The author with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. (Clive Rudd Fernández)
14ymedio, Clive Rudd Fernández, Miami, 10 December 2020 — I just got back to Florida after a five-day trip to Cuba. It had been about five years since I went, but a series of factors came together that led me to opt for Havana, and not the Bahamas or Cancun.
The most important of all was my mother. At 82, you never know when the last time you see her will be. The second factor was a chain of events that began with the rebellion of the San Isidro Movement for the unjust imprisonment of Denis Solís, to which we added the decision of the writer Carlos Manuel Álvarez and the artist Tania Bruguera to leave the comfort of their homes, with their security and full freedoms outside of Cuba, to risk their existence in the steady increase of the repression. I had no way out but to go there.
I arrived in Cuba with my wife on Tuesday, December 2, very early and two hours later we were at my mother’s, who lives in El Vedado. The images of the street corners and places that marked my life sped past me all the way. The architecture and the streets remain the same as 25 years ago. As if they could not stand up to one more hole. As if the houses had given up painting like an old woman who hates rouge. continue reading
But there was something new. One of the national pastimes, standing in line, is experiencing a boom like never before. Not only that, there are also more, and worse, reasons to do it. It is as if the value of Cubans’ time has been devalued like an old and discarded currency.
There are crowds and long lines to get some laundry detergent or a piece of chicken. And this in the midst of a pandemic that the Government has used to strengthen its control over citizens. Over some more than others.
I spent a few days talking with my mother and arguing with my wife about the best time to visit the people who were juggling their days for us. We agreed that, knowing the reactions of the Government, we would leave a possible conversation (which we had not yet arranged) with Tania Bruguera, for the last days of our stay.
But in Cuba planning something is impossible, especially if the people you want to meet are under constant harassment. For example, Tania was arrested in the middle of the street by State Security and we didn’t hear from her again.
The opportunity came when a friend of the family invited us to a session with a troubadour we love very much, coincidentally a few blocks from San Isidro, so we decided to stop by the house where everything had started, at Damas 955.
There was not a single police patrol there. Inside the house there was light and several people talking, and we asked them about Luisma’s [Otero Alcántara] health.
One of the women in the room asked me, half-jokingly half-seriously, if Cuban President Diaz-Canel had sent me. I was still laughing when, from the center of the poorly lit street, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara appeared and, without ever having seen us in his life and without asking any kind of questions, extended his hand to us.
– Welcome to San Isidro.
I grabbed his hand and used it as a handle to give him a big hug and say closely:
– “You are not alone. Cuba is with you!”
Luis Manuel showed us the still fresh evidence of the acid that had been thrown through the roof and the shattered door that State Security had crushed a few days ago with the intention of creating terror and confusion. He also told us that the State had installed multiple surveillance cameras.
After a short visit, we said our goodbyes and went to listen to our friend who, with his guitar, awoke with the memories of a Cuba that does not fade but exists only in memory.
When I got home, my mother greeted me with, “I have bad news. The police were here.”
As she had not opened the door, she did not receive a summons, but the police officer made it clear that I should be at the Zapata y C station the next day for a “police interview.”
We initially decided not to go. “How are we going to surrender so easily and voluntarily to the police without an official summons?” said my wife, with good reason.
But after 10:00 AM we learned why there was no option but to go.
Captain Radames telephoned the house to ask how was it possible that we were not at the station yet, and he let it be understood that, although we would be traveling soon, my mother was staying in Cuba. Faced with this veiled threat, it became clear to us that we had to go.
Four people were waiting for us: Captain Radamés, one whom they called the politician and who never gave his name, and two women who said they were from the Health department.
My wife had never been in a police station, but her father was interrogated and harassed years ago by State Security, so she was very tense. I, for my part, was ready for anything.
They informed us that the PCR test for Covid-19 that we were given when entering the country was negative, but that when we left home we were committing the crime of propagation of epidemics that could lead to a penalty of deprivation of liberty for three months to one year. That was not what I expected. One year in jail for leaving home when my test was negative? But the conversation continued in another direction. The visit we made seemed to matter more than the pandemic.
After half an hour of discussions, including an epidemiology debate in which the nurse seemed more like a jailer than someone interested in her profession, the captain asked the “health workers” to leave the office and leave us alone with the politicals.
