Category: Yoani Sanchez

14ymedio, Havana, Yoani Sánchez, 30 June 2023 — I had read him in those ‘plain-paper covered’ books that passed from hand to hand in Cuba in the 1990s. Later, on our Island where censorship was practiced in all its forms, several videocassettes with some of his participations in foreign television programs slipped through. He had a way of speaking and arguing so different from the leaders who were yelling at us from the tribunes that there was no way to take your eyes off the screen. Cultured, calm, smooth and with prodigious verbal ability, Carlos Alberto Montaner practiced an exercise that had been lost in national political life: debate with respect and arguments.

It was not for nothing that Fidel Castro hated him so much. Compared to the man of letters, versatile, disciplined, and who listened attentively to his interlocutor, our tropical caudillo seemed more hysterical, coarse, and authoritarian. In a hypothetical oral duel between the two, it was easy to determine who would most convince the audience, most move the audience and wield the most reliable data. The fear of meeting Montaner at some international event and coming out worse from an exchange of phrases must have tormented the dictator for decades, who always wanted to be a writer and only managed to become a crazy orator without any poetic flight.

The official discourse presented the exile, who escaped from the island in 1961, as the “black beast” of Castroism, the public enemy one of the nation and coined that he was a violent terrorist because he could not be defeated in the field of words. They ensured that several generations of Cubans did not read his texts at school and, even so, they did not manage to prevent people from knowing him in the country where he had been born in that distant 1943.

The official speech presented the exile, who escaped from the Island in 1961, as the “black beast” of Castroism, the public enemy of the nation

When I opened my Generación Y blog, in April 2007, one of the first attacks I received from the spokesmen for the regime was that of an supposed training that Montaner had given me in Spain, to return to the island and start publishing a blog. At that time, I was afraid and indignant that they lied with such impunity, but today it only makes me laugh and proud to see that, although I didn’t even know that man from Havana with his elegant bearing and tall stature at that time, with that campaign of firing squads against my reputation, they were actually linking my name to his forever. continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 22 June 2023 — The stalls were full of colorful magazines. To my childish mind, the Soviet Union was that place of intense colors, steaming bowls of soup, and smiling peasants seen in the photos of the many publications that came to Cuba in the 1980s. But beyond the propaganda, Moscow was , in fact, like a huge bear that held up the Island. It hugged us roughly: it controlled and propped up the whole country.

Cuban sovereignty has always been the preferred theme of patriotic speeches and the justification for refusing aid, rapprochement and dialogue, but there are few nations on the planet as in need of external support and foreign support as this one. Even the “golden age” of our insular socialism was nothing more than a period of time in which the Russian subsidy made it possible to supply the markets, build schools and finance all the nonsense that Fidel Castro came up with. The Kremlin paid for a showcase in our territory to attract the unsuspecting who believed that this false bonanza was the fruit of the development achieved from the chosen political system.

As soon as the USSR imploded, our bubble also burst. Curiously, the measures that Castro took to prevent social protests and the fall of the regime implied handing over new portions of sovereignty, but, on this occasion, not to Soviet comrades but to foreign investors who wanted to put their dollars on the Island. The cycle of dependency continued and, at the end of the last century, with the rise to power of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Havana found an oil patron willing to finance its failed economic model. We return to ‘tick’ diplomacy, that most practiced in the last six decades.

Now, Miguel Díaz-Canel winks at Vladimir Putin so that the Russian bear once again carries our weight and sustains us. The leaders of the Cuban Communist Party have the illusion that money will begin to flow from full hands, oil tankers will bring huge amounts of hydrocarbons from the Eurasian giant, free or at ridiculous prices, and Moscow will assume the costs of keeping this broken island afloat.  The word “sovereignty” will continue to be reserved for official tantrums before international organizations, while Putin’s interference in our affairs will grow every day.

Like a flag, painted on a wall in the neighborhood of La Víbora in Havana, which cannot be stand on its own without crude propping, Cuba is today a country that cannot even provide itself with eggs, sugar or coffee. The force of gravity pulls the wall to the ground with the same force that reality pushes the Cuban political system towards its extinction. The sovereign star is faded and a crack threatens to split it in two. It will end up collapsing and perhaps claiming a few lives in the fall. There is no beam that can withstand such weight, nor ally that can support much failure.

