[D66] [JD: 148] Cuba: A Scream

[R.O.]

forhumanliberation.blogspot.com
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  3528. Cuba: A Scream

By Leonardo Padura, La Joven Cuba,
6-8 minutes
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<https://jovencuba-com.translate.goog/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/b0962a72b90563db5f70208731efbb0df661014d.jpg?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=ajax,elem>

(Photo: Eliana Aponte / AP)

It seems very possible that everything that happened in Cuba since
last Sunday, July 11,
<https://translate.google.com/website?sl=es&tl=en&ajax=1&elem=1&se=1&u=https://elcomercio.pe/mundo/latinoamerica/protestas-en-cuba-la-habana-y-otras-ciudades-sacudidas-por-manifestaciones-ineditas-contra-el-gobierno-de-miguel-diaz-canel-patria-y-vida-fotos-y-videos-sosmatanzas-soscuba-noticia/?foto%3D15> has
been encouraged by a greater or lesser number of people opposed to the
system, even paid some of them, with the intention of destabilizing the
country and causing a situation of chaos and unsafety. It is also true
that later, as often happens in these events, opportunistic and
regrettable acts of vandalism occurred. But I think that neither
evidence takes one iota of reason from the scream that we have heard. A
cry that is also the result of the desperation of a society that is
going through not only a long economic crisis and a punctual health
crisis, but also a crisis of confidence
<https://jovencuba-com.translate.goog/estallido-social/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=ajax,elem> and
a loss of expectations.

To this desperate claim, the Cuban authorities should not respond
with the usual slogans, repeated for years, and with the answers that
these authorities want to hear. Not even with explanations, however
convincing and necessary they may be. What is imposed are the solutions
that many citizens expect or demand, some demonstrating in the street,
others giving their opinion on social networks and expressing their
disappointment or disagreement, many counting the few and devalued pesos
that they have in their impoverished pockets and many, many more,
queuing in resigned silence for several hours in the sun or rain,
including a pandemic, queues at markets to buy food, queues at
pharmacies to buy medicines, queues to reach our daily bread and for
everything imaginable and necessary.

Scream (2)

"(...) the Cuban authorities should not respond with the usual slogans,
repeated for years ..." (Photo: Canal Caribe)

I think that no one with a minimum feeling of belonging, with a sense of
sovereignty, with a civic responsibility can want (or even believe) that
the solution to these problems comes from any type of foreign
intervention
<https://jovencuba-com.translate.goog/derechos-intervenciones-corredores/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=ajax,elem>,
much less of a military nature, such as some have come to ask, and that,
it is also true, represents a threat that is still a possible scenario.

I also believe that any Cuban inside or outside the island knows that
the US commercial and financial blockade or embargo, whatever you want
to call it, is real and has become internationalized and intensified in
recent years and that it is too heavy a burden for the Cuban economy (
as it would be for any other economy). Those who live outside the island
and today want to help their relatives in the midst of a critical
situation, have been able to verify that it exists and how much it
exists when they are practically unable to send a remittance to their
relatives, just to mention a situation that affects Many. It is an old
policy that, by the way (sometimes some forget it) practically everyone
has condemned for many years in successive United Nations assemblies.

And I don't think anyone can deny that a media campaign has also been
unleashed in which, even in the grossest ways, false information has
been released that at the beginning and end only serves to diminish the
credibility of its managers.

Scream (1)

«(…) Neither one nor the other evidence takes away an iota of reason
from the scream that we have heard. A cry that is also the result of the
desperation of a society… »(Photo: Yamil Lage / AFP)

But I believe, along with all of the above, that Cubans need to regain
hope and have a possible image of their future. If hope is lost, the
meaning of any humanist social project is lost. And hope is not
recovered by force. You are rescued and fed with those solutions and
changes and social dialogues
<https://jovencuba-com.translate.goog/cuba-incendio-san-antonio/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=ajax,elem>,
which, by not arriving, have caused, among many other devastating
effects, the migratory anxieties of so many Cubans and now provoked the
cry of despair of people among whom there were surely paid people and
opportunistic criminals, although I refuse to believe that in my
country, at this point, there may be so many people, so many people born
and educated among us who sell themselves or commit crimes. Because if
it were, it would be the result of the society that has fostered them.

The spontaneous way, without being tied to any leadership, without
receiving anything in return or stealing anything along the way, with
which a notable number of people have also demonstrated in the streets
and on the networks, should be a warning and I think it is an alarming
sample of the distances that have been opened between the leading
political spheres and the street (and this has even been recognized by
Cuban leaders). And it is only in this way that it is explained that
what has happened has happened, especially in a country where almost
everything is known when it wants to be known, as we all also know.

To convince and calm those desperate, the method cannot be the solutions
of force and darkness, such as imposing the digital blackout that has
cut off the communications of many for days, but that nevertheless has
not impeded the connections of those who want to say something, in favor
or opposing. Much less can the violent response, especially against
non-violent people, be used as a convincing argument. And it is already
known that violence can be not only physical.

Scream (3)

"Much less can the violent response, especially against non-violent
people, be used as a convincing 

argument." (Photo: Yamil Lage / AFP)

Many things seem to be at stake today. Perhaps even if calm returns
after the storm. Perhaps the extremists and fundamentalists will not be
able to impose their extremist and fundamentalist solutions, and a
dangerous state of hatred that has been growing in recent years will not
take root.

But, in any case, it is necessary for solutions to arrive, responses
that should not only be of a material nature but also of a political
nature, and thus an inclusive and better Cuba can address the reasons
for this cry of despair and loss of hope. that, silently but with force,
since before July 11, many of our compatriots had been giving those
laments that were not heard and from whose rains these muds arose.  

As a Cuban who lives in Cuba and works and believes in Cuba, I assume
that it is my right to think and express my opinion about the country in
which I live, work and where I believe. I know that in times like this
and trying to express an opinion, it often happens that "You are always
reactionary for someone and red for someone," as Claudio Sánchez
Albornoz once said. I also take that risk, as a man who pretends to be
free, who hopes to be more and more free.

In Mantilla, July 15, 2021.

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