Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, national coordinator of the Defense Committees of the Revolution (CDR) and a former spy convicted in the United States, showcased images of a Cuban beach with white sand and turquoise water this Friday, accompanied by the message: "Yumas: What you are missing out on because of the blockade!"
The video, shared from their Facebook profile, shows a Cuban flag waving in front of the sea and includes the hashtags #CDRCuba and #CubaNoSeRinde.
In the description, Hernández Nordelo added: "Cuba, how beautiful Cuba is! Forbidden for citizens of the #USA due to the blockade!"
The post accumulated hundreds of comments in just a few hours, most of them critical of the official.
Users pointed out the central contradiction of the message: Cuban beaches are not empty due to the U.S. embargo, but rather because Cubans themselves cannot afford access to them, with state salaries averaging around 7,000 pesos per month, which is less than 20 dollars.
"Not that the Cubans on the island could enjoy it, worry about that first. Whose fault will it be?" a user wrote.
Another commentator was more direct: "Tell that to the people in the East, who have been without power for 72 hours since Hurricane Melissa, and never received the humanitarian aid that was sold in Havana."
From the United States, a forum user replied: "Here there are beaches that are equal to or better than those, but also with food, good services, good drinks, your car parked nearby for whatever you want, and above all, FREEDOM, something they don't have there. Down with communism."
Hernández's reel arrives at a moment of historical collapse for Cuban tourism. In May, only 30,883 international visitors arrived on the island, the lowest monthly figure in years, according to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
Between January and May of this year, Cuba welcomed 359,491 tourists, which is a decrease of 58.4% compared to the same period in 2025. Hotel occupancy fell to 12.9% in the first quarter, less than half of the 23.7% recorded a year earlier.
Chains like Meliá, Iberostar, Blue Diamond, and Archipelago abandoned their operations in Cuba in the face of the threat of secondary sanctions arising from Executive Order 14380, signed by President Donald Trump on January 29. More than 30 hotels temporarily closed.
The official industry itself acknowledged the problem. A representative from the state-run Cubatur publicly admitted that "tourists are afraid to come to Cuba".
This is not the first time Hernández has resorted to this type of publications. In October 2025, he already shared a similar video calling Cuba a "forbidden tourist paradise for free citizens of the United States", with similarly negative outcomes in the comments.
This Friday, while the national coordinator of the CDR was promoting empty beaches, the Hotel Tryp Habana Libre announced a day pass for $30 per person amid blackouts lasting up to 22 hours a day in the capital.
A Cuban recently reported in a viral video the poor buffet at the Ocean Vista Azul hotel in Varadero, highlighting long lines and a shortage of basic food items, all for a price of nearly $1,000.
Cuba closed 2025 with just 1.8 million international visitors, the lowest figures since 2002—excluding the pandemic years—compared to the 4.6 million recorded in 2018.
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