Havana/In Cuba, where official secrecy is a chronic disease, rumors are not simple portal fantasies or hype exaggerations. They function like a social thermometer, like a defective but insistent alarm, like the crooked preview of what institutions are silent about, deny or administer in dribs and drabs. May demonstrated it again: while the blackouts lengthened, the protests multiplied and unrest crept through every crack, the Island lived pending a succession of balls that mixed fear, desire, propaganda, popular intuition and a lot of desperation.
The most popular rumor of the month was that of a possible curfew starting June 1. The version spread with the speed of bad news: night restrictions, military control of the streets, movement limitations and a country forced to pick up early under the pretext of the energy crisis. The ball had all the previous context to catch on: early morning blackouts, pot-banging, more visible patrols in some areas and a population that no longer rules out almost anything. The authorities came out quickly to deny it, but in Cuba an official denial rarely kills a rumor; sometimes it just gives him wings.
The ball had all the previous context to catch on: early morning blackouts, cacerolazos, more visible patrols in some areas and a population that no longer rules out almost anything
The possibility of a curfew spoke less about a concrete measure than about the national mood. Many people did not necessarily believe that June 1 would dawn with soldiers on every corner, but they did recognize something plausible in the ball: the temptation of power to respond with police control to a crisis that can no longer be resolved with slogans. In WhatsApp groups, in bread queues and at bus stops, the comment was repeated with a mixture of mockery and fear: “They deny this today and apply it tomorrow with another name.”
Another countdown accompanied all of May: the supposed deadline that the Donald Trump Administration would have given the Cuban regime to hand over power. Like all good calendar rumors, the deadline was moving. First it was a week, then an exact day, then another. Each missed date did not settle the ball, but rather pushed it forward. Political anxiety thus found its own clandestine almanac, where each dawn could be the last of Castroism and each night ended with the frustration that nothing had changed.
Political anxiety thus found its own clandestine almanac, where each dawn could be the last of Castroism and each night ended with the frustration that nothing had changed.
On that same thread, versions circulated about Raúl Castro taking refuge in underground tunnels in Havana and about a message from the CIA addressed to the Cuban military. The image of the old general hidden underground condensed a very widespread fantasy: that of a dome that no longer governs from the epic, but from the bunker. It didn’t matter much whether the tunnel existed or not. What is significant is that many are willing to imagine him trapped and afraid under tons of concrete.
The plane getaway scene also returned with a bang. Aircraft ready to take off, suitcases full of dollars, relatives of well-to-do leaders in the first seats and official spokespersons abandoned on the ground because they could no longer fit on the flight. The film was repeated in several versions, with names added or deleted depending on the narrator. At its core, the ball expressed an old suspicion: that those who ask the people to resist have an emergency exit prepared for them.
Among the most elaborate rumors was the arrival of Option Zero, presented as a maximum alert in the absence of external supplies. The text, with the tone of an apocalyptic statement, announced the total paralysis of national life: electricity reserved only for hospitals and strategic points, transportation stopped, water pumping collapsed, cold chains lost, extreme rationing and communications interrupted. The recommendation to fill bathtubs, buckets and tanks added a domestic touch that made it even more believable. The authorities also came out to deny it, but the damage had already been done: thousands of Cubans had read in that exaggeration a quite recognizable description of their daily fears.
Phrases such as that Trump would remove Raúl Castro from Cuba “as they did with Maduro” circulated profusely, becoming after-dinner headlines and urgently forwarded audios
The international press, and especially some American media, added fuel to the fire. Phrases such as that Trump would remove Raúl Castro from Cuba “as they did with Maduro” circulated profusely, converted into after-dinner headlines and urgently forwarded audios. In an exhausted country, any move by Washington is interpreted as a signal, threat or promise. Foreign policy is then consumed as a serial novel, with villains, saviors and imminent endings that almost never arrive.
May also had its share of technology frenzy. One ball assured that a Mandatory Digital Account Registration System would come into force, linked to the massive replacement of identity cards with a version with a chip and biometric registration. According to the version, each citizen would have to declare their accounts on social networks and messaging applications, with username, profile link, email and associated number, in addition to reporting any new account within a maximum period of 72 hours. It was absurd, yes, but not completely unrelated to the climate of surveillance that permeates the Island. That’s why he ran.
The United States planes and ships that approached Cuba finished feeding the month
The supposed replacement of Esteban Lazo as president of the National Assembly also gave something to talk about, until he appeared again in the official media, clinging to his almost eternal position in front of Parliament. Its reappearance did not stop many from continuing to speculate about internal struggles, postponed replacements and movements in a nomenclature that increasingly seems more opaque and rigid.
The United States planes and ships that approached Cuba finished fueling the month. Each trajectory was read as a threat, rehearsal, warning or prelude to something greater. In May, geopolitics descended to cellar level. They talked about the movements between the White House and the Plaza de la Revolución between an incomplete pound of rice, a line for gas and a night without power.
This is how the month closed: with more questions than certainties and more balls than credible statements.
