A post by a leader of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) intended to showcase community work in Tapaste, Mayabeque, ended up turning into a wall of complaints from residents about the lack of water, prolonged blackouts, and the presence of dengue in the area.
Marisol Fuentes Ferrer, a member of the Central Committee and the Provincial Bureau of the PCC in Mayabeque, published on Friday on Facebook several photographs of activities held in Zone 240204 of Tapaste, a popular council belonging to the municipality of San José de las Lajas.
"We work hard with popular participation to seek alternatives to problems and expand services for the population," the official stated in a post accompanied by the hashtags #LaPatriaSeDefiende and #100AñosConFidel.
The photographs show meetings with neighbors and activities in various community spaces. However, several residents took the opportunity to question the authorities' priorities and describe the problems they face on a daily basis.
"Instead of playing with toy soldiers, what they need to do is fix the water turbine, which has already been without water for almost a month," wrote an internet user.
Another commentator stated that the well known as "Caribe" has not been operational for over a month and reported that some areas have experienced serious electrical issues after a transformer malfunction.
A neighbor who claimed to live in Tapaste responded directly to those defending the official activity.
"Are you aware of how many days this town has been without water and not a single tanker has come? Do you know about the areas that have gone more than 20 days without electricity? Have you walked through our streets, which have turned into embankments? I live in Tapaste, I love my town, and I suffer seeing it destroyed and its people struggling," he wrote.
The complaints also extended to the health situation. Several users reported numerous cases of dengue and questioned the lack of fumigation.
"The population is nearly completely affected by dengue, and they are not fumigating because there is no fuel, but there is fuel for that," one of the commentators asserted.
Among the responses, expressions such as "bread and circuses," "lights, camera, action," and "circus without bread" appeared, used by users to question the contrast between the images promoted by the PCC and the problems they claim to be facing.
The situation described by the neighbors aligns with the energy and water crisis affecting Mayabeque in 2026, where power outages have reached 66 continuous hours in Güines and over 24 hours in San José de las Lajas. 87% of the country's water pumping system depends on the electrical grid, so each prolonged outage disrupts the water supply.
This is compounded by the deterioration of the epidemiological situation in Cuba. The Ministry of Public Health acknowledged on Saturday an increase in cases of dengue, diarrheal diseases, hepatitis, and respiratory infections in the country.
The publication that aimed to highlight "popular participation" in Tapaste ended up showcasing another form of that participation: dozens of neighbors used the space to demand solutions to basic problems in their community.
Related videos:
Filed under: