A graffiti painted on the facade of a Cuban church, accusing the priest of not distributing donations properly, prompted a strong response from independent journalist Adrián Martínez Cádiz, correspondent in Havana for the Catholic media EWTN, who published a reflection titled "The Wrong Wall" on Facebook.
The text painted on the exterior wall of the temple read: "FASCIST CURATE DISTRIBUTES THE DONATION WELL," complete with a spelling mistake.
The incident occurred during the distribution of humanitarian aid funded by the United States, whose delivery to families began on July 22 in Bejucal and Alquízar, in Matabeque.
Martínez Cádiz firmly rejected both the vandalism and the accusation against the priest, noting that the frustration of those who were not selected as beneficiaries was being directed at the wrong target.
"We have been living with the world turned upside down for so long that some dare to complain to the one distributing aid, but remain silent in front of the power that left an entire country in need of that aid," he wrote.
The correspondent explained that Cáritas Cuba applies objective vulnerability criteria established by the donor: elderly individuals living alone, pregnant women or nursing mothers, people with disabilities or who are bedridden, and families with young children at risk, identified through home visits.
"It is not asked who goes to mass," nor did the priests "make a list of friends and acquaintances," Martínez stated.
He also underscored a key difference with the regime's mechanisms: "At least the modules are not sold in hard currency stores."
The social tension has a clear background: Cáritas Cuba publicly acknowledged that the aid will not be enough for everyone, in a country of over 11 million inhabitants. The program aims to benefit between 100,000 and 120,000 families.
In response to those who direct their anger at the Church, Martínez Cádiz raised the question that many wish to avoid: "Shouldn't we be much more scandalized that millions of Cubans depend on foreign donations to obtain rice, beans, soap, toothpaste, or a lamp to cope with the blackouts?"
And he emphasizes: "The Church did not create this misery (...) The culprit is a system that, after more than six decades of dictatorship, has turned daily survival into a race for food, medicine, and electricity."
The journalist also recalled the history of the ecclesiastical organization: "Cáritas Cuba did not arrive this week with the arrival of these modules. It has been working across the island for over three decades, often with minimal resources."
Martínez Cádiz, who was fined by the regime in 2022 for his social media posts, clarified that those who attack those who help but stay silent in the face of those who impoverish are not defending the people; rather, they are cowardly misidentifying the enemy.
And he concluded his text with a phrase that summarizes the core of his argument: "Do not defile the wall of the church; write, if you dare, on the walls of the dictatorship that turned Cuba into a nation of the needy."
The first shipment of humanitarian aid from the United States -18 tons on a flight from Miami- landed last Tuesday at José Martí International Airport.
The total package amounts to 100 million dollars: 60 million managed by the Catholic Church -through Caritas Cuba and Catholic Relief Services- and 40 million by independent non-governmental organizations, explicitly designed to exclude the Cuban regime from any involvement.
On Saturday, Mike Hammer, mission chief of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, visited beneficiary families in Bejucal to verify the arrival of the aid packages.
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