Cuban health authorities have reported the presence and increase of the Chikungunya virus since July 2025, a situation that had not been detected on the island since 2015.

The current outbreak of this arbovirus was detected in the province of Matanzas, where Varadero beach is located. This is one of the most important sun and beach tourist destinations in the country, with the highest number of visitors, considered among the best beaches in the world by international institutions, and with excellent hotels managed by prestigious international chains.

The first diagnosed cases were in the municipality of Perico, followed by Máximo Gómez, both in Matanzas.

Could the appearance of this outbreak in that province be a coincidence, potentially affecting the increased inflow of foreign currency into the country at a time of the economic crisis Cuba is experiencing?

This happened precisely at the time when the Cuban Ministry of Tourism was launching its summer and winter tourism campaign at various international fairs in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

The outbreak spread rapidly in the municipalities of Matanzas and Cárdenas, where most of the tourism workers in Varadero live. They could become ill and transmit the virus to tourists, as the vectors are the Aedes aegypti and Culex mosquitoes, which are very abundant at this time of year.

It’s striking that on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, the United States government issued a health alert for its citizens in Cuba due to the Chikungunya outbreak. Americans are prohibited from traveling to the island as tourists and President Donald Trump eliminated licenses allowing them to visit Cuba, sending a message of alarm to all potential visitors from other parts of the world.

This alert was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), emphasizing "the need to strengthen precautions for those planning a stay in the country," shared by the embassy in Havana under the guise of providing consular assistance to American citizens. The alert also included symptoms, specific risks, and health guidelines, recommending against travel for pregnant women, older adults, newborns, and patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease.

Why is this alert issued when the number of American visitors to the island is minimal?

The CDC published relevant information for travelers on its website, inviting them to consult the specific section on "Chikungunya in Cuba." Furthermore, Vax-Before-Travel, in its September 2025 health update, included Cuba among other countries with active outbreaks, including several regions in Africa and Asia.

This outbreak reminds us of what happened in May 1981, when the Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) epidemic, also known as the New Guinea 1944-2002 epidemic, created in Yankee laboratories, was similarly detected. In just over four months, 344,203 cases of the Dengue virus serotype 2 were diagnosed, causing the deaths of 158 people, 101 of them children.

The first cases were detected in the Boyeros municipality, where the José Martí International Airport is located, similar to the Chikungunya outbreak in Matanzas, also near the Juan Gualberto Gómez International Airport, through which more than 70% of tourists visiting the Varadero resort arrive and depart.

We will never forget what Eduardo Arocena, a Cuban-born terrorist assassin and member of anti-Cuban organizations serving the CIA, declared in a New York court in 1984:

“I belong to a group whose mission was to obtain certain pathogens and introduce them into Cuba.” (page 2189, 1984. File 2 FBI-NY 185-1009).

William Turner, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent, and Warren Hinckle, a prominent journalist, wrote a book claiming that the United States used biological warfare against Cuba during the Nixon administration and that the CIA engaged the United States in an undeclared and illegal secret war against Cuba for more than 20 years.

Cuba has been the victim of dozens of U.S. biological warfare actions to affect its economy, such as African swine fever, which required the slaughter of pigs twice. The current outbreak could also affect tourism, a sector that has been the target of intense media campaigns for several years to try to prevent the entry of money into the country. The virus has been spreading throughout the country, and even pressure has been placed on airlines, booking agencies, and other receptive agencies that promote tourism to the island.

Chikungunya was first detected in 1952 in Tanzania, and Cuba had never suffered from the virus until very recently.

Therefore, these epidemics cannot be so coincidental, because the biological warfare against Cuba has been going on for a long time and has always been aimed at damaging its economy.

José Martí was right when he said: "The real truths are the facts."

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff