Cuba’s communist figurehead “president,” Miguel Díaz‑Canel, published a New Year’s message this week urging the Cuban people to be “united more than ever” behind the communist government as the regime marked 67 years in power. Díaz‑Canel’s message comes amid profound economic collapse, widespread shortages, and explosive anti‑communist unrest across the island.
Díaz‑Canel highlighted that 2026 will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of longtime dictator Fidel Castro, who seized power on January 1, 1959. Castro’s regime employed firing squads, labor camps, and ruthless repression to obliterate basic civil liberties and dismantle what was once the wealthiest country in Latin America. Today, average Cubans struggle daily to secure food, clean water, electricity, and other basic necessities.
Recent years have seen intensifying civil unrest. Human rights monitors reported record numbers of protests in 2025, most notably in November, with Cubans confronting shortages and public health crises. Dissident activity has continued since the July 2021 anti‑communist uprising, bolstered by local Catholic leaders and support from the Cuban diaspora, even as many international news outlets have since moved on.
In his Wednesday message reported by the Communist Party’s official newspaper Granma, Díaz‑Canel declared 2025 a victory for communism and urged Cubans to embrace Fidel’s legacy. “May every task that we take on in 2026 … be pregnant with Fidel’s spirit of struggle, his profound love for the people, and his unwavering commitment to social justice,” he wrote. “May 2026 … find us fighting and more united than ever! Long live the revolution! Long live Fidel and Raúl! Socialism or death!”
Díaz‑Canel also shared a propaganda video invoking Cuban independence hero José Martí, despite no historical link between Martí’s anti‑colonial struggle and Marxist communism.
The call for unity comes as Cuba faces a near‑total population collapse, driven by tens of thousands fleeing hardship. According to the Cuban Observatory of Conflict (OCC), there were 1,326 protests and “civic actions” documented in November 2025 alone—a record high for the fifth consecutive month.
Cuba’s deteriorating healthcare system has compounded discontent. Once touted by ideological proponents as world‑class, health services have collapsed in recent decades. A study by the Cuba Siglo 21 think tank found at least 8,700 deaths from mosquito‑borne diseases like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya due to lack of care—far above the government’s official count of 47.
The spread of disease is worsened by shortages of electricity, clean water, and basic infrastructure. Díaz‑Canel himself acknowledged the depth of the crisis just weeks before his New Year message, admitting it resulted from “distortions, adversities, difficulties, and proper errors.”
Large protests erupted in Havana in early December after a 15‑hour blackout, with demonstrators shouting “Down with communism!” and clashing with police. In Marianao, a local priest, later identified as Mexican national Father José Ramírez, rang church bells in solidarity with protesters—a gesture that led to his rapid expulsion from the country.
