The Cuban poet and content creator José Martínez, based in Miami, published a reel on Facebook this past Saturday in which he performs a poem titled "No One Flees to Communism", a political argument in décimas and other poetic forms that explores historical milestones of the 20th century to demonstrate that human exodus always points away from communism.
The video, lasting one minute and 28 seconds, garnered nearly 20,000 views and over 1,200 likes within just a few hours, highlighting its resonance with the critical voices in Cuba that are followed on social media.
The piece opens with a premise that the author presents as common sense: "When you see people / escaping communism, / even the simplest empiricism / shows you what is evident, / from the past and the present, / just like discussing cold water."
Since that onset, Martínez, who is also a psychologist and entrepreneur, builds his argument using three historical references. The first is the Berlin Wall: "In Germany, people died / crossing the wall / in search of a better future, / Nino Bravo told it / when he sang 'Libre'," referring to the famous song by the Spanish singer, popularly associated with those who lost their lives trying to escape to the West.
The second is Vietnam, where it notes that "communism prohibiting, / the Vietnamese fleeing, / families separated / and an elite clinging on." The third focuses on the Korean peninsula: the north immersed in misery, and the south displaying "a fair of creation and development."
After the historical examples, Martínez directs his criticism at those who defend communism from the comfort of the free world: “It’s a shame / to hear people in the world / defending the nauseating / system from the sofa. / Kid, go over there / to enjoy the scarcity.” The ironic challenge is straightforward: if they go on vacation in December, “they will never choose North Korea / but rather France,” and they will prefer “a stay / in Lisbon, Venice, or Rome.”
The conclusion is striking. Martínez characterizes communism and its defense as a "carcinoma that has infiltrated the psyche" and concludes that supporting it without experiencing its consequences "is selfishness and wickedness, / because in its declaration / it knows that the population / dies without freedom."
The poem is published at a time when Cuba is experiencing its greatest crisis in decades. Demographers estimate that between 2021 and 2025, more than 1.5 million Cubans emigrated, and that, as of today, the effective population of the island ranges between 8.6 and 8.8 million inhabitants.
This demographic decline is compounded by an unprecedented energy crisis: Cuba recorded an electricity deficit of 2,204 MW in May, with power outages lasting up to 22 hours a day in Havana and 40 to 50 hours in the provinces.
This work continues a series of viral poems by Martínez on social media. On April 26, he published one in tribute to the Cuban fighter "Spiderman", who was arrested for protesting from his balcony. On May 8, he launched a satire regarding the call from Prime Minister Manuel Marrero for tourists to visit Cuba. And on May 16, he published a poem about the CIA director's visit to Havana, which also garnered thousands of views.
Among the comments on the reel, several followers agreed that the poem accurately summarizes what millions of Cubans have experienced firsthand: that no one leaves their country, their family, and their history to live under communism, but rather to escape from it.
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