Socialists are notorious for lacking a sense of humor, and the communist dictatorship in Cuba is no exception. The irony of the Castro dictatorship holding a political humor festival is hilarious to everyone, except to communists.
An Op-Ed by Cuban journalist Luis Cino in CubaNet (my translation):
Political humor under a regime with no sense of humor
It seems like a bad joke to hold a Political Humor Biennial in Havana, given the proverbial sensitivity of the Castro regime’s leaders and their very limited sense of humor—a common trait in all dictatorships.
From the outset, participants in the event, which began on June 14 and will run until the 28th, were warned that there are limits to humor when it comes to the regime’s leaders, both current and past, including the late Fidel Castro.
This warning was issued by cartoonist Arístides Hernández (Ares), who, in the role of a cultural commissar—or more aptly, like a Muslim madrasa cleric—tried to justify the prohibition by stating: “In Islamic countries, it’s impossible to draw a cartoon against the Prophet Muhammad, and in Cuba’s case, there are limits to humor related to the historical figures of the revolution.”
It’s a pity that the cartoonists have to focus on satirizing only Trump, Biden, Netanyahu, Milei, and Zelensky. Just imagine the great cartoons that could be inspired by the Comandante’s beard, the enormous bellies of his successors, their absurd statements, and their frequent blunders.
I suppose these limitations also extend to the regime’s allies and benefactors. Don’t expect to see a caricature of Nicolás Maduro’s Stalin-like mustache or jokes about his riches. And despite the frequent references to fascism and Nazism at this Biennial, none of the cartoonists would dare to put a swastika on Putin’s lapel and compare him to Hitler, no matter how similar their imperialist rhetoric and speeches might be.
From his rock in the Santa Ifigenia cemetery, Fidel Castro will watch with satisfaction as his successors, despite being so brutish and inept in all their endeavors, at least strive to be like him—not only in terms of prohibitions but also in their lack of a sense of humor.
Let’s remember that one of the first confrontations with the free press that the Commander-in-Chief had was with the satirical weekly Zigzag. This happened despite the fact that Zigzag, during Batista’s dictatorship, featured cartoons of “El Loquito,” created by René de la Nuez to refer to the rebels of the Sierra Maestra. Once in power, Fidel Castro decided that “El Loquito” had nothing more to say, lest he become a subversive lunatic and end up in jail.
After banning “El Hombre Siniestro” painted by Prohías for the magazine Bohemia and the comedy duo “Los Tadeos” for their little joke about hanging the picture, the Commander turned his ire on “Don Cizaño.” That character, also by De la Nuez, lasted only a few months. It died along with press freedom in Cuba, symbolically buried in a coffin at the University of Havana in the midst of a raucous celebration, orchestrated “from above.”
The Commander even got annoyed with Marcos Behmara and shut down the weekly Mella, which was the best thing Castroism had in terms of humor.
The humorous drawings that emerged, by De la Nuez, Arístides Pumariega, Mitjans, and others, didn’t fare well under Castroism. “Mogollón” was burned when the mandarins enacted the Anti-Vagrancy Law. Crisanto Buena Gente and Subdesarrollo Pérez also died prematurely, but they had time to leave a legacy of their flaws. Against them, no amount of bonfires, burials, prohibitions, agents, or informers could prevail.
Only one character survived, on the pages of the Granma newspaper, the official organ of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. Created by De la Nuez, it featured a figure with a beard and a yarey hat, almost always armed with a shotgun and machete, who lorded over the island, challenged the Yankees, and spoke like the Maximum Leader.
The followers of Fidelism also have no tolerance for jokes. They pursue and punish even those who post memes on social media. And if they are outside the country, beyond their reach, they are labeled as terrorists. Yet, here they are, coming up with this farce of a Biennial!