14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana, December 16, 2023 — Cuba is plummeting, and the first head to roll could be that of President Miguel Díaz-Canel. As he finishes without a single success to his credit, in what should have been his “better year” — he had promised it at the end of 2022 — the rumors collected in November by 14ymedio and Yucabyte foresee a conspiracy to “politically liquidate” the president after the death of his protector, Raúl Castro, which some see as imminent.
Díaz-Canel faces, say several Internet users, is becoming an imminent social outcast. The catalyst for his removal from office, they add, will be the power struggle that will follow the death of the last “historic” generals. The families that make up the leadership will change the rules of the game, and the current president, with no one to protect him, will have to cede the powers that the regime has offered him in favor of new candidates.
Although rumors do not indicate that this “transition” will be violent, they do expect a “large-scale repression” if Cubans take to the streets to demand a change, as happened during the protests of 11 July 2021. Since then, some say, the Government has had time to prepare “exits” to the crisis, which include Díaz-Canel as a scapegoat in the face of popular discontent.
If what is already known as “fraudulent change” does not work, they speculate, the authorities have drawn up a Plan B: the rapid response paramilitary brigades, composed of recruits from the eastern provinces who have been offered homes and work in Havana, in order to guarantee their loyalty to the regime.
The situation – all the rumors agree – is worse than ever, especially in the health and security aspects of both the countryside and the city. The contrast of conditions offered to national patients and the “luxury” services that the Island allegedly provides to foreign “guests” is one of the most talked-about situations in November.
The video of a woman giving birth on a sidewalk, supposedly in Cuba, was shared and soon went viral
The rumors that doctors require pregnant women to have a list of supplies before being admitted to the hospital, or that they are given identification bracelets and documents to give birth in their homes, are eloquent. The video of a woman giving birth on a sidewalk, supposedly in Cuba, was shared and soon went viral.
Meanwhile, the information that a senior official of the United Left Movement, from the Dominican Republic, had an operation on the Island aroused a barrage of criticism. Especially since the individual returned to his country praising the “excellent state” of the “well-equipped Cuban clinics.”
In the absence of reliable information about the drug business, rumors indicate that it is booming. After the recording of a young man convulsed allegedly by an overdose of fentanyl or a similar drug called a “chemical,” several rumors pointed to one of the people who “moves” it in the capital. This is an individual identified as Yasmani El Moncada, who, according to some commentators, works as a police informant. His link with the Ministry of the Interior has allowed this trafficker to survive numerous raids, some users say, as happened recently. El Moncada, arrested during an operation this month, was released two days later. Each gram of the “chemical,” they calculate, costs between 150 and 200 pesos.
Violence and insecurity in the streets of the country continue to grow and give rise to many rumors, which are fed even in the very profiles related to the Cuban police, despite their attempts to minimize the facts. The incidents reported mainly affect rural areas, where thieves campaign for their respect, while numerous robberies in state warehouses and assaults on motorcyclists to steal their vehicles are reported.
Each time, without being confirmed, more armed assaults and violent robberies are mentioned, which end, not infrequently, in the death of the victim. In addition, the rumors describe in great detail several “techniques” of scammers. One of the most “picturesque” is that of a child who pretends to be abandoned on the road. Whoever offers to takes him home will discover that the parents aren’t there but a gang ready to assault him is.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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