The comedian Ulises Toirac proposes that regime leaders abandon their luxurious homes and travel by riquimbili, in a context of crisis and growing criticism.
The comedian Ulises Toirac issued a direct challenge this Friday to the Cuban government elite to abandon their privileges, move to ordinary homes in impoverished neighbourhoods like Palo Cagao or Old Havana, and travel by riquimbili like the rest of the people, without shortcuts or special benefits.
"It occurs to me that, as a way to show solidarity (and represent with first-hand knowledge) with the people, the leaders should leave their houses and move to some normal housing... I don't know, in Palo Cagao, in Old Havana, in La Lisa, in a normal house," Toirac proposed on his Facebook account.
The comedian went further and specified the mode of transport: "Leave your cars too, so you can travel like we all do in Cuba. A riquimbili that organizes your thoughts with the potholes from San Isidro to the Plaza can be very good for structuring thought. There, squeezed in from the side and bouncing to get in and out."
Conditions with no escape
Toirac included a condition that closes any escape route: "Note: it's not that they will go to normal houses that then get plugged into prioritized electricity and water circuits or get solar panels or receive free food bills... right?"
To substantiate his argument, the comedian referred to the very Marxism that the regime professes: "Take your medicine: Marxism: social being determines social consciousness... Because their social consciousness (according to the classics) is not ours. We live in two different countries."
Toirac's challenge is not a rhetorical exercise, but a demand for coherence. "The point is that they share the living conditions in which all of them say it is possible to live and resist," he wrote.
Official visit sparks mockery
The publication comes on the same day that Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz and Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa visited the Güinera Defence Zone to, according to the regime, insist on food production and water supply.
The images of the officials unleashed a wave of mockery on social media. "All very fat, while asking for sacrifices from the people. They have never solved anything in 67 years and they won't do it now," wrote a user.
Toirac's text is the most concrete expression of a critical current that has grown among Cuban cultural figures in recent weeks.
Days earlier, singer-songwriter Raúl Torres urged the leaders to get out of the air conditioning and step onto the street. At the end of May, chronicler Cesario Navas denounced that the elite travels with blinders in luxury cars without seeing the country's collapse.
Toirac himself has been escalating his criticism for months. At the end of June, he lashed out at those who speak of Cuban suffering "from the always-luxurious home, from the full pantry, from the chosen temperature." In another reflection, he stated that Cuba is in a labyrinth with no solution.
Unprecedented structural crisis
The backdrop is an unprecedented structural crisis, with record electrical deficits, widespread food shortages, and a country that imports between 70% and 80% of what it consumes, with declines of 81% in rice production and 61% in egg production.
In January 2024, the regime approved a Code of Ethics that obliges leaders to "reject privileges and accommodation." The images from this Friday demonstrate that this norm has left no visible mark.
For readers interested in the Cuban situation, this episode reflects the growing disconnection between the ruling elite and a population suffering blackouts of up to 20 hours a day and difficulties accessing basic food. Toirac's proposal, although humorous, raises a fundamental question: can leaders understand reality if they do not live it? The challenge is laid down, and social media is buzzing with comments demanding coherence.
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