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A year after the controversial rate hike by ETECSA, the Cuban comedian and actor Ulises Toirac published a damning assessment of the consequences of that measure, openly questioning what happened to the millions collected by the state telecommunications company.
In a post on Facebook, Toirac reconstructs the arguments the regime put forward to justify the rate increase implemented at the end of May 2025: that "third-party" intermediaries were taking the profits, that previous prices "subsidized" the Internet, and that without the hike, it would be impossible to develop technology or maintain the network.
Regarding those mysterious intermediaries, he does not hide his skepticism: "I was told that the problem was that 'third parties' were taking the cut. Some third parties who never told me who they were, who were operating with them and, based on how they operated (well and on time, with the 'offer' based on their offer, without delays in approval...) I think they were very 'close' third parties."
The comedian also recalls how the regime treated those who dared to protest: "I was told that the students were wrong and that they needed to be pressured, turned against one another, and made to get the idea out of their heads because they were doing the enemy's work."
That pressure was real.
In June 2025, State Security summoned Toirac himself for questioning following his public statements in support of the university students on strike, who called for an indefinite academic stoppage at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computing at the University of Havana.
Toirac also acknowledges the passive complicity of those, like him, who paid the new rates without protest: "Those of us who paid weren't really aware and let everything happen because we would have been in trouble if we protested or showed solidarity with those who had decided to stand up."
The central question of the post is the one that hurts the most: "If the service is worse, if the phone barely works, if the data blackouts are greater than the electricity blackouts... Where is all that melon?"
The question is backed by concrete figures. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero acknowledged in July 2025 that ETECSA went from collecting about $10,000 daily before the price hike to $540,000 daily afterward, accumulating $24.8 million in just 46 days. However, the quality of the service did not improve at all.
Cuba remains one of the countries with the slowest internet speeds in the region, averaging just 3.84 Mbps, and data blackouts continue. In March 2026, a total blackout on the island caused a 65% drop in internet traffic, with restoration taking 29 hours.
The May 2025 rate hike limited monthly top-ups in Cuban pesos to 360 CUP, equivalent to just six gigabytes of data, pushing Cubans to pay in dollars for greater connectivity. With an average salary of about 3,000 CUP per month, that option is practically impossible for most of the population.
Toirac had already been one of the most critical voices during the protests of 2025: he questioned the televised appearance of ETECSA's president, Tania Velázquez, and warned about the risk of repression with "measured violence" against the university movement.
Now, a year later, the conclusion is clear: the money was raised, the service has worsened, and no one in the regime has accounted for that "melon."
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