Outside the Box Cuba debunks the tale of "different democracy": "This is a dictatorship."

Fuera de la Caja Cuba dismantles the regime's narrative about the "different democracy" with three arguments and demands that it be called by its true name: dictatorship.



One of the members of the collective 'Fuera de la Caja Cuba'Photo © Video capture X / @Fueradelacaja__

The youth collective Fuera de la Caja Cuba published a video that has already surpassed 144,000 views on Facebook, in which they dismantled point by point the official narrative of the Cuban regime referring to itself as a "different democracy," and demanded the use of the correct terms: «dictatorship, totalitarian regime, authoritarian state».

The one minute and 30 seconds video directly responds to the statements made by Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, who on May 10 described Cuba as a "different democracy" and a "free and independent nation" during an interview on 'Good Morning America' from ABC News. He categorically denied the existence of political prisoners on the Island, stating that "there are no political prisoners in Cuba."

The reporter Whit Johnson stated on camera that Rodríguez Parrilla "never answered" the question of what would happen if Cubans could vote freely, while organizations like Prisoners Defenders documented 1,260 political prisoners in April 2026, a historical record, including 35 minors and 142 women.

In the video, the young people present three specific arguments. First, the 2019 Cuban Constitution establishes that the Communist Party is "the superior guiding force of society and the State," which eliminates any independent system of checks and balances.

Secondly, the PCC is the only legal party, which the collective describes as a "legalized governmental seizure."

And thirdly, the electoral process is filtered through nomination commissions linked to mass organizations, which is why "the vote is merely a ratification of the system, rather than a choice of alternatives".

"Cuba is not a different democracy. Cuba is not even a republic. This is, at most, a family dynasty represented by people who speak very poor English," stated a young woman in the video.

Outside the Box Cuba is made up of Karel Daniel Hernández Bosques, Amanda Beatriz Andrés Navarro, Abel Alejandro Andrés Navarro, and Mauro Reigos Pérez, four young individuals aged between 20 and 22 from the Cerro municipality in Havana, who emerged in January 2026 and are recognizable by their red caps bearing the slogan “Make Cuba Great Again.”

Since its emergence, the group has faced a systematic escalation of repression. In March, agents from MININT threatened Amanda and Abel's father at his workplace. The father, Amílcar Andrés Bravo, was pressured to resign from his job and then was "regulated," meaning he was prevented from traveling. The father of the young people publicly denounced the reprisals suffered by the entire family.

On April 25, Karel Daniel's mother was summoned an hour in advance to the National Revolutionary Police of Cerro, and the following day her son reported in a video that they were warned they would "go to prison" if they continued to publish.

Despite the pressure, the group has received international support. Last Thursday, the chief of mission of the United States Embassy in Cuba, Mike Hammer, met with members of Fuera de la Caja and with influencer Anna Bensi, who has been under house arrest alongside her mother since March 26.

In that meeting, Hammer conveyed greetings from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who days earlier had described the Cuban regime as a "failed state" ruled by communists.

The international support for the group is not new. The Argentine president Javier Milei shared a video of the collective in February with the comment «NEIGHBORHOOD PHENOMENON», to which the young people responded: «Thank you, Javier Milei, for inspiring our core ideals… Long live freedom!».

The video from Outside the Box also implicitly evokes the case of El4tico, content creators Ernesto Ricardo Medina and Kamil Zayas Pérez, detained in Holguín on February 6, 2026 and accused of "propaganda against the constitutional order" with sentences of up to nine years.

Medina reached 72 days in detention without a trial date and refused to record the video of "repentance and retraction" that the State Security demanded from him.

The collective closed its video with a direct warning to the regime officials: «Next time, use the correct words. Dictatorship, totalitarian regime, authoritarian state, but different democracy, please. That story is for someone else.».

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CiberCuba Editorial Team

A team of journalists committed to reporting on Cuban current affairs and topics of global interest. At CiberCuba, we work to deliver truthful news and critical analysis.