The Cuban actor Armando Tomey published a reel on Facebook this Saturday, urging Cubans on the island to engage in everyday forms of peaceful resistance, invoking the example of Mahatma Gandhi, and warning that the people can no longer wait for external actors—particularly Donald Trump—to resolve the situation.
“Haitian brothers, do you remember Gandhi, who liberated India through peaceful resistance? Well, banging pots is peaceful resistance, burning trash is peaceful resistance, and this way they prevent the bubonic plague from resurfacing in a country as filthy as Cuba,” says Tomey in the video, which garnered over 53,000 views, 3,034 likes, and 542 comments.
The actor lists a range of actions that he categorizes under that concept: going to work without working, stealing from the state, and shouting "Long live Free Cuba!" in the streets.
The most direct message from the reel highlights frustration with the international community. "We can’t keep waiting for others, we can’t keep waiting for Donald Trump to decide, who made promises that he hasn’t fulfilled and has given hope to the people of Cuba," says Tomey.
Throughout 2026, Trump promised multiple times to take action on Cuba — "transforming the island" in March, "a new dawn" in April, addressing it in June after resolving the crisis with Iran — but without outlining formal measures regarding the island.
Tomey also dismissed multilateral organizations as a solution: "The people of Cuba have to stand on their own, they have to fight hard to inspire others, because the UN is useless and it will help the government, not the people. The OAS is useless and political rhetoric is worthless."
The reel concludes with a sly remark aimed at Miguel Díaz-Canel: "People of Cuba, every time you wake up in the morning and greet someone, tell them: Long live Free Cuba! And inside, you tighten your lip and say: Homeland and life! And you push, as if you were cursing Díaz-Canel's mother."
Tomey's call comes at a time of high social conflict in Cuba. The Cuban Conflict Observatory recorded 107 street protests in June —a historical record— with 82 occurring only in Havana, while in May there were 1,311 and in April 1,133. Documented forms of action include nighttime pot-banging, burning of garbage, and barricades: precisely the ones Tomey mentions in his video.
This statement is the most operational in a series of public declarations made by the actor during July. Last Friday, he coined the term "irreversible neurocastrism" to describe the chronic pain of Cubans in exile, and on July 25th, he deconstructed Díaz-Canel's "Cuban utopia" using everyday analogies, labeling him as a "puppet, clown, and abuser."
Tomey, born in Camagüey and a graduate of the Higher Institute of Art in 1981, emigrated to the United States in 2013 due to economic difficulties and a lack of creative freedom. He has been residing in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where he maintains an active presence on social media with critical statements about the Cuban regime.
"The Cuban utopia is more than a Machiavellian joke; it is a deadly cancer that has destroyed a nation, subjecting it to hunger, repression, and hopelessness," wrote the actor on July 25, in what appears to be a sustained line of denunciation that now leads to a specific call to action.
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