A line of pedicabs toured the streets of Santiago de Cuba this Thursday as part of the official events commemorating the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth, who would have turned 100 years old on August 13, 2026.
The video of the caravan, published on Facebook by the page "Ayer y Hoy" under the title "The Most Fidelista City in Cuba – Centenary Caravan for Fidel," shows the three-wheeled vehicles with blue and red/orange canopies traveling in a line along Victoriano Garzón Avenue.
In the background of the images, a building with revolutionary slogans stands out: "SANIDAD ES SANTIAGO CON EL ESFUERZO DE TODOS" and "¡VENCEREMOS!", emblazoned on its walls as part of the typical propaganda landscape of the city.
Santiago holds a central place in the official narrative of Castroism: it was here that the assault on the Moncada Barracks took place in 1953, from its Town Hall Castro proclaimed the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, and in the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, Fidel's ashes have rested since December 4, 2016.
The regime's own press and the late dictator made sure to establish Santiago as the "firmest bastion of the Revolution," a label that the official apparatus relentlessly reproduces on every anniversary.
The fleet of bike taxis is part of a pattern of propaganda mobilization that the regime has employed recurrently, including "anti-imperialist" bike rides and youth marches with scooters along the Malecón in Havana.
The paradox is evident: bicitaxis emerged during the Special Period of the 1990s in response to fuel shortages and the collapse of public transportation, and today they remain a widespread means of informal mobility amid the energy crisis facing the population.
The contrast is even more striking because just days earlier, the government of Havana took action against noisy bicitaxis, confiscating speakers and imposing fines, while simultaneously incorporating them as a visual element of its commemorative events.
The centennial celebrations were not limited to Santiago. The regime declared 2026 as the "Year of the Centenary" and designed a program that kicks off this August 13 and extends until December 4, the tenth anniversary of Castro's burial.
The central focus of the event included the I International Colloquium "Fidel: Legacy and Future," held at the Palace of Conventions in Havana with more than 1,500 delegates from 63 countries, and a main ceremony in Birán, Holguín, Castro's birthplace.
In Santiago, the official agenda included floral tributes at Santa Ifigenia, special morning ceremonies, discussions, and visits to the Moncada Barracks, while the country remains immersed in a crisis of blackouts, shortages, and exodus that are not addressed in the official tributes.
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