UJC's National Committee Claims Victory Over Imperialism: "Taste This Tangerine," Netizens Mock

The head of the National Committee of the Union of Young Communists (UJC) in Cuba, Meyvis Estévez Echavarría, shared a video on Facebook this week that sparked laughter across social media. In the clip, a young militant attempts to answer whether it's possible to defeat imperialism but delivers such a vague and circular response that it became an instant source of ridicule.

Though the video is only 30 seconds long, it offers plenty of comedic material. The young woman, unable to fully suppress a smile that suggests disbelief in her own words, responds, "Of course it's possible, I mean, we always have the possibility. We're going to achieve it. I mean, maybe we have to find the most optimal way to achieve it."

This sums up the UJC's anti-imperialist strategy: a mix of possibility, optimism, and an undefined optimal approach.

The highlight of her response is the "concrete tool" she recalls, a phrase from Che Guevara, "not even a little bit," as a precise measure of relations with the Yankee imperialism.

Estévez posted the video to her Facebook profile along with the hashtag #UJCdeCuba and wrote: "In times like these, it should be clearer than ever that 'not even a little bit' is the exact measure of our relationship with that government." A fully fleshed-out strategic plan, ready to roll.

The online community responded with apt humor. "Taste this tangerine," one user quipped, encapsulating the situation perfectly. Another compared the young woman to "a female version of Cantinflas," and in a display of sharp sarcasm, someone praised, "She sure explains and argues well. It's clear she masters the topic, analyzes deeply, synthesizes powerfully, and draws conclusions with certainty. Having such intelligence is a privilege!"

Another pointed out the obvious: "She never mentioned how they'll achieve it." And some were more blunt: "Sure, sure we'll achieve it, in another 67 years of hunger or whatever it takes." The final blow from a netizen was scathing: "We always have the possibility, we'll achieve it, I mean, maybe we need to find the most optimal way to achieve it. THESE COMMUNISTS DON'T KNOW WHAT TO INVENT ANYMORE."

The backdrop for this declaration makes it even harder to suppress laughter—or tears. By 2026, Cuba is facing one of its worst historical crises: electrical deficits have repeatedly reached peaks above 2,000 MW in May and June, leaving 70% of the population without electricity simultaneously. According to the Food Monitor Program in 2025, 33.9% of Cuban households reported at least one person going to bed hungry in the past 30 days, compared to 24.6% in 2024.

The non-state market inflation hit 31.9% in the first quarter of 2026, and the projected GDP contraction ranges between 6.5% and 7.2%. Meanwhile, the UJC organized bike rides to Playa Girón and kite festivals "against the blockade" featuring political messages from children, activities that also attracted significant mockery.

One internet user nostalgically commented, "These videos remind me of when things had to be done out of obligation, not conviction." Another was more concise and devastating: "Union of snitching youths."

In Estévez's view, with her flowery rhetorical and propagandistic history, loyal to the "strength" of the PCC and always moved by the eloquence and conviction of her supreme leader, the question of how to defeat imperialism seemed perhaps too easy to answer. Apparently, for her and the UJC, the Cuban people starving while their young leaders search for the "most optimal way," without hurry, without a plan, and seemingly without shame, to defeat what they call "imperialism." Clearly, they will never address the criminal, "imperialist" methods used by the Cuban dictatorship against its own people.