or hygiene, on worn-out mattresses. The Lenin Hospital in Holguín operates with 60-year-old Soviet surgical equipment, has a shortage of oxygen, and is infested with bedbugs and cockroaches.
Infant mortality in Havana reached 14 per 1,000 live births in 2026, the highest in two decades, a figure acknowledged by the authorities themselves. More than 32,800 pregnant women are at risk due to the fuel shortage affecting hospital generators during childbirth.
It is not the first time that the regime has resorted to this kind of “creativity.” In May 2022, in Majagua, Ciego de Ávila, pregnant women paraded in a horse-drawn cart with the sign "We aim for more." In 2018, in Placetas, Villa Clara, horse-drawn carts were presented as ambulances during the same parade. Palma Soriano 2026 is not an anomaly: it is a pattern.
Cuba recorded only 71,358 births in 2024, a historic low in 65 years, with a fertility rate of 1.5 children per woman. While the healthcare collapse continues unabated and maternal hospitals deteriorate, the regime sets up a scene of happy motherhood on wooden wheels with balloons and palm fronds. "Each year they surpass themselves," wrote a Cuban. It's hard to argue against that.
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