“We are aware that you went to visit Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara,” he snapped, as if he had been waiting for that moment to display his power.
I said to him: “We are going to shorten the time, because you know that I have no legal representation here, much less any rights. Tell us what you want to do.”
The policeman interrupted to tell us that, this time, we were going to leave with a fine. “But know that we are already on to you, and if you take one wrong step we will apply the full force of the law,” he added.
We left the station shit-scared, knowing that with the arbitrariness of a country where the law is applied at the whim of a few and in an expeditious manner, our five-day vacation could be transformed into the hell of a Cuban jail.
We spent the next two days without leaving the house, terrified, and with the paranoia of seeing police everywhere.
On Monday at 4:00 am the alarm went off and it was time to leave. The flight was at 8:00 am, but first we had to go through immigration.
I was reaching that moment when the body and mind are so fatigued with fear that you begin to feel immune to it. You start to laugh nervously at everything and it is enough for someone to look at you for more than 30 seconds for you to spontaneously curse him out.
“This is over. Not one more fear. Fear is a natural human reaction, but courage is a decision. Today, the two of us are going to make that decision and we will not let these people have power over us,” my wife said to me.
She got through immigration in less than three minutes. They told me that my passport needed further review, to step aside and let other passengers go through.
An hour passed and I began to see how uniformed officials from the Ministry of the Interior went from one place to another with my passport. First a major, then one without a uniform, and finally a colonel.
Flight time was approaching and there were no signs that my issue would be resolved with a happy ending, so I prepared myself for the worst. I thought: “I hope Liliet gets on the plane. My only protection is that she calls the media and denounces my arbitrary detention on the social networks.”
Finally, the colonel from State Security calls me to an interrogation room where the politician I met at the Zapata y C station was also there. At this point I was prepared for anything.
– What did you come to do in Cuba? the colonel asked me.
– I came to see my mother, I replied.
– We are going to stop this farce, we know that you came to meet Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, the interrogator rebuked me.
– There is no farce. I came to see my mother, but I had the tremendous luck to meet Luis Manuel, whom I admire a lot for the fight he has embarked on.
As the interrogation progressed, during which they asked me about my links with the news site Martí Noticias – where I have not worked for more than two years – and about my relationships with Eliécer Ávila and with other members of the San Isidro group – whom I have not I had the honor to meet – I realized that fear no longer existed. I began to feel a great inner peace and enough serenity to disagree with whatever empty argument they pulled out of their arsenal.
For me it was something unexpected, how I went from a paralyzing panic to feeling myself controlling the interrogation and all the arguments of the issues we addressed.
Finally, he told me that I was not going to convince him, but to be very careful, that with one stroke of the pen he could destroy my life. The interrogation ended when I told him that I already knew that, that we, too, have pens and that they have more impact than they imagine.
After that they released me and I went to wait for the boarding of a totally paralyzed flight that they did not allow to leave until noon.
Once we were in the air, Liliet told me that she had raised the alarm on social networks about their holding me and that she had also been interrogated for half an hour.
Leaning back against the seat, I tried in vain to doze. I felt very tired, but unable to sleep. In the midst of all the images that ran through my head about the interrogation I had a feeling of joy, something strange, amongst so much filth.
I think that when I lost all fear and told the interrogator everything I thought to his face, without nuance or concealment, I felt free in Cuba for the first time.
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According to the text, the national rice for sale has “great acceptance in the national and international market.” (TNC)
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 8 December 2020 — Until recently, coffee shops advertised “rice with steak”, “congrí (black beans and rice) and yucca,” “yellow rice with sausage,” and other combinations where the grain reigned, as it does in every Cuban table. But the product, missing from the unrationed market, is now only found on the black market and in dollar stores.
An article published this Monday in the State newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth) has added salt to the wound of the rice shortage, boasting that in less than 24 hours almost three tons of the domestically produced grain were sold through a virtual store in foreign currency. The page that hosted the text has been showing an error message all day, which suggests that the critics have forced the withdrawal of the article.
