The Cuban broadcaster and presenter Laritza Camacho once again turned to irony to question the reality of the country, this time contrasting one of the great symbols of revolutionary propaganda —the Literacy Campaign— with the lack of freedoms that, in her opinion, characterizes present-day Cuba.
«First, we declared ourselves free from illiteracy. Then we freed ourselves from everything else, and today we can say that we are a country free from everything that would make us a... free country», wrote Camacho this Monday on Facebook.
The post was accompanied by an image of one of the lanterns used during the National Literacy Campaign of 1961, an object that has been turned into a symbol of that mobilization by official discourse over the decades.
The message, brief yet powerful and thought-provoking, sparked numerous reactions, and many users adopted the same ironic tone as Camacho.
First territory free from everything that can make us free, commented a person.
Another user, who is 80 years old, recalled that when she was a child, she lived in the countryside and used a lantern similar to the one shown by Camacho.
"Right now, we don’t even have that, we are going backwards, where will we end up?", he wrote.
Blackouts repeatedly emerged in the responses. A 42-year-old woman recalled that when she was in fourth grade, her father had a similar Chinese lantern, which was the resource they used to light their home during the power outages.
We have been dealing with this power outage problem for many years, he lamented.
Another person sarcastically remarked that even having a lantern wouldn't solve the problem: "The one who has the lantern doesn't even have fuel."
There were also comments that directly referenced literacy. "And very soon we will have to launch another literacy campaign, time will tell," stated one user, while others questioned the decline they perceive in Cuban education and society.
One of the reactions brought irony to the food crisis: “Today I believe they can declare us the first country in Latin America free of cholesterol,” wrote a user, referring to the high price and difficulties in obtaining oil.
Other comments focused directly on the wordplay about freedom. "Today, after 67 years we are anything but free," stated one user, while another summarized: "First territory free of everything."
This Monday's message adds to a series of posts in which Camacho has intensified his criticisms of the Cuban government and the country's economic, social, and political conditions in recent months.
On August 17, she ironically proposed creating a "new ideas business" in her neighborhood and called on Cubans to come together to remove "the trash that stinks and the one that organizes and lies," blending in her critique both the accumulation of waste in the streets and the rhetoric of the authorities.
Days earlier, she issued a public challenge to the members of the Communist Party of Cuba to explain why Miguel Díaz-Canel remained in the presidency and whether the organization's base could advocate for his replacement.
On August 5, Camacho stated that "Cubans are not happy, and that cannot be hidden", and expressed sorrow that events like 27N and the protests on July 11, 2021, did not lead to a genuine dialogue among Cubans.
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