“And I also want them to take Canel’s wife, the poorly dressed one, and Marrero, the one with a full belly, who have the people starving. I hope they take them to see if we are happy. Let’s see if we can work and see the fruit.”
HAVANA.- Cubanet took to the streets of Havana with a direct question to the neighbors: “What if they take Diaz-Canel How did they take Maduro?” The consultation took place in the midst of a climate of high tension in the region after the United States military operation on January 3 that resulted in the capture of the Venezuelan dictator. Nicolas Maduro and his transfer to New York to face charges in US courts, an unprecedented event that has provoked debate and international pressure on allied governments such as Cuba.
Among the voices collected, that of a man from Central Havana stood out who, defying the fear of other interviewees, clearly expressed his feelings against the rulers: “Damn, what joy it would give me. And I also want them to take Canel’s wife, the poorly dressed one, and Marrero, the full belly, who have the people starving. I hope they take them to see if we are happy. Let’s see if we can work and see the fruit,” the Cuban expressed before the media’s cameras.
«Children are malnourished, just like the elderly. I want you to have a glass of milk for breakfast. They are starving. There is nothing here. This country has to change, just like Venezuela. “Let hunger and the dictatorship end,” he expressed. While other Havana residents preferred not to talk about politics or respond with “Don’t ask me that,” this man’s comment stood out for overcoming fear and exposing what many think in a low voice.
In the video, you can also see how this Cuban stops a child who was passing by on the street and asks him what he had for breakfast that day; to which the minor responds that “a bread with nothing”. “Let them come and take them away,” he concluded.
Another resident of Central Havana said that he would agree with Díaz-Canel being taken away if no harm is caused to the people: “As long as they don’t do anything to the people, let him leave too. What we are experiencing has to have some sort of arrangement,” he stated, reflecting the frustration and desire for profound changes among sectors of the population.
Cuba today is going through one of the most critical moments in its history, a crisis that several experts consider even worse than the one experienced during the Special Period of the 90s. Unlike that stage, marked by the fall of the Soviet bloc, the current one combines a deep economic collapse, chronic food shortages, prolonged blackouts, uncontrolled inflation and a mass exodus that has left the country without a young workforce. The lack of milk, medicine and basic products hits children and the elderly especially hard, while salaries have almost completely lost their purchasing power. Added to this is the closure of opportunities, political repression and the absence of expectations for change, factors that fuel social desperation.
