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Meyvis Estévez, First Secretary of the National Bureau of the Young Communist League (UJC), posted this Friday on Facebook a triumphalist message in which she estimated "half a million" participants at the May Day parade in Havana and presented it as irrefutable proof of popular support for the regime.
"For those who dream of different political futures, here you have a demonstration of the strength of our Party. Keep that number in mind: Half a million people in Havana," wrote the official, as if the figure—independently unverifiable—would convince anyone who wasn't already convinced.
Estévez dismissed the idea that Cubans attend these events out of obligation, including a laughing emoji: "In global media, it is sometimes said that Cubans are compelled to attend the demonstrations... to the rhythm of conga." The irony is that, days before the parade, children were taken out of schools in San Miguel del Padrón and Santiago de Cuba to bolster the pre-parade marches.
The event, presided over by Raúl Castro, noticeably frail at 94 years old, took place this year at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Balcony, in front of the United States Embassy on the Havana waterfront, instead of in the Plaza de la Revolución. The move, announced on April 14 as a symbolic gesture by the regime, aimed to stage an "anti-imperialist" challenge in response to threats from President Donald Trump.
What Estévez did not mention in his post is that, the day before the parade, independent journalist Ángel Cuza was detained by State Security in front of his young daughter in Havana, and that at least 18 reporters, activists, and opposition members faced internet cuts or were besieged in their homes to prevent any counter-narrative during the event.
Internet users, however, did not need independent journalists to respond. The comments on the post by the UJC secretary turned into a catalog of popular irony that no official discourse can overshadow.
"Is the Secretary trolling or is it just me?" asked one. "We are a unique people in the world, with the intestinal strength to shout slogans and endure blackouts; we await, with certainty, the arrival of the package and the reload from the empire," summarized another with a precision that few political analysts could have improved upon.
Another comment targeted the regime's most glaring contradiction: "I am amazed at how this government can set up a stage to chant slogans but cannot collect the trash in the streets." And one more struck at the heart of inequality: "Those who ask for sacrifice and resilience live like bourgeois, here’s an example: $1,400 shoes. Just imagine the rest, what they eat at home while children in Cuba can’t even have breakfast."
There were those who proposed pharmaceutical solutions: "They should have provided 2 mg Alprazolam." And there were also those who distilled the regime's political program into seven words: "Long live hunger and blackouts."
The backdrop makes the triumphalism even more striking. Cuba is experiencing blackouts of up to 20 hours or more daily, with a power generation deficit that has remained above 1,300 megawatts. Five provinces are experiencing extreme levels of food insecurity: Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Guantánamo, and Santiago de Cuba. And 86.6% of Cubans must turn to the informal economy to avoid starvation, according to a survey from April 2026.
In that context, the question that several internet users posed to the secretary of the UJC remained unanswered: "To defend what??"
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