It is alleged that doses of the synthetic drug known as ‘químico’ are being sold on the online platform Revolico
14ymedio, Havana, 29 December 2024 — A theme prevailed over the vortex of rumors in Cuba in November and defined the tone of the comments: total blackouts. Everything, from the alleged militarization of cities to information about protests – confirmed in some cases – had darkness as a backdrop. The intermittencies of the internet connection contributed to the representation of the crisis being even more exorbitant and alarming.
An old myth – that the authorities energetically favor Havana and despise the eastern region – circulated again as an argument for an alleged cruelty against Santiago de Cuba and the surrounding provinces. According to several rumors, electricity returned to the capital faster, to avoid the risk of protests, while in the east the police acted with a heavy hand and more blackouts against the populations that demonstrated.
It was also said that the center, and not only the east, suffered the repression of the Government to “save” Havana. In Santa Clara, for example, it was pointed out that there were only two circuits with power after the total blackouts: the one corresponding to the neighborhood of El Condado – where the neighbors, many of them illegally installed in the marginal areas, usually protest violently – and in which the house of the first secretary of the Communist Party in the province is located.
According to several rumors, the electricity returned to the capital faster, to avoid the risk of protests, while in the east the Police acted with a heavy hand
There were gestures of protest throughout the country, according to rumors. Users reported a graffiti on Cristo de Camagüey Street, between Santa Catalina and Bembeta. The poster said: “Down with communism. The people are tired.” Another sign of discontent was the alleged theft of rails from the Colón-Matanzas railway line, on which several trains have been derailed for months.
Along with the total Island-wide blackout, the passage of two cyclones and the occurrence of several earthquakes fueled the discomfort of Cubans. In the midst of the crisis, it was reported that the telephone lines provided by the National Institute of Meteorology to inform the population collapsed. Others claimed that the blackout and the ravages of both hurricanes caused the disconnection.
Cuba has not lacked international aid in recent weeks, but, according to rumors, the Government uses it to benefit a select few, especially hierarchs and owners of MSMEs related to the regime. The same happens, it is claimed, with hospital resources, which are distributed to the medical institutions of the Army and not to Public Health. As for the food, donated by several United Nations agencies for soup kitchens, it ends up on the tables of the leaders.
The same happens with hospital resources, which are distributed to the medical institutions of the Army and not to Public Health
The life of prisoners in Cuban prisons continues to be the subject of rumors that, due to the isolation suffered by many prisoners, usually cannot be confirmed. Prisoner Nelson Caballero Díaz was brutally beaten by guards in the cells of Villa María Luisa – the State Security barracks in Camagüey – according to several complaints. After the beating, he was incommunicado and for several weeks his family has not heard anything about him. De Caballero is said to have two small children and his doctors have issued him several certificates accrediting that he has been beaten.
Another inmate, also in Camagüey, commented that his hands were amputated and that the Ministry of the Interior turned a deaf ear to his constant requests for medical assistance. Finally, there was talk of the death of a prisoner in Ariza prison, in Cienfuegos, after being beaten by seven policemen.
The information about violent events of which the Police rarely offer an official version also follow. In Camagüey, according to several users, a man who was looking after a house was killed to steal the valuables of the property. The case of an 18-year-old who assaulted a Basic High School student, took her phone at knife point and fled was reported. He was arrested by the people before the delay of the police.
Minors are involved in some of these events. Two boys are accused of breaking into an apartment in Santiago de Cuba. After being discovered and fleeing, the neighbors themselves managed to catch up with them. According to a neighbor, “the boys were closing the door of the apartment since the oldest warned them that people were not going to be in the house today. Quickly the neighbors heard the noise and went out.” The police put both children in custody.
Some rumors point to an alleged legalization of narcotics in Cuba by Miguel Díaz-Canel, given the ineffectiveness of the police to control traffic
Rumors have multiplied about el químico* [the chemical], the fashionable drug in Cuba, as well as videos of people under its influence. Some rumors point to an alleged legalization of narcotics in Cuba by Miguel Díaz-Canel, given the ineffectiveness of the police to control trafficking. Some doses of el químico, it is said, have come to be sold on the online sales platform Revolico.
Many Cubans have no doubt that the system is giving multiple signs of crisis and future restructuring, for the sake of their survival. According to a rumor, the Cuban Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, is in prison for having revealed the magnitude of the network of illegal businesses he protected. De Marrero, who appeared in several photos with an arm in plaster and a sling, was said to have been beaten by some soldier – probably Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, El Cangrejo [the Crab], grandson and bodyguard of Raúl Castro – for mistakes in his management.
Reality has denied that Marrero has fallen from grace. This month, in front of Parliament, it was his turn – under the attentive gaze of Raúl Castro – to make an act of contrition over the country’s multisectoral debacle.
*Translator’s note: ‘El químico‘ is a synthetic drug based on cannabis laced with other substances and is said to be highly dangerous and addictive.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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