A Cuban activist living in El Cotorro, Havana, preserves a bottle of cider for a purpose that encapsulates the struggle of millions: to open it on the day the dictatorship falls. If that moment never comes, he has asked his family to uncork it at his wake and toast to freedom and to him.
Antonio Quintana Bonachea, 64 years old, a professor, content creator, and social critic known on social media, posted a video on Facebook that has garnered nearly 85,000 views and over 5,000 reactions. In it, he recounts that at the end of the year, an old student and friend—whom he refers to as "a good Samaritan"—gifted him two bottles of cider. On January 1, he opened one and toasted with his family for 2026 to be "the year of liberation."
The second bottle remains intact. "That other bottle of cider that I have saved for when I drink it, or to toast for freedom the day the dictatorship falls," she explains in the video.
The deterioration of his health prompted him to gather his family and give them specific instructions: "If I do not survive long enough to witness the fall of the dictatorship, I want you to have a drink to celebrate freedom and in my memory at my wake. I think that would be a good use of it, wouldn't you agree? I hope I can join you."
The video was recorded amid the worst electricity crisis Cuba has faced so far in 2026. Quintana Bonachea describes his reality bluntly: “Now they say that the blackouts will be 30 hours for only 3 hours of light.” Unable to turn on the air conditioning, he endures the Havana heat with a small electric inverter and a battery.
Despite everything, the activist tries to maintain hope for the freedom of Cuba. "More than half of 2026 has passed and it hasn't happened yet, but well, there's still almost half left. In other words, I can still see the glass as half full," he says, acknowledging that "things have been getting much, much, much worse."
Cubans who wait, not knowing if they will ever see the change
The case of Quintana Bonachea is not isolated. Throughout 2026, many Cubans have expressed their hope that this will be the year of the end of the dictatorship, in viral videos and messages on social media.
In January, Father Alberto Reyes wrote that many Cubans were bidding farewell to the previous year with the hope that 2026 would bring freedom and change.
In February, the opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer urged not to place all hopes on a single date and pointed to 2027 as a more realistic horizon for a democratic Cuba.
What distinguishes Quintana Bonachea is the more intimate dimension of that wait. The silent pain of one who fears they may not endure long enough to experience that longed-for moment.
Her bottle of Asturian cider stored in the empty pantry has unintentionally become a symbol of what it means to live on the island, sick, without light and certainties, clinging only to the possibility of a happy toast.
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