Robberies, corruption of public officials, violence in the streets and consumption of ’chemicals’ continue to dominate Cubans’ conversations on social networks
14ymedio, Havana, 11 March 2025 — Rumors about child kidnappings in several Cuban cities – especially in Cárdenas (Matanzas) and Havana – caused such a stir that the regime’s main spokesman, Humberto López, dedicated a broadcast of his program Hacemos Cuba [We Do Cuba] to denying them. Fear had spread through “chains, messages and audios” with the same warning: “It’s not a lie.”
“A van comes, takes the children; there is a gang of drug traffickers; they take the children to Mexico; there is a person on the corner of the school who grabs the child and takes him away, he has a knife,” said López. An official from the Ministry of Education, in charge of “special activities,” and a member of the national Prosecutor’s Office appeared to give an account of their departments’ investigation into the rumor. “It is totally false,” they agreed.
The rumor circulated insistently in the Havana neighborhood of Mantilla, where a family recorded a video as an emergency call. López accused the parents of “public disorder” aggravated by appearing with their daughter in front of the cameras. “It was a total manipulation,” said the official, who said she is aware of what happens in the “11,000 educational institutions and what is generated there.”
Lopez accused the parents of “public disorder” aggravated by appearing with their daughter in front of the cameras
In Arroyo Naranjo (Havana), it was said that the main targets of the kidnappers were families who received remittances from abroad and who could pay a ransom in dollars.
Lopez speculated that the rumor might have originated in “processes that may be occurring” in environments “close to the school,” but that have nothing to do with it. The prosecutor went further: spreading rumors of this nature “constitutes a crime.” The “instigators,” the program concluded, invented the rumor “maliciously” and out of nowhere, to damage the population’s trust in the Government.
A considerable part of the rumors collected during February refer to the increase in robberies. In Arroyo Naranjo, a rumor describes the capture, by the neighbors themselves, of a mobile phone thief. The stories of popular captures demonstrate, according to the users who publish them, the inaction of the Police in response to complaints.
One of the variants of the rumors about thefts is those that have to do with the corruption of officers who, in complicity with the thieves, allow the “disappearance” of resources. This is the case of an officer of the Confiscation Department, married to a state miller, who had organized an illegal sale of rice in Los Palacios (Pinar del Río). When they had problems, the police interceded on behalf of her husband with his colleagues.
Several comments claim that tensions are increasing between members of the regime’s leadership.
There are also reports of fraud. A teacher identified by several users as Yemen Royo is dedicated to selling her students review work and other types of exams for 3,000 pesos. Royo works at the Manuel Mendive pre-university in Santiago de Cuba.
Rumors have been multiplying for months about the consumption of el químico [the chemical], insecurity and violence on the streets of the island. In Centro Habana, a user reported that a female doctor, retired years ago, makes a living by begging. On the other hand, a three-year-old child died allegedly due to a lack of oxygen, after arriving at the Antonio Guiteras neighborhood polyclinic in Havana with an asthma attack.
Several comments claim that tensions are increasing among members of the regime’s leadership. One user claims that the “lack of control” of Fidel Castro’s grandson, Sandro Castro – who is said to post “likes” on Donald Trump’s posts – is one of those symptoms of a rupture. Another explains that the protest by activist Carlos Lazo, from Puentes de Amor, about the impossibility of entering Cuban pediatric hospitals, is another sign that the “revolutionary unity” has little time left.
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