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The Cuban comedian Ulises Toirac published a lengthy and powerful text on his Facebook profile, in which he dismantles the repressive logic of the Cuban regime and demands the release of all political prisoners as a minimum condition for any real progress in the country.
Toirac opens his publication with a direct thesis: "The issue with 'deterrent tactics' against divergent voices is that they do not solve problems; instead, they exacerbate them. And they multiply them."
And it champions the right for dissenters to exist, whether things are going well in a country or not. "Opposition is necessary," he notes.
The actor constructs an analogy that reveals the contradiction of the regime: if the government claims that the U.S. embargo is unfair because it makes it appear inefficient, then why does it repress and imprison the "very few and insignificant negative voices" if it asserts it has the massive support of the people? "Aren't the massive demonstrations of support a sufficient demonstration of strength?" he asks.
Toirac points out that the lack of public evidence showing that the dissent is acting "in the service of a foreign power" reveals that these are citizens simply exercising their right to think and express themselves: "The frustrating thing is that there is no evidence published of dissent 'in the service of a foreign power.' And that indicates that it is dissent in the service of their own ideas, and as citizens, they have the right to think, express, and defend them."
One of the harshest points in the text highlights legislative and judicial arbitrariness: "There are prisoners serving sentences for defending the current measures of the package! The law is not clothing to be changed with the day."
Toirac demands a concrete solution: "Release all political prisoners who 'do not exist in the country' – something they haven't mentioned for a while. It would be a sign of strength, security, and the establishment of a more plural internal participation."
This report arises in a documented context: according to the organization Prisoners Defenders, Cuba reached a record of 1,260 political prisoners in April 2026, with new arrests characterized by torture, sexual assault, and death threats.
The comedian also criticizes that the regime's officials live detached from the reality experienced by the majority: they have solar panels, air conditioning, food, cars with gasoline, medicine, and children studying abroad, all while denying a crisis that, according to him, is total and visible to anyone walking down the street.
"The people are dying -without drama, literally-, Cuba is indeed in a phase of humanitarian disaster," he writes, in direct contrast to the statements made by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, who dismissed on July 1 that Cuba is experiencing a humanitarian crisis.
And it ends with an image that condenses the everyday degradation of millions of Cubans: "The sheets do not get wet from carnal desire fulfilled but from sweat. A sticky sweat that cannot be stopped, seasoned with the dust and decay that comes from our streets. And we cannot wash those sheets nor revive those desires. There is nothing to do so."
This post is the latest in a sustained critical escalation.
On Thursday, Toirac described the conga of Matanzas as evidence of a failed state; days earlier, he warned that the package of 176 economic measures approved by the National Assembly was "delayed and ineffective" and that the regime "is only trying to buy time."
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