Cuba’s leaders adopt social media, not democracy

THE DAY BEFORE Miguel Díaz-Canel became president of Cuba last April, a newscaster on state-controlled television urged Cubans to join in a tuitazo (outpouring of tweets). The hashtags he proposed were PorCuba (“ForCuba”) and SomosContinuidad (“WeAreContinuity”). Mr Díaz-Canel himself joined Twitter in August. For the first few weeks he followed only Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s embattled despot, and Evo Morales, Bolivia’s leftist president. In December, in an attempt to make Cuba’s dictatorship appear more accountable to its people, he instructed government departments to make themselves more visible on social media. Now 24 of the 26 ministries tweet, as do most of the ministers who lead them.