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René Navarro Arbelo, the most iconic voice of sports narration in the history of Cuban television and radio, posted a heartbreaking message on his Facebook profile in which he describes the current situation in Cuba as "a mental and physical torture that accelerates our will to survive and brings us closer to the fatal crossroads: to live or to die."
The text, titled "Cuba Today," leaves no room for ambiguity: "Sadness engulfs us every day," writes the communicator, who turned 80 in December 2025 and has spent decades witnessing and being a victim of the progressive degradation of living conditions on the Island.
Navarro emphasizes the elderly as the group that bears the heaviest burden: "The elderly suffer much more from these unexpected shortages of all kinds." However, his complaint is not limited to his generation; he warns that "younger generations and children will also be forever shaped by these sufferings."
The message concludes with two questions that capture the despair of millions of Cubans: “When will this nightmare end? Will there be sensitive and humane individuals advocating for a true solution to this conflict?”
The publication is not an isolated gesture.
Navarro has been raising his voice on social media about his personal situation and that of the country for years.
In May 2019, he publicly questioned his pension: "Is it fair that after 43 years of working, 38 of them at ICRT, I receive a measly salary?" He even revealed that he had to go out selling bottles and plastic containers to help support his household.
In November 2020, amid the pandemic, she reported having waited six hours in line at a pharmacy to obtain Enalapril, a fundamental medication for hypertension.
In January 2024, in an interview with CubaNet, he revealed that he had sold his car to avoid starving, receiving a retirement pension of only 1,733 Cuban pesos per month. "What can you do with 1,733 pesos after so many years of work? That pension is unjust and affects a lot of people, including many sports legends," he stated at the time.
The paradox is striking: in October 2022, the Institute of Cuban Radio and Television itself awarded him the National Television Award for Lifetime Achievement, the highest recognition in the field, while he was living in extreme poverty.
Navarro's outcry comes at the worst moment Cuba has faced in decades. According to data from 2026, 33.9% of Cuban households report persistent hunger, blackouts last between 20 and 25 hours daily in several provinces, and only 30% of the essential medication list is available in the country.
Retirees are the most affected group: 39% receive the minimum pension of 1,528 pesos a month, less than 10 dollars, and only half can manage to have one or two meals a day.
The elderly in Cuba are synonymous with poverty and abandonment, a reality that the regime itself has acknowledged by recognizing that 2026 would be "a difficult year."
Navarro is not the only cultural figure who has reported this situation in recent months, but few voices carry the symbolic weight of the man who, for nearly five decades, narrated the greatest triumphs of Cuban sports at eight Olympic Games, 11 Pan American Games, and nine Central American Games.
"When will this nightmare end?" Navarro asks. It is the same question that millions of Cubans are asking after hearing him shout "Cuba up, up Cuba," and who today, like him, are surviving on an Island that has abandoned them.
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