Cuba’s President Calls for Unity Amid Ongoing Hardships
Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, delivered a New Year’s address this week, urging Cubans to “unite more than ever” behind the ruling communists as he approaches 67 years in power this Thursday.
Díaz-Canel highlighted that 2026 will also mark 100 years since the birth of Fidel Castro, the infamous dictator who took power through a coup on January 1, 1959. Under his regime, firing squads and labor camps were used to suppress dissent, which, alongside a lack of basic civil liberties, led to significant poverty. By 2026, the situation is dire, with many Cubans struggling to access necessities like food, clean water, and electricity.
Growing shortages of essential goods, alongside violence directed at dissenters and outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, have intensified persistent social unrest. This unrest has lingered since widespread anti-communist protests erupted in July 2021. Human rights observers recorded an all-time high of protests in 2025, with the most recent data available from November, post-2021 protests. Despite international media stepping back from reporting on these events, local Catholic leaders and the Cuban diaspora continue to support them.
Díaz-Canel, often viewed as a mere puppet of Raul Castro, proclaimed that 2025 would signify a triumph for communism. He expressed hopes in his message for the coming year that the spirit of Fidel Castro would guide every effort toward social justice and economic transformation.
He concluded, wishing that 2026, the centenary of Fidel’s birth, would find Cubans united and fighting for their cause. His sentiments echoed traditional revolutionary slogans of “Long live the revolution!” and “Socialism or death!”
A propaganda video shared on his social media included a portrait of José Martí, Cuba’s founding father, whose contributions are celebrated every January 28. However, there’s little evidence to suggest that Martí had any Marxist inclinations or endorsed Castro’s communist rule.
Recent calls for a cohesive support for communism come as Cuba faces severe demographic challenges, forcing many citizens to flee the country, which has led to a spike in anti-communist activities. The Observatory of the Conflict in Cuba reported a staggering 1,326 protests and civic movements recorded in November alone, marking a significant rise in dissent.
The uptick in protests can be attributed to the public health crisis stemming from a failed healthcare system. Once praised in the early 20th century, Cuba’s healthcare has drastically declined, with countless citizens lacking proper medical care. Additionally, recent studies noted that thousands have died from preventable causes due to health system failures during outbreaks of dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, while the government reported a vastly lower death toll.
Exacerbating these health challenges is a growing scarcity of electricity and clean water. Interestingly, just days after his optimistic message for 2026, Díaz-Canel himself acknowledged the country’s alarming degradation, remarking, “This is not just about another crisis. This is an accumulation of distortions and pertinent mistakes.”
One prominent protest occurred in early December in Havana, sparked by a prolonged power outage. Protesters took to the streets, chanting against communism and clashing with police. A local priest showed solidarity with them by ringing a church bell, but was subsequently expelled from the country.
