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A recognized psychologist warned this Sunday that Cuban society has reached a moral breaking point that goes far beyond visible violence.
Roxanne Castellanos Cabrera, Doctor of Psychological Sciences, published a reflection on Facebook where she diagnoses a phenomenon she considers urgent to address: the normalization of aggressiveness as a way of life in Cuba.
The trigger was the controversial conga from Matanzas, whose chorus "pincha que yo te cargo la jaba" went viral on social media during the early days of July and sparked a national debate about social deterioration on the island.
Castellanos referred to the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, to illustrate his diagnosis.
The work narrates how a group of children stranded on an island abandons all civilized qualities and reverts to primitive behaviors under extreme conditions.
The psychologist claims to evoke her "almost daily" as a metaphor for present-day Cuba.
"The violence exerted by a group subject nullifies reason and individual responsibility, acting as a release for contained fears and anxieties," wrote the specialist, comparing the dynamics of the viral conga to the scene of Simon's lynching in Golding's novel.
For Castellanos, the problem transcends the episodes of bloodshed.
"In Cuba, aggression is becoming normalized as a way to manage life. Metaphorically, it goes much further than acts of blood," he noted.
Everyday language—"struggling through life," "battling"—is, in his view, evidence of this normalization: "Support for any way of 'struggling' through life has also become normalized, because everyone 'struggles' as they can."
The specialist describes how this survival-at-any-cost mentality has infiltrated even the supportive connections among Cubans.
"We must help each other survive, by any means necessary, whether good or bad. It doesn't matter," he wrote, pointing out that "the jaba" —a popular symbol of provision and support— has also become an emblem of a solidarity without ethical distinctions.
The statement comes at a time of sustained escalation of crime in Cuba, documented by the Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory, which recorded 2,833 verified crimes in 2025, an increase of 115% compared to 2024 and 337% compared to 2023.
The femicides in Cuba have reached 34 confirmed cases so far in 2026, marking an increase of 112.5% compared to the same period last year. From 2019 to June of this year, a total of 350 femicides have been recorded.
The Cuban actor Ulises Toirac also commented on the conga video, stating that it "does not show popular joy, but rather the social deterioration in Cuba".
It is not the first time that Castellanos has warned about the social collapse in Cuba. In September 2025, the psychologist warned about the emotional repercussions of the mass exodus, describing a Cuban family as "fractured and burdened with suffering," whose most severe effects fall on children and the elderly.
Now, their diagnosis extends to society as a whole: "It is urgent to place the human being at the center of attention. Because no matter how often it is said that without the economy, living conditions cannot improve, it is also impossible to move a country forward with a society that is physically exhausted and morally collapsed."
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