Cubans erupt against Díaz-Canel: "We are like the poorest people in Africa."

Miguel Díaz-Canel triggered a wave of criticism on social media after posting a message for Africa Day in which he celebrated the “African heritage” of Cubans, while thousands of his fellow citizens were cooking with charcoal during power outages lasting up to 20 hours.

In his post, the leader wrote that "the courage and joy in the resistance that characterize Cubans owe much to the fierce African heritage, to those women and men who were forced to leave the African continent as slaves and who planted their powerful original culture in Cuba and in other lands of America."

The response from the Cubans was immediate and forceful.

“Oh my God, what things life brings, president. You’re celebrating Africa Day and I’m cooking with charcoal and enduring 20 hours of blackout as if I lived in the poorest village in Africa,” wrote one of the commentators.

Another internet user pointed directly to the contradiction in the official discourse: "Mr. President, African slaves? What do we call the Cubans that you and your regime have kept under oppression for nearly seven decades, living in extreme misery, hunger, and poverty? 21st century slaves?"

The irony surrounding the medical missions also took center stage in the comments.

"It legitimately condemns the slavery of the past, but it sells current medical missions while keeping 80% of the professionals' salaries and prohibiting their return if they desert. Less talk about the past and more human rights in the present," noted another user.

Another was more direct: "Cynical. Africans were enslaved by foreign empires; Cubans today are hostages of their own government. Do not confuse resistance with the obligation to survive their incompetence. What Cuba wants is freedom, not more slogans."

Several comments reported the specific situation the island is facing at this moment. A Cuban warned that the area of Boca de Camarioca, in Matanzas, had been "more than 70 hours without electricity, without water, and without communication" at the time of Díaz-Canel's publication.

This testimony aligns with the data on the electricity collapse currently affecting Cuba: that same Sunday, the Electric Union reported an availability of only 1,133 MW against a demand of 2,700 MW, with a projected deficit of 2,147 MW for peak nighttime hours.

The food crisis worsens the situation. According to surveys cited in May 2026, 33.9% of Cuban households reported having gone hungry in 2025, and 96.91% of the population does not have adequate access to food.

Some commentators also recalled that in Angola, thousands of Cubans died fighting in a foreign war during the military interventions of the Castro era, another chapter in the regime's relationship with Africa that Cubans do not forget.

"No one is celebrating in Cuba. Its disastrous regime of the last 67 years must resign now," summarized another commentator, capturing the feelings of those who responded to the post of the ruler.