Cuban Politicians On X: Communicative Practices And Political Agendas versus Public Agenda of National Issues
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26422/aucom.2026.1503.munKeywords:
X, political agenda, public agenda, Twitter, authoritarism, communicative practicesAbstract
Although the use of X (Twitter) by political actors to communicate their agendas is not recent, little is known about this phenomenon in authoritarian contexts. This study analyzed the communication of six Cuban political actors on X, considering three elements that are generally addressed separately in international research: communicative practices, correlations among political agendas, and the relationship between these agendas and the public agenda of national issues. A quantitative design was implemented. Content analysis was used to identify communicative practices and political agendas. The public agenda of national issues was obtained through questionnaires. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to establish correlations. The findings show that Cuban politicians’ communication on X is characterized by the use of formal language, the plural as a rhetorical device, the absence of interaction with citizens, the use of common hashtags, and the retweeting of content from accounts linked to the state sphere. Political agendas display a homogeneous thematic composition oriented toward institutional reinforcement, prioritizing commemorations, governmental activities, and foreign policy. However, correlations among these agendas were predominantly low. The public agenda of national issues comprises chronic issues affecting citizens’ everyday lives, and its correlations with the political agendas were very low or null. Comparing these findings with those from other authoritarian political contexts reveals common strategic patterns that differentiate political communication on X in these contexts from that observed in Western democratic systems.
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