14ymedio, Havana, 22 March 2024 –Standing on an improvised platform in the municipality of Songo-La Maya, in Santiago de Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel snorts at a citizen’s question: “Did you know that thanks to you coming today they painted La Maya a week ago?” The question, launched this Tuesday in the middle of the president’s tour of the East, not only perplexed the public, but also the politician himself, who only knew how to respond with shabbiness: “You know that if I knew that every time I was going to a place they would paint it, I would be everywhere every day.”
The moment was recorded in a video shared on social networks. Seconds after Díaz-Canel’s response, saying he agreed with the fact that one should not do work like that just “for a visit,” several men dressed in civilian clothes surrounded the young man while the person recording the “conversation” assured that they would “pay for lawyers for Adrián, who is already surrounded by the Police.”
The official press, for its part, which gave extensive coverage to the president’s visit to Songo-La Maya and El Salvador (Guantánamo), did not say a single word about the question from the young man from Santiago, while Díaz-Canel’s response was quickly backed up with applause and shouts from the people around him. Those who were furthest from the stands barely applauded.
“Díaz-Canel spoke with the people, who excitedly received him and abided by the principle that ’we have to get out of this difficult situation by working together,’” was, however, the news published this Thursday by Sierra Maestra.
The country’s primary official newspaper Granma also added to the silence, dedicating its pages to collecting the president’s phrases during the tour: “For the people we are going to give every last ounce of energy” and “Imperialism wants to destroy us and we are not going to allow it,” the umpteenth slogans of that type that he makes during his visits, which are no longer directed “to places where things don’t work so well,” as he had done at the beginning of the year, but to show the positive side of the Cuban economy. Tobacco factories that have exceeded their planned targets, textile companies with a majority of female employees, productive centers of “great importance” and units of “great innovation,” are the places that “inspire,” according to Díaz-Canel, and that the Government delegation visited.
“Why don’t they talk about those genuine demonstrations of a committed people, who, yes, are going through difficulties, the blackouts, the food shortages we have as a result of the blockade, but who are fighting. And about you, the students, who are our present and our future and are also committed to this project that together we are going to perfect?” he questioned, while thanking the students “for what they did on Sunday.”
On the new television program “From the Presidency” released this Thursday with Díaz-Canel as host, the president offered the statements that he did not dare to give in Santiago de Cuba or Guantánamo about the March 17 demonstrations. There were “people who chanted counterrevolutionary slogans, some approached the commission of acts with certain vandalism, some contempt, some disrespect for the authorities, especially because there is a lot of media pressure,” he said, and once again attributed responsibility for the energy crisis. and food, as well as the protests, to the United States Government. “They do not accept our democracy, which is much better and more democratic than theirs,” he stressed.
____________
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.
