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The National Bureau of the Young Communist Union (UJC) of Cuba launched an this Wednesday to celebrate the 95th birthday of Raúl Castro, which falls on June 3rd, asking children, adolescents, and young people to record videos, upload photos, and create poems and songs in tribute to the former president.
The text, signed by Meyvis Estévez, president of the UJC, describes Castro as "the steadfast patriot who teaches us to defend the Revolution, with tenderness and with a rifle, with study and intelligence, with a raised head and an outstretched hand," and calls for a "day for the #95DeRaúl" that encompasses "from the neighborhood to the school, from the university to the trench."
The institutional propaganda starkly contrasts with the reality faced by the Cuban people and with the most famous unfulfilled promise of the honoree himself.
On July 26, 2007, during an event in Camagüey, Raúl Castro stated: «We need to produce milk so that anyone who wants a glass of milk can have one». Nearly two decades later, milk is still rationed in Cuba, and now it is not even guaranteed through the ration booklet for children under seven years old.
The numbers tell the story of failure: Cuba produced 1,131.3 million liters of milk in 1989; by 2005, that figure had dropped to just 353.2 million liters, and by 2018 the country relied on imports to meet approximately 50% of its domestic consumption.
While the UJC organizes acts of flattery, the political context adds another layer of irony to the celebration.
On May 19, a day before the UJC's call, The Associated Press reported that the United States Department of Justice was preparing to request a formal indictment against Raúl Castro for the downing of two civilian aircraft belonging to the organization Brothers to the Rescue on February 24, 1996.
In that attack, Cuban MiG fighters shot down the aircraft over international waters of the Florida Strait, killing four Cuban-American citizens: Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.
Raúl Castro was then the head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and the UN, the International Civil Aviation Organization, and the OAS concluded that the shooting down occurred in international airspace and waters.
Senators such as Marco Rubio and Mario Díaz-Balart have been advocating for charges against Castro for that incident for years, and in March 2026, Rick Scott called for him to be brought to the United States to face justice, while Senator Lindsey Graham celebrated the Trump administration's attempt to pursue a formal indictment.
The UJC's call concludes with a phrase attributed to Castro himself: "Yes, it could be done, yes, it can be done, and yes, it will be done."
For the Cubans who have been waiting almost twenty years for that glass of milk, the answer is different.
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