An official propaganda billboard featuring the image of Fidel Castro was found stained with red paint this Sunday in Cayo Mambí, Frank País municipality, in the province of Holguín, according to independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada on his Facebook account.
According to Mayeta Labrada's report, paint was thrown on Castro's face, "visibly altering the sign installed in the area." The journalist specified that as of the time of publication, it had not been publicly revealed who carried out the action, "nor whether the authorities have initiated any investigation to identify those responsible."
The circulated photograph shows a poster —placed on poles in a vegetated area— with red paint spilled over the image of Fidel Castro, who is depicted with his right arm raised and fist clenched, a typical gesture of patriotic compulsion from the Cuban political leadership that has amplified propaganda.
The color used has generated diverse interpretations among those who witnessed the event. According to Mayeta Labrada, some associate it "symbolically with the victims and the human cost attributed to decades of Castroist government," although the journalist clarified that "it is not known if that was truly the intention of those who intervened with the banner."
The incident occurs just days after the anniversary of Fidel Castro's birth—commemorated on August 13 with a flurry of official events across the island—marking a week of intense propaganda activity surrounding his figure. That precisely in this context one of his billboards appears defaced underscores the symbolic weight of the act.
It is not the first time a similar event has occurred, either as a sign of rejection against the deceased dictator or as a protest or denunciation of the situation on the island. In March of this year, a billboard with Castro's face was defaced with paint in Yara, Granma, in an action documented by the opposition figure José Daniel Ferrer. In Santiago de Cuba, also in March, posters with phrases like “Down with communism” and “Down with the dictatorship” appeared on public billboards; in one of those instances, the regime chose to remove the entire billboard rather than allow the intervention to remain visible.
At the beginning of this year, the opposition figure José Daniel Ferrer and the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) launched the campaign "Paint Your Graffiti", which encouraged citizens to intervene government posters and document the actions on social media. The initiative coincided with a sustained rise in expressions of discontent in public spaces throughout the year.
At the beginning of this week, new posters bearing the message "We want food, electricity, and freedom" appeared in various neighborhoods of Santiago de Cuba, amidst the ongoing economic and energy crisis that the population is suffering.
The Cuban regime maintains an extensive network of fences, posters, and monuments featuring images of Castro and other historical leaders in public spaces across the island as part of its political propaganda strategy.
Mayeta Labrada concluded her report with a summary that captures the moment: "What happened in Cayo Mambí leaves an image that is hard to ignore: Fidel Castro's face did not wake up intact in the official propaganda this time; and the public discontent is increasingly taking over areas that were once 'strongholds' of communism."
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