“This is how Santa Claus arrived at our Camping Playa Blanca [Holguín] where our children were looking forward to”, reads a Facebook post illustrated with a man with a white beard, a red cap and shirt who, in a rowing boat, approaches the coast. The boat, precarious and without visible gifts, has unleashed a barrage of criticism on social media.
The local Holguin television, Tele Cristal, also spread the images of the white-bearded old man who seemed to him part of a laudable idea. “In other parts, Santa Claus enters through the chimney or perhaps through the window; but at Campismo Playa Blanca, in Holguín, this favorite character for children arrives like this…”, the media published in a suspenseful tone.
He immediately reproduced the images of the bearded man dressed in red and celebrated “the good reception that this idea had among the little ones.” However, the reaction of Internet users has been very different from what Tele Cristal and Campismo Playa Blanca expected.
Seeing Santa Claus (or Santa Claus) on a raft in the sea is inevitably associated with the massive exodus that the Island is experiencing. jacket in one hand and some beach flip-flops in the other.
“What I can appreciate is that Santa is also casting, already rowing”
The commentator Dairon Díaz laments that this type of advertising is actually preparing children “for a future migration” and the message that is extracted from such images is that for children “their hopes are in the sea.” Something that coincides with the perception of Dianelis Rodríguez: “What I can appreciate is that Santa is also casting, already rowing.”
“Keep giving the children ideas,” warns Daniel Suárez Galindo, in the midst of a context in which since last October 1, 1,724 Cuban rafters have been intercepted while trying to reach the United States. “Even Santa Claus goes to the yuma,” says another of the Internet users.
The idea of showing the iconic character in this way came from the recreation center’s head of animation, Yusniel Zalazar, according to proudly confirms Campismo Playa Blanca on your Facebook account. A proposal that is unknown if it was agreed with the authorities of the sector, which have led numerous crusades against Christmas symbols in the past.
Reindeer, sleighs, Christmas trees and even garlands have been uncomfortable symbols for official Cuban propaganda for more than half a century. Their presence in public spaces has been prohibited on several occasions and frequent and furious attacks are directed at them in the national press, branding them as consumerists and pro-imperialists.
However, in private businesses and state markets in freely convertible currency (MLC) these days some Christmas decorations have been placed. The rowing boat of a Santa Claus organized by a Campismo Popular entity is not unusual, although it is peculiar in its form of representation. In hotels for tourists the character is surrounded by lights and cider. At vacation spots for common people, he arrives on a raft and wearing shorts.
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