14ymedio, Havana, 28 February 2021 — Camagüey priest Alberto Reyes has once again issued harsh criticisms of the situation Cubans are currently experiencing. In a text published this Sunday on his Facebook account, the priest warns that “this people has been giving signs for a long time that it does not want continuity.”
Reyes describes the Cuban population as tired “of this sterile ‘spirit of revolution’, of an absurd ‘resist and win’, of ‘doing more with less’, of ‘battles of ideas’, of ‘no one surrenders here’, of ‘socialism or death’, and even of ‘homeland or death’.” He also regrets that the Island has been mired for “years and years among slogans of war, while we long for times of peace.”
“I do not see a people eager to give their lives to build a revolution, but a people desperate for the so-called ‘revolution’ to give them breathing space to build their lives,” adds the priest who has gained notoriety in recent months due to his periodic reflections published on social networks.
In a part of his text, the priest addresses the Cuban authorities. “You, who hold the reins of political power on this Island, don’t you see this people crying out for a change? Aren’t you going to have the courage and intelligence to initiate those changes, so that a peaceful transition can be achieved, and in the end we can all come to an accord from peace? ”
For that longed for economic and political change, Reyes considers that “the best, the most sensible, as well as the most elegant, would be a proposal from the power structures. Because when the rivers overflow, they only leave destruction and death in their wake.”
In the texts that he disseminates through Facebook, the priest has previously questioned that in Cuba there can only be one ideology, a single party, a single way of educating, and has denounced the “great theater” that the Island is today, “where we lie to each other as part of a play that no longer needs to be rehearsed.”
“Don’t you see? Don’t you listen? Don’t you understand that we cannot continue like this, and that in a country that is adrift no one is safe, neither you nor your children?” Reyes continues to question in his most recent publication. “Don’t you see that nobody trusts that we are on the ‘right path’ anymore, or that we will be able to build a happy and prosperous society?
“And if we all become a little more humble, and recognize that we need a change of course, a new space in which everyone has a place?” proposes the Camagüeyan and, in just a few minutes, his reflection had already accumulated dozens of supportive comments. “Cubans are not a spiteful people, and they have shown it. The tone of the demands from this people is still that of dialogue and inclusion.”
“We do not want violence, we do not want shouting, we do not want disqualifications, we do not want acts of repudiation. But we do not want to submit more, we do not want to turn our life into a lie, we do not want to continue insulting our intelligence,” he says.
Reyes concludes his text by recalling some verses by Pablo Neruda: “They will be able to cut all the flowers, but they will not be able to stop the spring.” A quote to which he adds: “I deeply believe that the spring of a new Cuba is coming, and that it is unstoppable.” Furthermore, he describes that moment as one of “harmony, color, light, joy, peace.”
Last year one of the chronicles published by Reyes caused a great impact because it asked the people to stop being afraid, not to fall into divisions, and it addressed the Catholic bishops, whose “silence” they suffered. “This country needs a change, it needs a transition, it needs to live and stop dragging its existence, and at this moment, in my opinion, only the Catholic Church is in a position to lead a dialogue and propose a transition,” he declared then.
His criticisms earned him an attack in the official Cuban press that questioned that some priests of the Catholic Church used “the pulpits to launch strong questions at the Cuban Revolution, blaming it for the economic crisis that the country is going through, without touching who is truly responsible, the United States.”
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