The Cuban comedian Mario Sardiñas, dressed as his character Chequera, has gone viral with a reel lasting just 20 seconds, in which he presents the economic crisis the country is facing in his own unique way.
In the clip shared on Facebook Chequera is seen displaying expressions of terror upon finding, as they leave the house, things that are scarce in Cuba: a bottle of oil, a small canister of liquefied gas, and a pipe from which water flows abundantly.
"POV: seeing things from the beyond," is read in the video, a satire on the country's situation.
The actor highlights the lack of a basic food item such as oil, which has become impossible to obtain for many Cuban families, either due to its absence in the markets or its high prices.
On the other hand, the lack of liquefied gas puts people in an increasingly precarious situation when it comes to cooking their meals.
In July, the regime raised the official price of the 10-kilogram gas cylinder to 350 pesos. This measure sparked a wave of indignation among Cubans on social media, who pointed out the central paradox: the government increases the price of a product that has practically disappeared from the state market.
The third criticism of Chequera is directed at the water supply, a service seriously affected by power outages and the deterioration of the pipelines. Official data in May indicated that around 2.7 million Cubans lacked regular access to drinking water, while a significant portion of the rest of the population received the service intermittently.
The video accumulated over 35,000 views on the Facebook page "Chequera Vivir del cuento."
The actor continues a streak of sketches that depict the daily crisis on the Island. Last week, he turned a food tray into an antenna to search for an Internet signal, a clip that surpassed 334,000 views.
At the beginning of the month, he cooked "mop cloth," comparing the current situation to the Special Period of the 1990s. A few days earlier, he quoted three traditional proverbs that have lost all relevance in Cuba: "the shrimp that sleeps is carried away by the current," "water that you won’t drink, let it run," and "in bad weather, a good face."
At the end of August, a reel about the ingredients of Cuban oil surpassed 231,000 views.
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