The rice harvested at the Empresa Agroindustrial de Granos Sur del Jíbaro, in Sancti Spíritus, was marketed on a portal where people abroad can make purchases for delivery to the island, a channel frequently used by emigrants to help their families with products missing from the network of State stores. continue reading
Orland Linares Morell, general director of one of the largest rice producing companies in the country, explains it to the Communist youth newspaper without hiding his pride. The official considers it an opportunity for Cuban emigrants living abroad “to acquire the grain to be consumed by residents of the national territory.”
According to Linares, the grain that is sold is of the Galano 1967 brand , registered in the Cuban Industrial Property Office, “with great acceptance in the national and international market.” One kilo of the product, sold by state-owned Fruta Selecta, is offered on various digital sites at the cost of $1.78 plus home delivery costs.
In freely convertible currency (MLC) stores that have been selling food and hygiene products since last July, the rice sold is mostly imported and one kilogram of the variant popularly known as “bolito,” which comes from Spain, can exceed $4.50.
With the approach of Christmas and its traditional dinners based on rice, beans, pork, cassava and vegetable salad, the demand for the grain has skyrocketed and it is common for it to be scarce even in foreign exchange stores, despite its high prices. On the black market, the price is also on the rise and is close to 50 Cuban pesos per pound, a figure that may grow as the end of the year approaches.
In his statements this Monday, Linares pointed out that at the moment the supply from Granos del Sur del Jíbaro is only available in Sancti Spíritus, but will be extended to Havana through the Grupo Excelencias y la Industria Alimentaria. It did not specify, however, if there were limitations on the amount that each customer can buy.
The users of these on-line sites selling food are almost entirely people who live outside the Island, since residents in the country do not have credit or debit cards that can be used in digital commerce. For Islanders, the alternative is the TuEnvio.cu store, marked by technological problems, delays in deliveries and a shortage of merchandise.
To address the grain shortage, many private businesses have replaced the commonly offered side dishes of “Moors and Christians” (black beans and white rice) or white rice alone with ones of fried plantains, sautéed vegetables or bread. “We don’t have rice, but I can accompany the pork with some plantain tostones,” explains one of the most popular home delivery services in Havana by phone.
“It is not business to sell dishes with rice because every day it costs more for each pound,” the owner of Sabor a ti, a small business that offers a simple takeout from Monday to Friday for customers in the Cuban capital, tells this newspaper. “All our dishes are now coming out with cassava, taro or plantain but we cannot guarantee the rice.”
At home, the panorama repeats itself. “My family consumes little rice and it is enough for me, but for example at my mother’s house it is impossible, after the first 10 days of the month and she has to go out to look for the product in the street,” Mayelin Ramírez, a resident of the municipality of Plaza de Revolución told 14ymedio.
“Hopefully this offer reaches Havana, my mother is having a hard time without being able to have rice the whole month. She does not have a card in MLC but my brother who lives abroad can buy it without problems,” she explained.
In the stores that sell in MLC, the rice that is sold is mainly imported. (Collage)
Ramírez believes that what is happening is that “other products are also missing” and that is why rice becomes the main dish in many households. “There are no root vegetables, no pasta, every day the options are fewer,” laments the woman, the mother of a little girl. “At home there are only three of us, with my husband and daughter, and I am always inventing. I like to balance our diet, but everyone does not have that possibility because they are very attached to the custom of always eating with rice.”
The unrationed sale of the grain was suspended in the country at the beginning of the pandemic. According to calculations by official sources, of the 700,000 tons necessary to ensure the distribution of rice for the basic market basket sold in the ration stores, this year less than 163,000 tons will be produced in the network of rice companies.
In this context, five pounds of rice per month can be purchased in the rationed market for each consumer at a subsidized price, and an additional two pounds but without the subsidy. This summer, an additional three pounds were added as part of a group of measures announced “to alleviate the impact” of the pandemic on food.
The official version, released by the media, maintains that the ’blockade’ [i.e., the U.S. embargo], the climate and the international crisis that has followed the pandemic, together with the island’s financial problems, are the causes of the shortage.
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The Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernandez, appeared on Thursday’s “Roundtable” State TV program to discuss MLC stores.(Capture)
14ymedio, December 4, 2020 — Economy and Planning Minister Alejandro Gil Fernandez appeared on Thursday’s “Roundtable” State TV program in an effort to calm the growing popular discontent over hard-currency stores. His words, however, had the opposite effect.
