Cubans Ruin Communist May Day Celebration with Viral ‘This Sh*tty Country’ Slogan

A demonstrator carries a banner with an image of late Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary
YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty Images
Christian K. Caruzo

The Cuban Communist Party spent much of the weekend attempting to protect its May Day celebrations from the expression of the profane, and increasingly popular, acronym “DPEPDPE,” which dissidents have grown to display on signs and shirts.

“DPEPDPE” stands for “De Pinga El País De Pinga Este,” which has no coherent literal translation in English but roughly means “this shitty country sucks.” The word pinga is profane slang for male genitalia that, when used with “de,” can mean something is either extremely good or extremely bad in Cuba, and can have a host of other meanings in other Spanish-speaking countries.

The slogan has become a way for Cubans to vent their frustration against the precarious living conditions that the Communist regime has subjected Cuba to.

Much like the “Díaz-Canel singao” (roughly, “asshole Díaz-Canel”) slogan that Cubans loudly exclaimed against puppet leader Miguel Díaz-Canel in 2021 during that year’s protests against the communist regime, DPEPDPE has become a rallying slogan against the regime of Cuba. It has appeared on t-shirts, become a popular social media hashtag, and some dissidents have tattooed it on their bodies.

The DPEPDPE phrase is often accompanied by the “Flork” characters that originate from the internet webcomic “Flork of Cows” that has become popular in Cuba. Flork of Cows is an ongoing web-strip that features the eponymous characters drawn in dark humor situations. The characters of the comic are purposely drawn in a simple style that’s colloquially referred to as “MS Paint.”

The implication of the animation accompanying the expression of frustration is a form of gallows humor, an expression essentially saying that Cubans are trapped in a bad joke of a government.

The author of the Flork of Cows comic responded with a tweet in solidarity with the Cuban people.

Cubans selling shirts with the slogan printed on them have faced threats from the regime’s security apparatus, forcing them to suspend sales. In spite of that, Cuban citizens continue to defy the threats of the regime, going as far as to fool the censorship of pro-regime websites and mocking the regime through acrostic poems in their comment section that feature the slogan. Some have even gotten tattoos of the acronym.

As is the case with every other authoritarian regime across the globe, the Cuban Communist Party forces Cuban citizens to participate in their grand parades — the May 1 “Workers’ Day” parade being the most important.

The event holds such a high importance to the Communist Party’s false narrative that Cubans vehemently support the regime that not even newborn Cubans (Warning: graphic image) are safe from being used as part of the Communist Party’s social media accounts to promote the May Day parade.

In contrast, the Cuban Conflict Observatory registered a total of 293 protests against the communist regime of Cuba during the month of April 2022 alone.

Some Cuban dissidents made calls throughout social media for people to boycott the event by not participating in it.

In response, pro-regime media have claimed the DPEPDPE slogan is being part of an “infiltration campaign” that sought to “manipulate public and international opinion, trying to create riots.” during the regime’s May Day parade.

The image, which was spread throughout pro-Cuban regime groups on Facebook, reads: “Urgent denouncement! New campaign to overshadow the May 1st parade. The Acronym ‘DPEPDPE’ are gusanas [despective term used by the communist regime against Cuban exiles and dissidents that means “maggot”]” Followed by the words “Manipulation” and a pro-regime hashtag.

Fearing displays of “DPEPDPE” at their flagship celebration, regime officials reportedly threatened citizens on social media to force them not to wear or use the slogan this weekend. It was also reported that ETECSA, the Cuban state’s telecommunications company (and the only telecommunications company in Cuba), has blacklisted the slogan from being sent through their SMS network.

Leftists and communists aren’t known for their originality when it comes to viral content and memes, so it should not come as a surprise that pro-regime sympathizers, failing to stop the meme, have attempted to co-opt the ‘Flork of Cows’ characters and substituting the DPEPDPE slogan with some of their own.

“Viva el 1º de Mayo,” read one copycat communist meme: “Long Live May 1st.”

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.