____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 22 May 2023 — In many Cuban houses there is still a wooden Matryoshka, an empty bottle of Moscow Red perfume, or a copy of Sputnik magazine. The Soviet presence was so intense on our Island that, for the children who grew up between the 70s and 80s, the USSR was like a powerful and severe stepmother. Today, we see the Kremlin envoys arrive again and, although they look different in their suits and ties, we know that they are seeking the same thing: to use our country as a geostrategic chess piece that is too big for us, very big.

The same day that the Group of 7 summit began in Japan, Cuba President Miguel Díaz-Canel ratified to the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitri Chernishenko, “Cuba’s unconditional support for the Russian Federation in its confrontation with the West.” In Hiroshima the meetings revolved around how to tighten sanctions to corner Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine, but in Havana the red carpet was rolled out for the former KGB agent’s narrow circle of power. It was no coincidence.

Increasingly isolated internationally and with a war in which it has not won the stunning victory it had hoped for, the Russian regime is in dire need of alliances. The urge is not only on the diplomatic level to pretend that it maintains loyal partners in some parts of the planet, but also for its friends help it evade sanctions. Until the beginning of the invasion, Putin had shown several signs of disinterest towards the Island, several joint projects were even canceled due to the inefficient actions of the Cuban side. But the war campaign changed everything.

Havana rapidly aligned itself with Moscow’s discourse and began to call the entry of troops into Ukrainian territory a “special military operation.” It avoided condemning the Russian actions at the United Nations and blamed Kiev for the start of the conflict. Then began a slew of announcements of new agreements signed, of credits granted by the Kremlin and of visits by officials to both sides of the Atlantic. As more photos surfaced with bureaucrats from both countries signing contracts and memorandums of understanding, concern grew among Cubans. continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 21 May 2023 — It was 6:30 am yesterday, Saturday, when I was checking international news on my mobile and, suddenly, an error message began to appear every time I tried to open a web page. At first I thought it was the normal fluctuations in internet connectivity to which the telecommunications monopoly Etecsa has accustomed us, but when my husband Reinaldo told me that the same thing was happening to him, we concluded: “green and thorny… repression for May 20,” the anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Cuba.

Shortly afterwards a supportive neighbor called us. “They have an operative down here.” Calls of this type followed one another throughout the day, some even dared to come to our apartment to describe where the two women and the man from State Security were sitting at the entrance to this ugly concrete block and where the vehicles with the other agents were waiting in case, circumventing the first barricade, we managed to set foot on the sidewalk of our house.

In each case, both among those who called us by phone to warn us and among those who came personally to show us their solidarity, there was the occasional phrase of this type: “it seems incredible that in a country where there is no fuel, not even for ambulances, they use it for this,” “but what happens to these people that they are so nervous,” or “they have more fear than desire to live.” In short, the repressive siege reinforced the balance of negative opinion against State Security in our neighborhood and strengthened our ties with the community.

In that time locked up and without access to the great world web, Rei and I read, cooked, tended the garden, made love, chatted through the landline with numerous friends, undertook some long-overdue household chores, played with our dogs and our cat. In short, while the pathetic agents suffered the torrid climate of May sitting on an uncomfortable wall and surrounded by the ridicule of the neighborhood, we continue living, creating and writing.

The internet service was only returned to us at dawn this Sunday. The encirclement of agents withdrew late in the night when the troops had consumed their corresponding snacks, lunches and very scarce meals in the school canteens and in the hospital wards. A while ago dawn broke and we received a call again: “They’re gone now, we are with you,” a neighbor said in one breath.

Note: Today is the ninth anniversary of the founding of the newspaper 14ymedio. We will also spend its next birthday in Havana, and the next and the next… and the next… I am mentioning it, so that the agents of the political police can prepare for the May sun and the hard wall of our building.

