A young Cuban woman, known on Instagram as @shantl.avs, captured the sentiments of many fellow citizens with a 36-second reel where she humorously threatens to give "slipper slaps" to the stork that brought her into the world in Cuba.
With infectious energy, she begins, "If I catch the stork that brought me to Cuba, it's getting a clean slipper beating." Her main gripe is the stork's poor choice of destination, lamenting, "You'd think it could hold the bag just a couple minutes longer. I'm not asking for much, maybe Mexico. But no, it dropped me here. Here I am, sitting in darkness, enduring blackouts. This was never meant to be my fate."
She wraps up her comedic rant with a biblical nod to Adam and Eve, adding to the absurdity: "I don't know who lent the rib to create Díaz-Canel, but I'm completely fed up with these blackouts. I can't take another one."
The video quickly amassed thousands of reactions and hundreds of comments, with a flood of Cubans resonating deeply with the scenario.
One user chimed in, "Girl, don't feel alone, there are a million of us." Another revealed a rarely spoken truth: "My mom once apologized for having me in Cuba." A third comment humorously captured the collective sentiment: "If it were up to us, we'd smack all the storks with slippers for dropping us here."
Another comment subtly extended the joke to politics: "She says the stork, but we all know who really deserves those slipper slaps."
A follower offered perhaps the most clever—and saddest—explanation, writing, "When the stork passed over Cuba, the power went out, it crashed, and that's how we all ended up here."
This kind of satire—turning everyday suffering into shared laughter—serves both as a release and a symbolic protest. Creators like Lina Hernández, who humorously tackled the simultaneous lack of water and electricity in a video that went viral, or the Cuban woman who sarcastically recounted 30 hours without power, have paved the way for @shantl's journey with her stork.
Comedian Mario Sardiñas, known as "Chequera," recently joined in with a reel that humorously depicts blackouts as a "virus" called "quitaypón," contributing to a growing trend of survival humor that has become a staple on Cuban social media.
Understanding Cuban Satire on Social Media
Why is satire important in Cuba?
Satire in Cuba serves as both a means of coping with everyday hardships and a form of symbolic protest against the government and social conditions.
Who are some prominent Cuban satirical creators on social media?
Creators like Lina Hernández and comedian Mario Sardiñas, known as "Chequera," are well-known for their humorous takes on Cuban life, often highlighting issues like blackouts and resource shortages.