The show put on by the Castro dictatorship on the communist May Day holiday this year was nothing like previous years. Not because Cubans wouldn’t go, but because the regime didn’t have the fuel to forcibly transport them there. The lack of fuel on the island severely impacted the Cuban regime’s transportation apparatus, which usually buses Cubans in to forcibly march and put on a propaganda show for international media. To avoid portraying an image of a half-empty Plaza of the Revolution, the government moved the event to a much smaller venue.
Via Diario de Cuba (my translation):
Low number of participants in an event held by the regime for May Day
According to Cuban regime figures, around 200,000 people attended an event organized at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune in Havana, reported Cubadebate.
The figure shows a clear decrease in attendees at the march, most of whom were summoned by state institutions such as the Communist Party of Cuba, the Union of Young Communists, the Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Association of Fighters of the Cuban Revolution. In comparison, on the same date in 2019, around 900,000 people attended in Havana, and a total of around 6.6 million across the country, according to official figures.
This time, the event was chaired by Miguel Diaz-Canel, Raúl Castro, and Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, secretary-general of the Cuban Workers’ Central (CTC). The official newspaper Granma reported that more than 1,000 people from 200 solidarity organizations from around the world attended the event.
In Cuba, the mobilization was organized by regime institutions, while in other countries, it is carried out independently by non-governmental unions. “From a legal point of view, in Cuba, there is widespread labor exploitation. According to International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions,” explained Edel González Giménez, in a piece published by DIARIO DE CUBA.
González Giménez added that labor exploitation also involves the lack of rights and trade union freedom. “Labor exploitation exists where laws and realities generate a type of domination by the employer over the employee, understanding the employer not only as the direct employer but also as the prevailing political, economic, social, and legal system,” he said.
For this year, the Cuban regime suspended the parade in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución, the traditional venue for the massive annual propaganda spectacle. Instead, they established the Anti-Imperialist Tribune in Havana as the meeting point, a smaller space where it would be easier to control attendees and make the gathering appear more massive.
Nice keffiyeh the “president” is wearing. Because Cuba really needs to show its solidarity with the Hamas crowd, even though the country is falling apart and ordinary Cubans couldn’t care less about Gaza.
Alas, even though Cuba’s de facto dictator is over 90 and looks it (and owes his position entirely to nepotism), he’s still apparently more mentally with-it than the president of the United States–who’s running for re-election. You can’t make this shit up. No wonder everything everywhere is so fucked up.