____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 17 May 2023 — The ‘Special Period‘ in Cuba is remembered for the long blackouts and food shortages, but also for having been a time when vandalism and robberies reached alarming levels throughout the Island. Light bulbs disappeared from schools and hospitals, toilet fittings remained in place barely a few hours after being installed, electrical outlets were yanked from the walls of medical offices, and even railroad ties were converted into pig pens. Electricity pylons were dismantled piece by piece and used as gates for houses, while the wheels of garbage containers ended up on wheelbarrows to carry water. The looting spread throughout society and looters came to enjoy the category of “heroes” to imitate, for their abilities to support their families with the fruits of their plunder.

In this new crisis we are experiencing, the power cuts have returned, as have the long lines to buy food and, it couldn’t fail, the ongoing theft of everything that can be stolen. This Tuesday, someone removed and took two sheets of glass that are part of one of the windows in the corridor on the 14th floor where I live in Havana. The panes had been there since this ugly concrete block opened in May 1985, even managing to escape unscathed during the predatory rage of the 1990s. However, someone calculated that with their 85 square centimeters each piece could be converted into some 5,000 pesos, and so they took them away. The operation must not have been easy: remove the aluminum beads, remove each sheet and take care not to cut yourself with its sharp edges. In front of the window, the door of the facing apartment could open at any moment and someone surprise the thieves, who would have had to have been more than one person for such a complex theft. continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 16 May 2023 — Things must be bad at the Palace for the Cuban authorities to have renounced some of the hefty elements involved in making and maintaining passports. The document that identifies us as nationals of this Island will now be good for ten years, instead of six, and the cumbersome need to renew it every two years disappears, eliminating some abusive procedures and costs. But it’s not enough.

A citizenry that long ago stopped hoping that steps in the direction of openness and freedom would be taken from “up there,” was taken by surprise by Tuesday’s announcement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From so much clamoring for immigration flexibility, the demands have escalated to a point where these measures barely alleviate the situation. Their implementation points more to the economic despair of a regime to attract visitors and remittances than to a desire to break down obstacles to the mobility of Cubans.

The 24-month period, as the limit of a stay abroad, is not modified, even if the verbal trick of an exemption for those who were already visiting outside the Island at the most critical moments of the Covid-19 pandemic is presented as such, as it is difficult for them to return. In reality, this two-year limit continues to be one of the great mechanisms of coercion by the Cuban regime, as taking refuge in that time period deprives a national of the right to own property, access public health services or remain indefinitely in the country.

While they lose a few dollars if the passport doesn’t have to be renewed every two years, the authorities maintain the possibility of denying entry to the country to any Cuban who has issued critical opinions against the prevailing political and economic model on the island. They also maintain the status known as “regulated,” the term applied to a prohibition on leaving the island, used against someone they want to punish for their civic behavior, or who they want to force to depart without any possibility of return. continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 8 May 2023 — Shirtless, with his arm raised and making the victory sign with his fingers, we see one of the protesters who on Saturday took to the streets of Caimanera, in Guantanamo.

The man, who stands out for his leadership, lists the reasons that have led them to the protest and adds: “From this moment on, I declare myself an opponent.” Pronouncing that phrase takes twice as much courage in one of the most closely watched municipalities in Cuba.

Accustomed to living under permanent observation, the residents of Caimanera reached a degree of indignation that made them leap over the fear with which they have lived for decades. A municipality adjacent to the Guantánamo US Naval Base, where the electrified fences, the uniformed men everywhere and the large mined area that borders the military site have become part of the daily life of its inhabitants.

In addition to the continuous controls on the local population, those who want to visit Caimanera must request advance authorization from the Ministry of the Interior. To obtain permission, a compelling reason is needed and the outsider is only allowed to spend a limited time – and supervised – with his hosts. Militarization extends to all aspects of life, from the limitations on fishing on its coasts to the suffocation of the informal market, essential on the Island.

But on May 6 none of these restrictions prevented unrest from leading hundreds of people to gather in front of the municipality’s Communist Party headquarters and shout, among many other slogans, the one that sums up all their demands: “Freedom!” The fears planted in the minds of these Guantanamo residents since they were little, the constant threats and the ridiculous official slogan that Caimanera is “the first anti-imperialist frontier” in Cuba were useless. In a few minutes all that ceased to matter and to paralyze the people. continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 25 April 2023 — Perhaps the demand began at a bus stop when someone compared the lack of buses with the line of buses that would be seen on May 1st. Then the demand jumped to the patient who waited for hours for an ambulance but in the hospital he heard the call to fill the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana on Workers’ Day. Then he infected that retiree who spent half his pension on a taxi to deal with getting some paperwork notarized. The chorus became almost unanimous: “How are they going to have a parade if there isn’t even gasoline for the hearses!”