The minister’s statements outraged many Cubans, who expressed disagreement on the streets and in social media. Most disconcerting was Gil’s assertion that the decision to open hard-currency stores to sell groceries and cleaning products in July was “a decision of social justice and socialism.”
“An undersupplied market does not attract foreign currency,” the minister explained, referring to what many Cubans describe as “monetary apartheid,” which divides society into those who have dollars to buy products in these stores, known locally as MLCs, and those who must make do with the network of stores selling goods in the Cuban pesos (CUP). continue reading
“The way you acquire [hard currency] is to sell things in freely convertible foreign currency in order to be able to redistribute and guarantee a minimum level of supply in the national currency, which we know is very limited and far from meeting consumer demand,” explained Gil, who alluded to the supposedly “high and medium range” products these stores offer.
Cubans complain, however, that both convertible peso (CUC) stores and foreign currency stores suffer from shortages. In stores whose merchandise can only be purchased with magnetic debit cards denominated in dollars or other foreign currencies, customers must wait in long lines. Popular items are also often sold out by noon or can never be purchased at all.
“I waited in line for three hours at the hard-currency store on the corner of Boyeros and Camaguey [in Havana]. I was part of the second group that was let in, around 10:00 AM,” says a regular customer of one of these stores. “The only things they had in the meat section were Gouda cheese and some very expensive imported shrimp. No meat, no ground beef, no sausage.”
A resident of Santiago de Cuba had a similar experience and told 14ymedio that after spending a month looking for certain grocery items, she went to MLC stores believing she would find them there. “All they had was some very expensive cheese and mortadella, nothing else,” she observed.
After Gil’s appearance on television on Thursday, a young man in Old Havana expressed disagreement with the minister’s statements: “He flat out tells us, ’Oh, you don’t want MLC stores? Well, then no more bread or milk.’ It’s insulting. My God, it’s immoral.”
In response to Gil’s arguments, the Cuban economist Pedro Monreal claimed on social media shortly after the television appearance, “It is not necessary to price consumer goods in hard currency in order to acquire hard currency. That is done at currency exchange bureaus and banks.”
“This is not about having well-stocked CUC stores. I say, let’s start selling for dollars the things we used to sell for CUCs,” said the minister. He justified the policy by saying that government resources “are directed mainly at acquiring medicines, food and cleaning products as well as in supporting the energy sector.”
Among other issues, Gil noted that MLC stores arose due to a concern among the Cuban public over the growth of a “parallel market of Cuban nationals who traveled abroad and brought back products that the country was not able to offer in its CUC stores.”
According to the minister, the public asked that “something be done because hard currency was not being tapped. It was not benefitting the nation’s industry and we were not attracting dollars for the country’s economic and social development.”
But in his analysis, Monreal claims, “Undersupplying CUC/CUP stores is not a good mechanism for currency allocation. It is a deficiency in distribution, not a way to build hard currency reserves.” To the economist, operating MLC stores in a country planning on doing currency unification is a contradiction.
The economist argues that the sale of food and personal hygiene products for hard currency creates “a closed retail loop disconnected from the work efforts of most employees, gradually disincentivizing the work ethic.”
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Guards and prisoners in the Combinado del Este prison, in Havana, Cuba, during a visit made by the national and foreign press accredited to the island. (EFE)
The family does not know when the transfer occurred and admits that the news has been an unpleasant surprise, since Combinado del Este is a maximum security prison and Solís is serving a sentence for a crime of contempt. However, he is not the only prisoner of conscience in the same situation.
The journalist Héctor Luis Valdés has denounced the situation through his social networks, pointing out that the high security center should house criminals convicted of serious crimes such as murders, rapes, drug trafficking or embezzlement, and serving penalties that exceed eight years of deprivation of freedom.
“The Ministry of Justice, in complicity with the Ministry of the Interior, circumvented any code of ethics when carrying out this sanction. Now they commit another arbitrariness and another breach,” laments Valdés, who adds that, in any case, according to the law Solís’s sentence should be “served in Valle Grande and from there he should go to a forced labor camp.”
