Resigned and aimless, the man reflects the misery that spreads in Cuba.
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 11 June 2025 — A bearded man with thin white hair walks with his shoulders down and a lost gaze. That’s how many Havana residents walk when they go out into the street to make a living, to ’resolve’ things. With resignation, rather than resolve. Buy a pound of the rice they’re short on, a chicken leg, some malanga, if they have the money. If they don’t, the solution is simply to let it go, or to beg.
The man, wearing green shorts, matching sneakers, and a white sweater, all his clothes are dirty from top to bottom. He doesn’t carry a bag, so he hasn’t come to do his shopping. He just walks, seemingly aimlessly. His figure is striking in the middle of San Rafael Boulevard in Central Havana, more or less at the same place as where Luis Robles, the “young man with the banner,” demonstrated in December 2020, before the officers descended on him and he was jailed for more than four years.
The slogan is only four years old, and was invented after the video for ’Patria y Vida’ went viral.
And it is striking not because it is unusual to see an elderly person wandering the streets of Havana with their shoulders slumped and their gaze lost, but because of the red, capitalized letters decorating his shabby white shirt: ’Soy de Patria of Muerte.” I am for Homeland or Death. Although it may resemble one of the Revolution’s oldest slogans, this one isn’t quite so ancient.
It is only four years old, and it was invented after the video for “Patria y Vida” went viral. “Homeland and Life.” Months before it even served as the soundtrack to the historic 11 July 2021 protests, the song by Yotuel, Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno, Osorbo, and El Funky had a host of ridiculous competitors, promoted by the regime in a crude attempt to counter what was already an anthem for Cuban freedom.
One of them was, precisely, “I am for homeland or death,” and was written by the pro-government musician Cándido Fabré. “I don’t stop smiling even if I’ve hit rock bottom,” said one of its verses, set to the rhythm of a son. Nothing could be further from the man who walks down San Rafael Boulevard with his shoulders down and his gaze lost in thought.
The vignette echos the words written just a few days ago by the nun Nadieska Almeida: “On our streets, we see so many fighters walking, saying with pain: ’I fought for this and they have abandoned me.’ They don’t even dare to speak the name. What can we expect? A project that is leading us ever deeper into misery: almost permanent darkness, coal, slow death, suffering, and despair.”
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
