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The Young Communists Union (UJC) deployed its structures this Friday in the Centro Habana municipality to activate the Community Youth Network, an initiative of the regime aimed at reconnecting with a generation that largely turns its back and plans to leave the country.
According to the state-owned Cuban News Agency, the event took place on Consulado Street between Colón and Ánimas, near the Paseo del Prado, featuring recreational, cultural, and educational activities, as well as a job fair aimed at attracting workers for community services and social work.
The event was attended by the first secretary of the National Committee of the UJC, Meyvis Estévez Echavarría, along with the national president of the José Martí Pioneer Organization, Chaveli Arencibia Martell, and representatives from the Federation of Secondary Education Students and the University Student Federation.
The National Circus of Cuba, the Cuban Wushu School, Editora Abril with its magazine Zunzún, the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation, BioCubaCafé, and the Mobile Cinema project of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry also participated.
Israel Rodríguez, set design specialist at the Cuban Circus and Variety Arts Company, acknowledged before the official press that "the situation the country is going through strongly affects the younger generation, particularly children, with threats such as narcotic substances and over-information through social media."
The Youth Community Network was launched on April 7 under the slogan Innovate, Create, Lead and is structured into seven projects with territorial brigades.
Among its most controversial components are the so-called "digital wasp nests," designed to combat alleged fake news on social media and to turn youth communication into a tool for ideological propaganda.
The regime claims that in its first two months, the network assisted over 4,000 vulnerable elderly individuals, integrated 9,000 young people into study or work, and provided care for more than 2,000 pregnant women, figures that lack independent verification.
The initiative arrives at a time of deep disconnection between the UJC and Cuban youth. Surveys from 2026 indicate that 97.61% of Cubans aged 18 to 30 disapprove of the government's management, and 93% state that they would leave the country if they could.
In 2024 alone, 251,221 people left Cuba, about 30% of whom were between the ages of 15 and 34, the segment that the organization is trying to target.
Previous initiatives by the UJC to reconnect with the youth have faced systematic rejection. A summer campaign published on June 28 inviting people to "enjoy and recharge" was met with outrage as the country endured power outages of over twenty hours a day and record electrical deficits.
A video by Estévez about "defeating imperialism" published in June also sparked a wave of mockery, and the "Fidelista thought circles" promoted in Cienfuegos in May were criticized as empty indoctrination.
Cuban citizens are also questioning the budgetary cost of maintaining the UJC and other mass organizations. Elizabeth González Aznar, in a public open letter published on June 21, described them as organizations that "do not contribute anything economically, but consume a lot of the State's budget and resources."
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