Denis Solís, a member of the San Isidro Movement, was arrested on November 9 on the street. From there, he was transferred to the Vivac de Calabazar and later to Valle Grande, where his communications have been very limited, something that his colleagues attribute to an attempt to limit the support he is receiving from abroad and which has led to a protest movement unusual in Cuba.
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The journalist Reinaldo Escobar (back left, purple shirt) as the victim of an act of repudiation in November 2009, Havana. (Screen capture)
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 8 December 2020 — Although I collect dictionaries, I suffer from an incurable allergy to citing them, so I leave it to the readers to search, where they see fit (the RAE – Real Academia Española – dictionary has not yet incorporated it), the meaning that the concept of “supremacist” has had since the last century.
In any case, I advance that someone may deserve that epithet when they believe that the group of people to which they belong should lead or have control over other groups of people because they think they are better. The word usually has an adjective and the most used is “white” to refer to racists who consider Blacks, Latinos, Jews or humans of any other ethnic origin classified as “non-white” as inferior beings.
In Cuba, since the middle of the 20th century, the belief has been fostered that those who carry a red card in their pocket have the privilege of determining how the economy works, under what conditions it is allowed to associate, which trends of thought should be disseminated and which prohibited. They believe they have the right to decide who can travel abroad, who can be a university professor, journalist or deputy to Parliament. continue reading
Communists, those who have a red card, consider themselves the sole heirs of the best patriotic traditions, those that were harvested since those who were born here discovered that they were Cubans and not Spanish looters of an island in the Caribbean. It is true that then there were no communists and that is why a well-known official tongue twister was coined where it is established that those, today, would be like them and that they, then, would have been like those.
Unlike white supremacists, Reds are not frowned upon by the official media (where there are white supremacists there are no official media). Not only are they not punished by the laws, but they also enjoy an article in the Constitution that grants them the status of being “the superior leading political force of society and the State.” If they had spared the term “superior” it would not be so easy to mark them here as supremacists.
Historically supremacisms end badly. This is how it was in Nazi Germany when those who believed themselves Aryans tried to annihilate those who were left over. This is how it was in Rwanda when the Tutsi population was almost exterminated by the Hutus. This is how it is in the Arab world where the bloody differences between Shiites and Sunnis are based on the dispute over the inheritance of the Prophet Muhammad.
While the supremacists feel predominant and the directed silently obey, the imposed authority is exercised under a cloak of paternalistic nobility. But it is enough for a couple of voices to clash in the chorus of the feigned assents for the despotic anger, in all its ferocity, to be shown in those who claim a superiority that only works when it is irrefutable.
Today in Cuba we are seeing that anger, the child of a supposed class hatred that has no reason to exist where everyone is dispossessed. An anger fueled by a paranoid nationalism that perceives, in the political dissent of a person who loves his country, a traitor who wants to sell the country to the foreign enemy.
In the fragile fabric of a society there are threads that must never be broken because there is a risk that they can never be restored, repaired, healed.
That is perhaps the gravest danger that threatens Cuba at the moment. Worse than the shortage in the markets or the lack of liquidity of the money that is obtained through honest work; worse still, is that ideological epithets succeed in dissolving our identity.
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The first group of artists to plant themselves in front of the Ministry of Culture on November 27. (Reynier Leyva Novo)
14ymedio, Ines Casal, Havana, December 7, 2020 — Fernando: If you find it disrespectful for me to address a letter to you in this way, I ask your pardon. And I assure you, I do it this way because I have no other way to communicate with you. Who knows if you won’t read this thing I write, either, but “just because my message might never be received doesn’t mean it’s not worth sending.”
I also apologize for addressing you informally as “Tú”, but this “letter” is addressed to the human being I met years ago (although maybe you don’t remember me), and not the official you are today. And I have a hard time treating you as a “you” [the more formal “Usted”], when I met you as Fernandito, as your parents called you. I trust you don’t see it badly either.
I know the lineage from where you come. Your parents were my co-workers, my bosses and my friends for a long time at the University of Havana. Your father, Fernando Rojas, Rector of the UH for several years, was an upright and honest man, who dedicated his whole life to his country and his Revolution, who educated, together with sweet Fefa, four children with a sense of truth and honesty, first and foremost. Although some wretched people (there always are) may have criticized him and even charged him for some “human weaknesses,” but never of being corrupt or opportunistic. continue reading
But since as I know your family well, you may have forgotten where he comes from and who my son Julius César Llópiz Casal is.
