Raúl Torres Blames Cuba's Decline on 'Haters'

Cuban singer-songwriter and government supporter Raúl Torres recently took to his Facebook page (Raulito Torres Candil) to post a lengthy message. In it, he points fingers at those who criticize the regime—whom he labels as "haters"—as the architects of Cuba's downfall, notably avoiding any mention of the Communist Party or the government as contributors to the crisis.

Torres, known for songs like "Riding with Fidel" and "Homeland or Death for Life"—the official response to "Homeland and Life" which in 2021 gathered over 48,000 dislikes compared to about 4,500 likes on YouTube—directs his criticism towards those who "have disdained the land where they were born, who have called for invasions against their homeland, who carry a cold monolith in their chest instead of a heart."

His judgment is unequivocal: "Here is your prize: an aged, weak, impoverished Cuba suffering immense hardships."

Blame Shifted Away from the Regime

Torres presents a narrative that conveniently aligns with the regime that supports him: the culprits for Cuba's ruins are the diaspora "haters," not the 67 years of communist dictatorship. According to him, this ailing Cuba "suffers because its children are deprived of medicines and resources, lacking food, and due to the indifference of much of the world, a disdain you, the haters, have helped to foster."

The embargo, deceit, and external contempt comprise the causal trinity Torres attributes to the crisis, without a single mention of the Communist Party, ministers, or generals.

A Contradictory Message

To complete his narrative, Torres draws a philosophical distinction between those who "denounce injustices to heal the people"—those who love—and those who "demand chains to silence the people"—those who hate. He concludes with one of his signature aphorisms: "You can't kiss the fruit and curse the root; you can't call freedom the fire that devours the house." Poetic, indeed, but it ignores the fact that the house has been burning from within for decades, regardless of external arsonists.

What Torres elegantly sidesteps is this grim reality: in 2026, hundreds of essential medications are unavailable in Cuba; about 1.3 million retirees receive a meager pension of 4,000 Cuban pesos or less—less than $6 at the informal exchange rate—often standing in long bank lines without breakfast. This is the "elderly Cuba" Torres describes, yet in his account, the responsible parties do not wear military uniforms.

Public Reaction and Criticism

The public was not swayed by Torres's flowery prose. One commenter bluntly stated: "All you've done in your submissive life is create songs to appease the leaders; you've never sung for your people [...] Work and stop the rhetoric because it no longer fools anyone." Another posed a question no poem can dodge: "The elderly drawing a pitiful pension, queuing at banks without breakfast, fainting from hunger and exhaustion... Tell me... who is to blame?"

A third comment, succinct and more urgent than Torres's entire post, simply demanded: "Freedom for Ana Sofía and her mom Caridad Silvente," referring to young Christian influencer Anna Bensi and her mother, Caridad Silvente, who were recently sentenced to two years of limited freedom by the Havana East Municipal Popular Court.

This isn't the first time Torres wavers between defending the government and partially recognizing the crisis. In August 2026, he suggested turtles as a solution to hunger and admitted that "the people are on their last breath," though he never holds the government accountable.

Now, with his post about "haters," the singer-songwriter and deputy has taken another step: not only does he absolve the regime, but he also casts its critics as the true executioners of Cuba. According to Torres, "the homeland is the house that still smells of bread even when it lacks flour." What he fails to mention is who emptied the pantry.