Showing that there is the convening power and political muscle to transport thousands of people is one thing, but materializing this multitudinous horde implies complex logistics: the little revolutionary enthusiasm that remains among Cuban workers must be stirred up, along with the fuel necessary to carry them to the main squares of each province and to deploy a propaganda apparatus that brings everyone from camera operators to announcers to those places, all of them thirsty for water, snacks, minutes on their mobile phones and some other perks.

Until a few days ago it seemed that this authoritarian choreography was going to happen, despite the deep crisis we are experiencing. An event that on this Island has nothing to do with the proletarian date intended for demand and protest, because here, decades ago, it was tamed and transmuted into an act of support for a regime led by leaders of the Communist Party who have never sweated in a industry, never counted the centavos to make ends meet, and don’t know the bitter taste that a devalued currency and galloping inflation leaves on the plate.

They were going, as so many times in the past, to spend what little we have lefton a day of self-promotion, in this nation where universities cancel their face-to-face classes, people avoid making plans that involve traveling to another municipality, and fights break out and come to blows in families for the few liters of diesel that the grandfather has saved in a drum. This was going to be another year, like the so many others for us who live under the delusional imprint of Fidel Castro, in which the photo from the rostrum was more important than the day after when patients urgently needed to be transported, the deceased were waiting to be cremated, and their children were waiting to get to school. continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 21 April 2023 — The first rays of sunlight this Wednesday bathed Havana’s Carlos III Avenue. Where before there was a constant coming and going of vehicles, the fuel crisis has left a road deserted by cars. The conversations in the long lines focused on lamenting inflation, talking about a relative who managed to emigrate in recent days, or complaining about the power cuts. No one spoke about the parliamentarians who took office on April 19, nor was there speculation about who would be appointed president of the Republic of Cuba.

Hours later, the official media confirmed that Miguel Díaz-Canel was repeating in a second term in the highest post in the nation, while the structure of responsibilities in the National Assembly hardly changed and the cabinet of ministers did not suffer major changes either. Immobility was the pattern that defined an electoral process that hardly generated enthusiasm among citizens, more interested in finding food or managing to travel from one point to another than in following on national television the boring spectacle of a Parliament without any political diversity.

The appointment, for a second term, of the electronic engineer Díaz-Canel sends a message of continuity about the current Cuban model. A message to be read not only by the international community but, especially, by those on the Island who have been asking for a change of direction and a democratic opening for some time. The ruler, who appeared before the national television cameras during the popular protests on July 11, 2021, saying that “the order to combat” had been given, now has five more years to impose the will of his side. continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 11 April 2023 — Few phrases are as illustrative of Cuban voluntarism as the one that calls for “turning setbacks into victory.” Fueled by the whim of Fidel Castro, the maxim has summed up, since 1970, a way of doing politics in which boasting of victory was more important than achieving the results. It doesn’t matter if people lose their lives in the fight, if the country sinks into crisis or the economy is destroyed, but each failure must be transformed into a new, more ambitious goal to celebrate at full speed.

There was a time when that ideological compass was oriented towards delirious campaigns that presented the passage of a hurricane as a battle against nature, in which we pretended that we had the upper hand in the face of strong winds that left houses collapsed and fields devastated. After the passage of a meteor, one had to boast that the houses would be rebuilt, even more spacious and beautiful than when the cyclone knocked them down. We stuck out our tongues at the gusts and taunted the downpour with a one-finger salute.

Before each blow or setback, the response was revolutionary arrogance insisting that that misfortune was nothing compared to the “strength of a people.” Thus, we accumulated misfortunes for which we were not even allowed to mourn because we had to raise our fists and laugh from ear to ear as if we were engaged in eternal revelry. The failure of the sugar industry, the successive mass exoduses, the deterioration of the housing fund and the economic crisis received, indistinctly, the arrogant response of the ruling party and its consequent strategy to make the fiasco invisible.

