Cuban Government Blames Video Games for Anti-Revolutionary Politics

The Cuban regime has once again pointed fingers at an external adversary to justify the negative perception of the country beyond its shores. This time, the target is not just news outlets or social media, but also video games.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla stated on X that research by the Media Observatory of Cubadebate shows that "video games also engage in politics" by portraying Cuba as a cliché, suggesting that the only solutions are foreign intervention or the overthrow of the government.

Rodríguez noted that over 40 popular video games use Cuba as a backdrop, crafting a narrative "seemingly easy to absorb for those unfamiliar with the nation," where the island is linked to decay, scarcity, political control, and a lack of future prospects.

The minister argued that this portrayal is not accidental but rather a product of the cultural industry perpetuating stereotypes from "Washington."

The article shared by Cuba's top diplomat, published on the pro-government portal Cubadebate, claims that video games act as media channels that "frame" reality through rules, metaphors, and systems of progress. In this context, Cuba is not merely a setting but an "idea": a nation frozen in time, with no horizon of its own, where the narrative conflict is often resolved through external intervention.

To support its thesis, Cubadebate claims to have analyzed a sample of 45 foreign video games where Cuba plays a role of varying intensity in the storyline.

The portal identifies recurring patterns: Cuba as an "exotic" tourist destination, as a dystopian trigger related to the October Crisis, as a colonial enclave, or predominantly as a stage for espionage, terrorism, and political crises.

A significant portion of the text is dedicated to Far Cry 6, a high-budget video game set on a fictional island called Yara, ruled by a dictator. Although the game does not explicitly mention Cuba, Cubadebate argues that the cultural and political parallels are "deliberate and apparent": colonial architecture reminiscent of Havana, vintage cars, political billboards, and an aesthetic of a "country trapped in time."

The analysis suggests that players experience a "revolutionary fantasy" where precariousness is routine, and deterioration is directly attributed to the political system, while the solution lies in armed insurrection and the dismantling of the state apparatus, even featuring a character linked to the CIA as a narrative support.

Another example cited is Cuban Fighters, a fighting game where recognizable figures from Cuba's political and cultural space appear as caricatures engaging in combat.

According to Cubadebate, this turns politics into a spectacle, establishing a "symbolic violence" that reduces Cuban reality to mockery and humiliation.

The portal concludes that through various paths, these video games push toward a singular image: Cuba as a failed state, stuck in time, with no present or future beyond collapse, foreign intervention, or parody.

Moreover, it warns that much of the audience is young and lacking a robust historical background, making video games their primary source of images about the island, "educating" them on an idea of Cuba while maintaining a façade of innocence.

From the official discourse, this interpretation serves to bolster the narrative that there is a continuous campaign from abroad to justify sanctions, pressure, and "regime change."

However, the regime overlooks the fact that this international image does not originate from a joystick but from decades of authoritarianism, censorship, repression, and systematic human rights violations within the country itself.

Instead of questioning the reality faced by Cubans, the regime once again targets the messenger, now embodied in video games.