Ulises Toirac sat down with actor Jorge Martínez on the podcast "Everyone Talks" (Cubamastv) and made powerful statements about the crisis in Cuba, the blackouts, and the precariousness that characterizes everyday life on the island.
The Cuban comedian made it clear that he refuses to accept those conditions as normal and summarized his stance in one phrase: “I don't want to get used to a sixth world country.”
"I don't want to get used to a sixth world country."
When Martínez asked him what still gives him hope, Toirac replied with a reflection on the conditions in which he lives and his decision not to resign himself.
"I do not want to get used to living, to merely surviving, or to barely existing, however you may call it. I do not want to get used to being without electricity for 20 hours a day. I do not want to get used to precariousness. I do not want to get used to traveling in rickety vehicles. I do not want to get used to having to walk to save money. I do not want to get used to a country in the sixth world," he stated.
Toirac explained the reason for that refusal: “I don’t want to get used to it because I want, when I can, to live in a normal country, not to have to get used to that.”
"I refuse to let existence be a sum of negativities. They kill me, they bring me down, they make my life a mess, but it's another day, it's another hour, it's another second, and we have to live it," he stated.
The comedian concluded that reflection with a call to make the most of time: "All I wish for everyone is to be aware that the next second may not exist. Don't waste it on trivial matters, my friend. Concentrate, focus, commit to living."
The conversation is led by Jorge Martínez, who has a close friendship with Toirac.
Cuban television, a medium affected by the crisis
The creator of "Do you swear to tell the truth?" was unequivocal about the current state of television on the island: “In Cuba, talking about television is futile right now because there is neither electricity to watch it, nor electricity to make it, nor conditions to produce it.”
Faced with the impossibility of doing television or live broadcasts due to blackouts and connectivity issues, Toirac has turned to writing.
His second book, Locos de barrio. Segundo round, was entirely written on his mobile phone, due to the lack of a computer and constant blackouts. The volume is available on Amazon.
The battle for his vision
Toirac revealed that he is going through a health process that he described as "quite challenging": he suffers from macular degeneration, a disease that affects the center of the retina and which, as he recounted, has already damaged the central vision of one of his eyes.
"I am a guy who constantly lives with the threat of becoming partially blind or, as I would put it, functionally blind, because it would make it impossible for me to read, it would make it impossible for me to write," he admitted.
According to Toirac, he receives treatment with intravitreal injections to slow the progression of the disease, although this does not reverse the damage already done. In light of the possibility of losing more vision, he has looked into dictation tools on his mobile phone to be able to continue working.
Censorship, self-censorship, and freedom of thought
About the pressure he experienced during his years on Cuban television, Toirac was straightforward: “When you are in an environment of terror, self-censorship definitely exists, because you fear for your work.”
Paradoxically, he acknowledged that those limitations also forced him to seek creative solutions and to find some of the "most blown-up jokes" of his career.
He also reflected on intellectual freedom: “When you stop thinking with your own mind and borrow others' opinions, what you are simply doing is becoming part of the herd.”
He added, "Freedom starts in the mind and is the hardest." Regarding the danger of silence, he was equally emphatic: "The most dangerous thing, first for one's mental peace and second for one's very existence, is to remain silent because it will eventually hit you."
An increasingly critical voice regarding the Cuban crisis
The statements add to a series of public pronouncements by Toirac in 2026 regarding the deterioration of living conditions in Cuba.
In September, he held the Cuban government accountable for the electrical collapse and pointed to decades of mismanagement and planning issues.
Previously, I had described Cuba as a maze without a possible solution.
In July, he reiterated the country's decline with a striking image: "it's no longer the light at the end of the tunnel; there is no tunnel".
It has also addressed mass emigration. Toirac has described the Cuban exodus following 1959 as "the worst demographic disaster in the entire history of Cuba".
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