Over time, this obsession with winning at all costs has led to putting makeup on the disaster in a more clumsy and ridiculous way. Thus, we have heard the Cuban leaders assure, after the explosion of the Saratoga Hotel, that the building will be rebuilt “better than before,” although from the results of the expert investigation that determines responsibilities for the death of 47 people, no one has had any more to say. Something similar to the tragedy in the Matanzas supertanker base, where the disaster has been covered with the triumphalist headlines about the reconstruction of the tanks. continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 8 March 2023 — Gladys lives in Caibarién, a small coastal city in the center of Cuba. Two months ago, her son left with other young people on a rustic raft to try to reach the United States. She since then she has heard nothing from them. A teacher by profession and retired a decade ago, the woman spends her hours checking social networks and calling the family of the other disappeared rafters to find out if they have any news. This March 8, International Women’s Day, will be longer than usual for her: without celebrations or laughter.

“There, that’s where they killed her,” says a resident of Camalote, in the province of Camagüey, when someone inquires about 17-year-old Leidy Bacallao Santana. On February 3, the young woman sought refuge at the police station in the face of threats from her ex-boyfriend, but he chased her and ended up killing her with a machete in front of the uniformed officers. Since the beginning of the year, 16 Cuban women have died in sexist attacks in a country where official propaganda refuses to recognize the femicides that leave so many families in mourning. From the Government, the only stories narrated are those of happy woman, fulfilled and grateful for the system.

Wearing her white coat, Danurys leaves every morning for her job at a doctor’s office. She graduated just a few months ago and dreams of later doing a specialty in pediatrics. This week she has not had anything for breakfast despite the fact that the salaries in the Public Health sector are among the highest in the country. The devaluation of the Cuban peso and the rise in the price of basic products, together with the chronic shortages and the productive inefficiency of the country, mean that a piece of bread, a glass of milk or a sip of coffee have become unaffordable for the pockets of many. continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Merida (Mexico), 9 February 2023 — When I met Nicaraguan opposition member Félix Maradiaga I knew immediately that Daniel Ortega must hate him rabidly. The activist is the antithesis of the old caudillo: hyperactive, charismatic and an excellent communicator. This Thursday I learned that the former presidential candidate is among the 222 political prisoners that the Managua regime has just sent into exile in the United States. I breathed in relief.

The tactic of arresting dissidents, sentencing them to long prison terms and then using them as a bargaining chip with Washington, the Vatican or the European Union has been recurrent among the authoritarian regimes that continue to cast a shadow over Latin America. The Cuban regime has a whole bachelor’s degree and several doctorates in this strategy that has allowed it not only to put pressure on democratic governments to obtain favors, but also to loosen social pressure within the Island.

Ortega is a faithful disciple of Fidel Castro, who used the opponents prosecuted during the Black Spring of 2003 as a bargaining chip with the Catholic Church and the Spanish authorities. Dissidents who were in jail 20 years ago were barely allowed to choose between the bars or exile. Only a few rejected the pressure and remained on the Island. Two of those who stayed, Félix Navarro and José Daniel Ferrer, have been in prison again since July 2021. continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 6 January 2022– Dozens of people appeared at dawn this Friday outside the main currency stores in Havana with the hope of acquiring a toy or some candy as a gift for Three Kings Day. Curiously, among those anxious faces waiting to buy a doll, a plastic car, or some sweet cookies, there were many Cubans who grew up at a time when it was forbidden to talk about Melchor, Gaspar, and Baltasar.

In front of the entrance door of the Plaza de Carlos III in Central Havana, expectations were lowering by the minute. If in the early hours of the day there were those who still hoped to get some children’s toy or a table game, little by little it became clear that the only offers of the day were ham sandwiches and fried chicken that were sold in the area where one could pay in Cuban pesos.

The most cautious, and those with freely convertible currency (MLC) cards, had already devastated days earlier whatever candy, party favors, children’s costumes or trinket went on sale in those stores. Others plunged into the black market to buy some of the same merchandise resold at prices with three, four, and even five leading zeros. But there were also those who could not do either.

