Yahily Hernández Porto, correspondent for the state newspaper Juventud Rebelde in Camagüey, published a direct mockery of Cubans protesting against the regime on her Facebook account, taking advantage of the July 26 celebrations to ridicule those demanding change from the streets.
"Let the Apátridas suffer! For the couch liberators, the pro-Yankees, the apátridas, and the imperialist scum: Here I am in a revolt for 7/26," the journalist wrote, accompanied by four laughing emojis.
Hernández Porto attended the provincial event held at the Casino Campestre in Camagüey, described by her as "the largest urban park in Cuba," where the regime commemorated the 73rd anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and paid tribute to the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth.
"The meeting becomes fraternal and rebellious, historic and exciting, Cuban and mambisa. We want you ¡Patria o Muerte! ¡Venceremos!," he stressed.
The publication is not an isolated incident for this journalist.
In March 2026, Hernández Porto had already faced criticism for presenting the reverbero—an improvised emergency kitchen—as a "symbol of domestic resistance," instead of acknowledging it as evidence of the energy crisis faced by the population.
The sarcasm of the official correspondent contrasts sharply with a reality that the regime itself cannot entirely hide: Cuba is experiencing its worst crisis since the Special Period, with an electrical system operating at a deficit of between 1,780 and 2,215 MW and blackouts lasting more than 30 consecutive hours in some areas, simultaneously affecting over 70% of the country.
In that context, popular protests have reached unprecedented levels.
The Cuban Conflict Observatory recorded 107 street protests in June, a historic record, while Cubalex raised the figure to 253 protests and 319 repressive events during the same month.
The slogans have evolved from demanding electricity to calling for freedom and the end of the dictatorship, while the regime's response has included militarization, arrests, and internet blackouts.
Hernández Porto's mockery fits into a broader pattern of official propaganda that stands in stark contrast to reality.
The national central event of July 26 was assigned to Pinar del Río, a decision that generated massive outrage on social media because the province is facing blackouts of over 20 hours a day, more than 40,000 families without housing, and only 63% of the damage from Hurricane Ian addressed.
In Matanzas, the first secretary of the PCC, Mario Sabines Lorenzo, celebrated that his province was declared "Outstanding" in the Moncadista emulation while acknowledging in his speech that "sometimes circuits in our province experience 50, 60 hours of electricity outages." The reaction on social media was immediate: "Outstanding Matanzas, in the blackouts!", users responded sarcastically.
The municipality of Holguín, designated as the provincial headquarters for July 26th despite its residents receiving barely three hours of electricity for every 39 or 40 hours of blackout, generated a similar reaction: “What are the accomplishments? No electricity, no water, they don’t collect the trash, for these reasons we earned the headquarters,” wrote a user on social media.
While the state media celebrates events and launches slogans of "Homeland or Death! We Will Overcome!", the Cuban economy has contracted between 15% and 23% since 2019, the dollar exceeds 600 pesos in the informal market, and more than a million Cubans have left the Island since 2021.
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