The Cuban rapper and songwriter Jotabarrioz published a public denunciation on Facebook this Wednesday regarding the response that Miguel Díaz-Canel gave when asked if Cuba can emerge from the crisis, deeming it "vague and inaccurate" and pointing out that the most serious issue is not the crisis itself, but the complete lack of solutions from those who govern the country.
The trigger was an interview that Díaz-Canel gave to RT en Español on July 20, in which he responded to a question about overcoming the crisis with a quote attributed to writer Eduardo Galeano: "The utopia is on the horizon... What is utopia for? To walk. I would say that hope is the same." The response sparked a wave of criticism on social media and among Cuban public figures.
Jotabarrioz, the stage name of Jesús Andrés Barrios Sánchez, reacted to a post on Facebook in which he warned that the very word utopia reveals the essence of the official message: «It should be understood that the word utopia signifies a 'dream that is very difficult or almost impossible to fulfill.' In response to this very necessary question posed to Miguel Díaz-Canel, his answer was a vague and imprecise phrase.»
For the artist, the presidential metaphor is not a minor detail, but rather the confirmation of something deeper and more painful: "The problem is not the crisis itself; it is the lack of answers and solutions from those who govern the country. If we are so tormented by the absence of basically EVERYTHING, even worse is the total DESPAIR in which we are immersed."
Jotabarrioz rejected the official discourse that, in his view, distorts reality with euphemisms: "These are not times for poetic phrases, ideological postures, or for continuing to romanticize the deep misery we are immersed in. These are not times to keep confusing resistance with stagnation, sovereignty with stubbornness, or resilience with mere survival."
The musician, who has served as the host of the program Cuerda Viva on Cuban state television, was direct in demanding what he considers basic rights: "I don't want a utopia. I want the achievable dream of living up to my capabilities. I want a country where having food, water, and electricity is not a luxury nor defines my social class."
He described the everyday life in Cuba with images that summarize the degradation of daily existence: "I want a country that allows me to design my projects without the burden of worrying about finding food each day like a caveman, or deciphering codes to know when I get two hours of electricity."
The publication comes amid the worst energy crisis in Cuba in decades: in May 2026, the country recorded a record electrical deficit of 2,174 MW, with up to 70% of the territory without electricity simultaneously. In July, 106 distributed generation plants remain shut down due to a lack of fuel.
Díaz-Canel himself acknowledged in that same interview that it had been six months since a fuel ship arrived in Cuba, except for one from Russia, and that the island produces only 40,000 barrels of oil per day when it needs between 90,000 and 110,000 to sustain its economy.
The voice of Jotabarrioz joins others who have responded harshly to the presidential metaphor. The intellectual Alina Bárbara López —under house arrest since June 2024— stated that "no one speaks nonsense as grandiloquently as the Cuban president". Actor Luis Alberto García Novoa demanded this Wednesday "facts, not promises" after hearing Díaz-Canel's response.
"My heart aches every day waking up to the same day; it twists my soul to see colleagues, friends, people on the street with empty homes and eyes," wrote Jotabarrioz, concluding his post with an image that encapsulates the mood of a generation: walking a thousand steps in worn-out shoes and seeing nothing on the horizon, "only a dystopia of garbage and shadows."
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