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Why this Caricature I Made got so Much Attention

Elpidio Valdés gets old: – I made this drawing and after few days it got quickly more than 1,000 shares on Facebook among Cubans.
Elpidio Valdés is to Cubans as Superman is to North Americans: our childhood hero. The original younger cartoon character was created in 1970 by Juan Padrón as comic and television short films quickly became part of Cuban culture. Elpidio was a colonel fighting against Spanish colonialism of late 19th century, characterized with the strong and brave virtues of our homeland heroes, like Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo who fought with machetes against the fire guns of Spanish soldiers (hmm… would be nice to make a real-time strategy game about this).

Now after more than 50 years of a socialist totalitarian system that already failed and worsened with the U.S. embargo, there is a serious demographic problem because of the low birth rate and high migration of the young working force. The aging population problem is perfectly explained here:

Cuba has a major demographic problem – by Elena Holodny 

So we then have a high number of elderly people that worked hard believing in the Revolution process who are currently walking the streets selling newspapers, candies,  peanuts, or even begging. These are our real-life heroes: our fathers, mothers, and grandparents. In the best-case scenario, they are at home watching TV and reading newspapers waiting for a call from their sons and grandsons from Florida or many other cities of the world where young Cubans have gone.

Finally, linking this all together, we have the caricature of our elder Elpidio Valdés. Our hero is defeated and behind his gaze, we see all our elders waiting for better times, every day the time shortens for them.

Reception: