A large shark was captured this Friday at the northern beach of Varadero, in front of 50th Street, according to a Facebook post by Evelyn Francisco Corominas that quickly filled with comments and Cuban dark humor.
The image shows the animal lying on the white sand with four or five men standing next to it, apparently local fishermen.
The author of the post summed up the animal's fate in the comments section with a single phrase: "Just like that, neither tiger nor bull, the poor thing ended up sliced."
The species was not entirely clear among the commentators.
User Silvio Prado identified it as a "bull shark," while Elian Lopez and several others leaned towards the tiger shark, which was described as "the garbage can of the ocean" and "one of the great predators of the ocean, one of the few capable of breaking the shell of a turtle."
But the comment that stole the spotlight was from Hugo Suarez Lovio: «That shark got confused with utopia».
The phrase is not innocent. On July 20, Miguel Díaz-Canel responded in an interview with RT to the question of whether Cuba can emerge from the crisis by citing a metaphor popularized by Eduardo Galeano: "The utopia is on the horizon. When we walk two steps, the utopia recedes two steps. What is the purpose of utopia? To walk."
The statement was received on social media as a veiled admission that there is no concrete solution to the crisis, and it became the target of mockery and satire.
The comment by Díaz-Canel about utopia immediately resonated when the shark appeared in Varadero: the animal, like many Cubans, chased something unattainable and ended up worse for wear.
Evelyn Francisco Corominas added another layer to the joke: "The dizziness was so intense that he preferred a hit with a stick."
Another internet user, Erlinda Arteaga Cárdenas, was more straightforward in her identification with the animal: "Poor little creature. I saw myself reflected in it."
Juan Carlos Martin Muñoz concluded with irony: "Yes, they ate everything. The sharks are afraid because they get eaten too."
The incident occurs in a summer marked by a greater presence of sharks along the Cuban coasts.
This month, the authorities temporarily suspended swimming at Siboney beach in Santiago de Cuba, following the sighting of a specimen approximately two meters long, and reopened on July 16 after ruling out the risk.
In May, the capture of a shark weighing over 500 kg in Baracoa was reported.
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