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Miguel Díaz-Canel sparked a flood of mockery on social media this Friday after posting on Facebook that Cuba achieved a "resounding VICTORY at the UN General Assembly", following the reception of Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla upon his return from New York.
The public reaction was swift. Following the leader's announcement and the coverage of the issue by CiberCuba, Cubans responded with sarcasm and irony, reflecting their accumulated frustration.
"We're going to eat victory," "Where is the food that 'victory' brought?" "The only victory they have is the misery in Cuba" and "They turn setbacks into victory" were some of the most frequently repeated comments.
Other users were even more direct: "He went for wool and came back shorn," "A decisive defeat; they really hit Bruno hard," "Just because they let them talk doesn't mean they had a victory," and "Victory... and we are still worse off."
What the regime presented as a triumph was, in reality, the approval of an extraordinary six-hour debate at the UN on the U.S. embargo, held on Monday, with 136 votes in favor, nine against, and 30 abstentions.
That vote neither lifts nor modifies the embargo: it only authorized the discussion session. And the numbers tell a different story: in October 2025, Cuba received 165 votes in favor with only 12 abstentions. The abstentions doubled, representing the worst diplomatic support for the Island in more than three decades.
The cost of the debate was approximately 168,000 dollars, an amount that U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz pointed out could have fed thousands of Cuban children or alleviated the energy crisis that keeps the country in the dark.
During the session, Waltz and representative Jeffrey Bartos discredited the official narrative with concrete data: over 800 political prisoners, the third nationwide power outage in 2026, and the accusation that the military conglomerate GAESA manages a trust fund of 18 billion dollars without a single cent reaching the people.
"How is it possible that there is no fuel for hospitals, but there is for the Castro family's private jet?" Waltz asked at the General Assembly.
Bruno Rodríguez attempted on two occasions to disrupt the U.S. interventions with points of order that the Assembly presidency rejected; in the first instance, he labeled Waltz a "liar."
The European Union also demanded reforms from the regime. Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis was unequivocal: "The serious situation of the Cuban people is not solely due to the embargo. Significant political and economic reforms from the Cuban authorities are urgently needed."
The episode occurs during the worst economic moment in Cuba in decades: CEPAL projects a GDP contraction of 6.5% in 2026, the largest in all of Latin America and the Caribbean. The European Parliament approved individual sanctions against Díaz-Canel and leaders of GAESA on June 18, with 283 votes in favor.
The pattern is not new. Last October, Díaz-Canel also celebrated the results from the UN as "two victories" despite the historic drop in support.
The phrase that summarizes the public response this Friday says it all: "Nothing has changed, nor will anything change."
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