The smell of freedom in Cuba
They're spraying 'Viva Trump' in public places in Havana.
Monica Showalter for American Thinker
Historians will tell you that rising expectations create conditions for revolutions.
Which brings us to Cuba, where the locals are rioting to demand the end of 65 years of stone-cold communism.
According to Fox News:
Protesters attacked a Communist Party headquarters in Cuba overnight, ransacking the building and attempting to set it on fire, while video from the scene appeared to capture gunfire and a man on the ground outside, according to footage obtained by Fox News Digital.
Cuban state media later denied that anyone had been struck by police gunfire and announced five arrests.
After all, blackouts are all over the place -- here's the Malecon, in the heart of the capital of Havana.
⚠️⚠️Malecón de La Habana esta noche… oscuridad total en la capital y en el resto del país.
— Mag Jorge Castro🇨🇺 (@MagJorgeCastro) March 15, 2025
Esto es a lo que se enfrentan los cubanos, un desastre!#ApagónGeneral
pic.twitter.com/duM0SfuSay
I would like to see the satellite images of the hinterlands, and any city smaller than Havana on the island -- it's pretty obvious how dark they'd look. In 1789 France, they rioted for bread. In 2026 Cuba, they riot for light.
And like the revolutionary French taking the Bastille, the angry Cuban locals have taken matters into their own hands.
They set fire to the Communist Party of Cuba headquarters:
First time communism provided heat https://t.co/i0PIvjw7Zf
— The People's Cube (@ThePeoplesCube) March 14, 2026
For decades, the Cuban regime has silenced dissent and denied its people basic freedoms. The protests across the island are a powerful reminder that the desire for liberty cannot be extinguished. We stand with the Cuban people demanding democracy, freedom, and opportunity.…
— Senator Ashley Moody (@SenAshleyMoody) March 14, 2026
🚨 Cubans just stormed the streets and TORCHED the Communist Party HQ in Morón. People are DONE with the communist regime and decades of control. When citizens start burning the party headquarters, you know the system is cracking. Marco Rubio is putting serious pressure on them… pic.twitter.com/D2AKKAFAn8
— ⁿᵉʷˢ Barron Trump 🇺🇸 (@BarronTNews_) March 14, 2026
Naturally, Sen. Chris Van Hollen and everyone else who serves as an apologist for the detested regime is "concerned":
Trump’s & Rubio's 3-month blockade of Cuba has created a dire humanitarian situation, inflicting collective punishment on the Cuban people.
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) March 14, 2026
They are doubling down on over 65 years of a failed, bankrupt Cuba policy. We must reverse course now.https://t.co/CYVgkfU65Vpic.twitter.com/cELUPaLJzi
After all, for Van Hollen, the beer bellies of his allies, Cuba's oligarchs, might just miss a meal.
Notice how the Cuban regime leaders are all chunky, in a country where everyone else is bone thin… https://t.co/TxDJyZ401V
— Mike Gonzalez (@Gundisalvus) March 14, 2026
But what's fueling it does seem to be rising expectations, the true igniter fluid revolution.
There's this sort of thing going on:
Santos Suarez 🔥🔥#AbajoLaDictaduraCastroCanelpic.twitter.com/q0KW0CtnBU
— Sandra (@SandraG92289113) March 14, 2026
This is unconfirmed as real (maybe it's ai), but if so, what a statement:
“It is the best libertad a Latin American country has ever seen. Quite frankly there has never been a libertad quite like it.” pic.twitter.com/qTrg3c9JCl
— BowTiedMara (@BowTiedMara) March 13, 2026
— USAHavana (@usahavana) March 14, 2026
This is from last month, but again, what a statement:
🇨🇺🇺🇸 | AHORA — Ciudadanos cubanos pintaron “VIVA TRUMP” en pleno malecón de La Habana, Cuba.
— Agustín Antonetti (@agusantonetti) February 6, 2026
Esto era inimaginable hace tiempo. pic.twitter.com/EefaeLvoIU
Talks with the Trump administration and the extaction of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro seems to be the root of the rising expectations.
While I am not hugely impressed with these talks, given the lack of change in Venezuela thus far, as well as the phony promises (all broken) of the Cuban regime to respect private property, the pro-Trump sentiment seems to be all over.
What can that mean other than rising expectations?
The pro-Trump cheering has been heard in Mexico, Venezuela and other Latin American states where any such chants would have been unthinkable in the past. Now they are all over Cuba. When Cubans see Trump, they see hope and that may be the difference between a revolution that fizzles, and one that builds.
One can only hope this ends well for Cuba's battered people, crushed by communism for nearly two thirds of the last hundred years. Trump is their lodestar.
Image: Screenshot from X.