“Are you going to get something for the children?” asked a woman in her 50s today, who first looked over the counter at the entrance to Plaza de Carlos III in search of stuffed animals, balls or, at least, some modest colored pencils. She did not find what she was looking for with her eyes and did not receive an answer from the employee, more focused on explaining how many snacks they had per person and warning that one could not “line up twice.” continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 2 January 2022 — One of the diversions that I have given myself for the new year has been interacting with the ChatGPT developed in 2022 by the OpenAI company, and which is promoted as “specialized in dialogue.” On the first day of 2023, I greeted the “entity,” who responded to me with kindness, restraint and in almost perfect Spanish. I immediately questioned it about urgent issues on the Island and its suggestions for the Cuban economy seemed to me more accurate than everything said by Cuba’s Minister  of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil since he has been in office.

With a ponderous tone, which warns that it does not issue its opinion and avoids predicting future situations, the algorithm behind the chatbot detailed some measures that could help our country get out of its economic quagmire. The resulting list is not very different from what is heard in lines or in conversations between friends when the crisis we are going through and its possible solutions is discussed, but it is quite distant from the official discourse.

If the need for foreign investment, the promotion of agriculture and the obligation to stabilize the currency are points of contact between the responses of this artificial intelligence and what is discussed in the Cuban streets and with the phrases that Cuban leaders constantly repeat, ChatGPT distances itself completely from the latter, because it does not stop at proposals that never come to fruition and rhetorical fireworks. Far from triumphalism and polarization, it warns of the urgency of increasing the educational level of the people and also of promoting political changes “necessary to implement broader economic reforms.” continue reading

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 1 January 2023 — Some call it the political pendulum, others classify it as the necessary ideological fluctuations imposed by history and there is no shortage of those who compare it with a cachumbambé (or seesaw) that sinks some party leaders in Latin America today while elevating others. The academic definitions or the labels coined by the headlines of the press matter little: the ideological oscillations between the governments of the continent are becoming, in all the essentials, less and less differentiated.

When Gabriel Boric came to power in Chile, Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución rubbed its hands. The Cuban authoritarian regime believed that in the South American president it would have a faithful follower who would accept its policies and silence its human rights violations. This has not been the case and, over the months, the new president has been turning towards pragmatism and more moderate positions. Although from the Moneda Palace a clear voice condemning the repression in Cuba is not heard, nor is complicit applause is not heard and the accusatory finger he raises at the excesses of the autocrat Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua is clearly seen.

The disaster of Pedro Castillo in Peru also calls into question the theory of ideological oscillation in the region. With a campaign that presented him as a humble teacher who was going to rescue the poorest social classes from oblivion, the Puña native ended up surrounding himself with a cabinet that had little to do with his initial left-wing discourse or with his proletarian demands. Caught between his ineptitude and the complexities of governing such a diverse nation, he preferred to flee forward and embark on the ridicule of a failed coup.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is another of these. A declared critic of the press, a promoter of various conspiracy theories or falsehoods that he tries to validate in his soporific “mornings,” the Mexican leader moves according to convenience between a discourse that borders on populist clichés and opportunism. Although in international forums he stands side by side with Pedro Castillo, the recently sentenced Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, or the unpresentable Miguel Díaz-Canel, towards the interior of his country he plays with a confusing rhetoric that is said and unsaid every day. It’s like a pendulum, coming and going as it pleases.

Nor is El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele, chameleon of chameleons, spared either. The one who presents himself as a “tweeter in chief” also breaks into Congress with armed soldiers. He can be hypnotic in his speeches, modern in his use of social networks and even innovative in his proposals to fight organized crime, but in the end he is nothing more than the grotesque and well-known Latin American caudillo who believes that citizens should be treated as small children and punished as if we were still in diapers.

Faced with so much political decadence, the shameful Nicolás Maduro can always remain as an extreme example. Clumsy, incapable and ridiculous, the Venezuelan caudillo helps us understand that it is not about ideological colors or a dilemma between liberalism versus socialism. Our region is sick with autocrats or apprentice dictators. Decades after the publication of The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez, The Recourse to the Method by Alejo Carpentier or I, the Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos, Latin America continues to be a region of caricature leaders, of leaders who produce more fear or laughter than admiration.

____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.