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The publication from Cubadebate attributing the backlog of over 100,000 surgical interventions in Cuba to the energy embargo from the United States sparked a wave of criticism on social media this Saturday, with Cubans rejecting the propagandistic framing and reminding that the collapse of the healthcare system has been ongoing for years, long before the oil sanctions of 2026.
The official media published today an article citing statements from Altaf Musani, Director of Humanitarian and Disaster Management at the World Health Organization (WHO), who, following a four-day visit to the island, warned that the energy crisis has caused delays in these surgeries, including more than 11,000 related to minors.
Cubadebate attributed the situation directly to the executive order signed by President Trump on January 29, 2026, which imposes tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba.
But the Cubans who read the note did not take long to respond harshly.
"Have some shame, even just once in your life. It has been over 13 years that there are long lines to get surgeries, for radiation treatments, essential supplies are lacking, and other horrors that patients, their families, and health staff endure, who often have to decide whether the little available is for the younger or the elderly," wrote Yanet Pérez Garrido in the comments of the Facebook post.
The user went even further and directly pointed at the regime: "We suffer from a blockade that the government finds convenient to justify its inefficiency and shamelessness. For them and their 'kind,' all problems have always been resolved; they are unaware of illnesses without treatments, of hunger, and of unfulfilled dreams."
Hendris Manuel was more concise but equally emphatic: "This is a disrespect to people's intelligence. What a shameless article."
Another commentator, identified as Yoa Pzm, appealed to collective memory: "But if they were hardly performing any operations long before this. If you didn't have a partner, a friend in some hospital, you were a dead man... Remember, Cubans are smart; most of us are educated and we have memory."
Saylin T. Mora posed the question that the official media never addresses: "And when will you publish an article about the government's responsibility for the poor public policies that contribute to many of the troubles faced by the Cuban people?"
The data supports citizen outrage. The Cuban government itself acknowledged before the UN that by the end of February 2024 — nearly two years before Trump's oil sanctions — there was a surgical waiting list of 86,141 patients, including 9,000 children.
By April 2026, that number had already risen to 96,400 patients waiting, according to Cuban official sources.
The Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, stated that the system was "on the brink of collapse" in February 2026, and admitted during a television appearance that the government would not be able to resolve the lack of resources, medications, and medical materials in the short term.
In that same month, Holguín halted all elective surgical activity and Matanzas declared a temporary halt to non-urgent surgeries, maintaining only emergency procedures and oncological cases.
The pattern of blaming the embargo for the healthcare collapse is nothing new. In December 2025, the Ministry of Public Health had already attributed the pharmaceutical crisis to the embargo, evading any responsibility for internal management. In April 2026, Cubadebate repeated the same formula by citing the decline in survival rates for children with cancer, generating similar reactions.
Díaz-Canel visited the Cubadebate booth in April 2026 and urged its workers to "insert the truth of Cuba," portraying the state media as an "ideological trench."
Cubans on social media make it clear that they distinguish between the recent escalation of the crisis and the structural deterioration that has persisted for decades, and they are not willing to let the former be used to obscure the latter.
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