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A Pots-and-Pans Protest for Fidel Castro

HAVANA TIMES – August 13th marked the centennial of Fidel Castro, whom many people around the world still regard today as Cuba’s iconic hero.

It is becoming increasingly “normal” in Cuba for people to stage pots-and-pans protests when their electricity is cut off. In urban neighborhoods and rural areas alike, pots and pans clang in protest over the lack of basic services: electricity, water, gas. Such “noise” would have been unthinkable several months ago; today, it has become a recurring symbol of the erosion of a society, the economy, and a State without solutions.

Sometimes the protests are accompanied by a soundtrack of chanted slogans, such as the classic Latin American refrain: “The people united will never be defeated!” The clanging of pots and pans has become as characteristic an image of Cuba today as Fidel’s bearded face has been since 1959, for supporters and opponents alike.

But can pots-and-pans protests and the image of Fidel converge in the same space?

It might seem absurd, but the ideologues of official propaganda missed a golden opportunity to continue commemorating the centennial of the Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Revolution, to whom the entire year of 2026 has been dedicated.

The tributes have focused on memories, posters, narratives, poems, and nostalgic songs that evoke a past the younger generation neither knows nor understands, no matter what their promoters may say. As we shall see, Cuba’s current reality also runs very much counter to the ideas and early undertakings of the Maximum Leader.

Having people march through neighborhoods to the sound of banging pots and pans in remembrance of Fidel would have been a cheerful,........

© Havana Times