The former spy Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and one of the so-called "Five Heroes," published a series of messages on his social media that, rather than discrediting the protests that erupted in Havana, ended up implicitly acknowledging that demonstrating on the island has a real cost.
It all started when Hernández captured the post of the exiled singer Yotuel, who wrote "Let’s go SAN MIGUEL" in support of the demonstrations on Wednesday night in Havana, to which the former spy added the text: "Come on, do what I didn’t have the courage to do," in a mocking tone.
The message aimed to mock Yotuel for encouraging protests from exile.
However, the phrase had the opposite effect: by stating that he himself "lacked the courage" to do what he asks of others, Hernández inadvertently admitted that protesting in Cuba requires a bravery that has consequences.
In another post, the official was even more explicit: "It's less dangerous to watch it on TV from a couch over a thousand miles away..." he wrote, in reference to Cubans in exile who support the demonstrations from outside the island.
The phrase confirms what the regime never openly acknowledges: that going out into the streets in Cuba is dangerous.
Hernández posted a second image with the text: "In this dawn, we have fewer containers for disposing of garbage, and we continue to have less oil than the blockade allows, resulting in more blackouts."
The post directly referenced the burning of garbage containers during the nighttime protests in various parts of the capital, and attributed the fuel shortages and blackouts to the U.S. embargo, aligning with the official narrative of the regime.
The protests that sparked these reactions were the most intense of the year in Havana.
On Wednesday night, there were simultaneous protests including loud banging of pots and pans, anti-communist slogans, container burnings, and street blockades in Lawton, Luyanó, Santo Suárez, Guanabacoa, Marianao, Puentes Grandes, and other municipalities in the capital.
The trigger was the worst energy crisis of the year: the Electric Union recorded a record deficit of 2,113 MW at 8:40 PM on Wednesday, with blackouts lasting up to 22 hours daily in some circuits of the capital.
This is not the first time that Hernández has created the opposite effect of what he intended with his social media posts.
In January of this year, he was already at the center of a similar controversy for sarcastically sharing an opposition graffiti, unintentionally promoting the slogan "Cuba pa' la calle".
The Cuban Conflict Observatory recorded 1,133 protests in April 2026 alone, an increase of 29.5% compared to the same month the previous year, which reflects a sustained upward trend in social conflict on the island.
Yotuel, co-author of "Patria y Vida" and the anthem of July 11, 2021, has been encouraging each wave of demonstrations from exile for months. In February of this year, he called on the Cuban people to take to the streets "demanding freedom, demanding homeland and life," and in March, he responded with similar messages to the protests in Morón, in Camagüey.
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