My son also comes from upright, honest parents who gave all their strength, all their energies, all their knowledge, all their revolutionary dreams to the UH and to their country. And they also educated their two children to respect truth and decorum, which is what people have when they don’t hide what they think.
I know what the duties of a post or a party are. I was a militant of the PCC [Partido Comunista de Cuba, the Communist Party of Cuba] for almost 30 years, and I was conscientious, because I believed in the Revolution, from the heart. Although for years I have felt betrayed in my purest dreams. But no office, no party position made me lie or betray my conscience. Luckily, I was always surrounded by colleagues who were able to discuss what we didn’t understand. When I felt betrayed by the Revolution (because it wasn’t me who did the betraying), I just stopped believing in it.
My son, Fernando, is not a terrorist, and you know it.
My son, Fernando, doesn’t seek to destabilize the system, let alone incite a popular uprising, and you know it.
My son, Fernando, is not manipulated, managed, paid for by any foreign government, by any organization, by any means of the press, and you know it.
My son, Fernando, is not a criminal, he is a Cuban artist who also works by Cuba and for Cuba, and you know it.
My son, Fernando, says what he thinks, anywhere and under any circumstance, and you know it.
My son, Fernando, is a good man, and you know it.
That is why, from the bottom of my heart, I ask you to try, now from your duty as an official, in time to put a stop to a defamatory and cowardly campaign that has broken out in the official media against peaceful people who have only wanted to be heard. This media circus can have unimaginable and terrible consequences.
And that, Fernando, you also know.
With all my respect and consideration, Inés Casal Enríquez.
Ed. note: This letter was originally published in the social network Facebook.
Translated by: Hombre de Paz
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“The meeting started very well, people with tough ideas, without skimping,” Reinier Díaz tells 14ymedio. “The first to speak was Humberto Díaz, a visual artist who read the demands of 27N [for ’November 27th’] and put the meeting in context.” According to the actor, the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso, admitted that the meeting was taking place as a result of the protests on November 27.
The actor describes as “wonderful” the intervention of the theater director Carlos Celdrán, who criticized the “digital blackout” after the protests and described it as “fascism.” He also denounced the acts of repudiation, something that has been very present in his work. continue reading
“From my intervention the newscast only took the presentation, they did not put the heart of my speech, not even when I assumed responsibility for the 30 who participated in the first meeting (with Vice Minister Fernando Rojas) and signed the letter (with the conditions for the next meeting that did not occur),” laments the interviewee. “I spoke as part of the [group of] 30 and said that we are totally opposed to acts of repudiation, police repression, constant violations of the Constitution by the Ministry of the Interior, which acts outside the law, and how many people in the group had agents standing outside their houses to prevent them from leaving,” he notes.
Diaz relates that the most critical interventions occurred, one after another, at the beginning of the meeting. “Lots of people lashed out at the media.” An art critic vindicated the talent of Otero Alcántara and denounced the smear campaign that was being carried out against him “without giving anything conclusive, not even a piece of information, neither proof nor a conviction in hand.”
Another of those present referred to the “evident manipulation of the press media” and the way in which material about the San Isidro Movement and ’27N’ is published. In addition, he rejected police violence in his country.
In another intervention, singer Jesus Barrios said that the security forces doused him with a spray to prevent him from approaching the Ministry of Culture on the day of the protests. Reinier Díaz himself reported that his partner suffered a similar attack and got dermatitis caused by the same product.
What had been going well until then took a turn when another young man, whom Díaz says he does not know, intervened and “began to talk about the Revolution and express himself in a tone that was like a small act of repudiation.” Although the actor repeatedly asked to speak, he wasn’t able to speak again.
“There began the speech of those who assume the critical attitude but from the position of a revolutionary. They spoke of the mercenaries, the annexationists, the flag, the financing and the millions that the United States pays. And even the last speaker ended up offering an ode to the Revolution and said that we are the last socialist bastion in the world and that we cannot lose it.”
