Cuba is collapsing and Spain stays silent while it watches Gaza

Cuba is falling apart and Spain still won't touch the subject

Pedro Sánchez has made Gaza a fixed line in his foreign policy agenda. Cuba is nowhere to be seen. The island is mired in a deepening humanitarian crisis, and the Spanish government maintains the same institutional silence as its predecessor. It is not forgetfulness. It is calculation.

Why the silence pays off on both sides

Some argue that the Cuban taboo remains intact within Spain's left: criticizing Havana alienates part of its electorate. The right doesn't break spears either. The argument that keeps coming up is that the opposition cannot point fingers without exposing its own ties to the regime, which range from hotel chains like Meliá to decades of official visits complete with photo ops and guayabera shirts. Nobody wants to be the first to speak up.

Gaza, Ceuta and the map of selective outrage

The comparison makes itself. Gaza is thousands of kilometers away and dominates the front pages every day. Cuba lies across the Atlantic, with historical, migration and business ties to Spain, and barely gets a mention. The argument is made that there are closer issues —Ceuta, for instance— that also fail to receive the attention they deserve. The double standard is not the property of any single political tonalidad, and that is precisely what is so uncomfortable.

The Cuban disaster is not invisible either. It is uncomfortable. And in Spanish politics, uncomfortable matters rarely make the front page.