Official Media Issues Warning to Díaz-Canel: "Creativity Has Its Limits"

The term "creative resistance," popularized as a slogan by leader Miguel Díaz-Canel and echoed as an official mantra over recent years, has just faced one of its sharpest critiques. Surprisingly, this critique did not emerge from an independent outlet or an exiled dissident but from Escambray, the official Communist Party newspaper in Sancti Spíritus. Journalist Delia Proenza penned a scathing article, read aloud by colleague Yoanna Herrera on the newspaper's YouTube channel. At the heart of the piece lies a stark warning: the much-touted creativity has reached its limits. "All creativity has a boundary, and all resistance, even when it persists, diminishes," Proenza wrote.

Her reflection challenges not only the effectiveness of the presidential slogan but also questions the Cuban people's ability to endure an increasingly bottomless crisis.

The Rising Tide of Internal Criticism

What was once whispered or reserved for alternative media is now cautiously making its way into the state-controlled media apparatus. Publications like Escambray, Girón (Matanzas), Invasor (Ciego de Ávila), and 5 de Septiembre (Cienfuegos) have, in recent months, painted a grim picture of daily life in Cuba: endless power outages, unaffordable food, rampant inflation, cooking over charcoal, transportation collapse, and a pervasive dissatisfaction that even triumphalist speeches cannot conceal.

Proenza shares the story of a retired professor caring for his elderly mother amid heat and blackouts, capturing the helplessness felt by thousands: "You can't guarantee food or sleep," he says, trying to substitute bread, missing from ration books, with whatever he can improvise. But as the journalist notes, inventions are running dry.

Living in Darkness and Desperation

Under the title "Darkness, Scarcity, and the Smell of Charcoal," Proenza sketches a 2025 scene that reads as if it were from a century-old Cuba. With liquefied gas vanished, electricity absent, and food turned into luxury items, basic tasks like cooking, sleeping, eating, or just getting through the day have become herculean challenges for the populace. Meanwhile, the government touts "creativity" as a solution, shirking accountability for the systemic breakdown.

Buying even a single necessary item for several days may require spending an entire month's income, Proenza reports, as "inflation holds the reins." She also highlights that power outages are so severe that provinces like Matanzas no longer discuss whether there's electricity; they simply acknowledge there isn’t any. In this scenario, a bag of charcoal can cost between 1,000 and 1,500 pesos, and using electric appliances for cooking becomes a cruel joke without power.

Calling for Concrete Solutions

The core critique of the article targets not just the material collapse but the government's lack of effective responses. Proenza bluntly states, "More explanations are unnecessary; concrete solutions are needed." This phrase serves as a direct challenge to Díaz-Canel and his team, who have relied on repetitive rhetoric as their sole governance strategy for an exhausted population.

References to blockades or "temporary situations" lasting years are no longer sufficient. The everyday reality—now increasingly documented even by state media—exposes the failure of a policy that clings to a stalled system, offering sacrifice as its only promise.

A Potential Shift in Official Media?

What is particularly noteworthy is that such criticism emerges from an official outlet. Despite staying within permissible discourse boundaries, limits are being tested. Journalists like Herrera and Proenza aren't just discussing hunger and hopelessness; they're writing for a future where, hopefully, those who read these pages will sense alongside the resistance, the darkness, scarcity of nearly everything, and the pervasive smell of charcoal.

With this image, the text becomes a bitter chronicle of an era of decay, where Cubans are compelled to live as if in war, without bombs but consumed by scarcity. The metaphor of "creative resistance," endlessly recited by Díaz-Canel, grows increasingly hollow amid hunger, heat, gloom, and disenchantment. Although the official press hasn't directly identified the culprits, the message is clear: the people have had enough. And gradually, the journalists are beginning to document it.