In his telling, Díaz also refers to the attitude of Abel Prieto (president of Casa de las Américas), who practically “recognized that the Revolution has to defend itself and that acts of repudiation must be carried out.” The counterrevolution sneaked into the fabric of culture (…) We mixed one thing with the other and in a really perverse situation’, he said at one point.”
For Reinier Díaz, the most clarifying moment of the meeting occurred when Prieto asked if it was necessary to let as many people come out to shout out in the street with the San Isidro Movement, even if there were hundreds.
“Many of us said yes, like Celdrán, Humberto Díaz or me, although others were silent; but Prieto continued with his speech. I believe that they are not prepared for a dialogue. They do not understand that if they want people to trust them they have to tell everything that was said there and not just part of it. The news program blatantly lies, Carlos Celdrán told him several times.”
Díaz was not the only one present to react negatively against what has transpired since the meeting. The director Joseph Ross has expressed his discontent on social networks. “I regret that reports in the media (the official media and the non-official), until now, are so superficial (…). I hope that the press in the next few hours will take a responsible attitude with respect to everything that has been said in these seven hours and and give wide and transparent coverage to all the opinions,” he wrote. The director believes that, although the meeting could have been more plural, there was a clear message that the officials needed to hear.
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The fields of Pinar de Río were flooded by the rains linked to Hurricanes Delta and Eta. (Telepinar)
14ymedio, Havana, 7 December 2020 — The bad news is piling up in Cuba. One of the most emblematic products of the Island, tobacco, does not promise a good harvest after the blows of Hurricane Eta flooded the fields of Pinar del Río, where 70% of the country’s leaf is usually grown. In October there was twice the rains because of a previous storm, Delta.
As a result, the authorities have been forced to deduct 3,500 hectares from the 19,700 of the initial plan. And it remains to be seen if even that figure will be reached, as the damage caused and the delay make it an almost impossible effort to meet the plan.
Tobacco is a huge source of income for a government that cannot afford to lose any more dollars now. Only last year, the profit from tobacco exports was almost 270 million dollars, somewhat better than the previous year but far from the 400 million dollars reported in 2017. continue reading
Joel Hernández, director of the Integral and Tobacco Company of Pinar del Río, has indicated that of the 4,000 hectares initially planned in the province, the total has been reduced to 3,400 and only half can be planted before the end of the year. The delay has consequences, according to the producers themselves, since it implies leaving too much product to be sown for January and February, which in turn delays the harvest until April, a month complicated by pests and adverse weather.
Just one of those fears materialized for the tobacco growers of the Hoyo de Monterrey, a place that is considered the epicenter of the best tobacco grown in Cuba and one of the highest quality in the world. Producers in the area were severely affected by the constant rains left by Hurricane Eta in early November, a time when the seedlings are at their most fragile stage.
“Everything we flooded, lost more than half of the positions and surviving longer give you a snuff of the highest quality because they suffered a lot , ” he told 14ymedio Jose Carlos, a tobacco of the municipality whose family has been dedicated to the cultivation almost a century. “This is very bad news because we depend on tobacco to survive,” he adds.
Tobacco, like coffee, sugar cane, potatoes and cocoa are a commercial monopoly of the State. The farmers can cultivate these crops but they are obliged to sell them to the official entities that distribute and export them. A damaged crop can mean the loss of most of the income for farmers who are practically exclusively dedicated to tobacco.
“We are trying to go against the clock and re-plant seedlings but the rains have continued, the land is quite flooded and this is already late for tobacco, it won’t be able to reach the height or the quality of the leaf that is needed for the more select cigars,” explains Urbano, José Carlos’ father and a man with extensive experience in the cultivation of the so-called layer leaves, which are grown in covered tobacco fields.
“It is not only what was lost in plantings, but time. When the downpours began we had everything organized, the day laborers hired and the whole family ready to tend the crops but now the calendar is stuck on Christmas and hiring people in these times is more expensive and difficult,” explains Urbano to this newspaper.
“There are years that we caught the train in good time, but this year, the train has left the station without us. What remains is to try not to lose the work already done and to continue taking care of the plants even if we know it will not be a good harvest,” he says . “I think that the flowers and papayas that we have planted in part of the farms are the ones that will guarantee us a plate of food next year, because the tobacco is not going to be there.”
Of more than 7,000 hectares that should have been planted at the end of November, only 1,289 were planted. In addition, 12,000 seedbeds were completely ruined by the rains and another 16,000 were partially damaged. Faced with this situation, the Government has praised the 16 hour marathon days being put in by producers and calls for the voluntary effort of the people of Pinar del Río — “appealing to the 16,000 yoke of oxen existing in the province” — to arrive at figures that allow one to maintain certain levels of optimism.
Despite several testimonies from optimistic farmers cited by the state newspaper Granma, the newspaper does not hide the bad situation. Virginio Morales, who has been a specialist in the Tabacuba Business Group for 47 years, explained to the official press that it is not strange that the consequences of a meteorological phenomenon seriously affect the Cuban fields but admits that he has never seen such a case. “We have not had any like this one, because the events have been consecutive,” he told the official press.
Nelson Rodríguez, a Doctor of Science and director of the San Juan and Martínez Tobacco Experimental Station, also told Granma that the damage is greater than usual. “November is the optimal month for sowing, and it was hardly possible to take advantage of it,” he explains. “As we move away from the optimal period, the quality suffers.”
José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, recently visited the area to see the damage caused by the hurricane, where he saw that work was being done to make up for lost time, but urged better use of the land and increasing the production of food without harming tobacco.
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More than 300 Cuban artists and intellectuals gathered at the doors of the Ministry of Culture on November 27. (Reynier Leyva Novo)
14ymedio, Havana, 3 December 2020 — The following document is the result of comparing the notes taken by various people who were present and what was remembered by the participants. Published on the Facebook Page 27N (for ‘November 27’) , it is reproduced with their permission. They point out that “there were more statements in the meeting, but here we have tried to summarize the essence of what happened that day in a small theater of the Ministry of Culture.”
[Fernando Rojas, Vice Minister of Culture, welcomes them and gives them the floor.]
[Michel Matos, representing the San Isidro Movement (MSI), demands respect and transparency; talks about the suffering of the MSI.]
State Security has taken over the country, they treat us in a military way and we are civilians, we have been mistreated by them, arrested, repressed, beaten, summoned, they have put us in house arrest, they take away our internet connection and everything without a legal document. This is not acceptable. What is happening is inadmissible. The hunger strike started by some of the members of the San Isidro Movement has been the result of desperation. We are totally helpless and we have been completely alone.
You should be the ones talking to us, not State Security. continue reading
We are not mercenaries, terrorists or criminals, we are Cubans. We feel the need to participate in our nation
We demand a fair process for Denis Solís. Denis Solís has had all his rights violated. Anamely Ramos went to the police station to ask for Denis Solís, to do a completely legal procedure, and they arrested her. How is it possible that these things happen? And we’ve all been suffering from this kind of thing.
What country are we living in? What are we becoming? We are all Cubans, even if we disagree. This is our homeland, our country. We were born here.
Cuba has a long tradition of dissent. A country cannot run like a military camp runs, and this is what we are seeing. We are desperate. The official media themselves are manipulating reality, they are putting on a show.
Moment in which thirty artists left the Ministry of Culture, who spent almost five hours meeting with Vice Minister Fernando Rojas. (14ymedio)
We are at a point of demanding the elementary freedoms that we should all have. Censorship of individuality is being exacerbated. We demand respect for our individuality. We are not mercenaries, terrorists or criminals, we are Cubans. We feel the need to participate from our nation.
For two years we have waited for a response from the Ministry of Culture for the debate and opposition generated by Decree 349 . They are not respecting us, they are not listening to us. We are not criminals, we are creators. If you think that we are having fun and that this is a show, you are wrong. This is not a show.
State Security, if it persists in its criminal methods, will create a truly dramatic reality. If those forces are running the nation today, they are mortgaging the future.
We want a healthy, sovereign Cuba, a prosperous and free Cuba.
State Security is violating even the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba. When you resort to criminal methods you are criminal
[Katherine Bisquet reads the demands:]
-Review and transparency of the judicial process against Denis Solís.
-Liberty for Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.
-Right to have rights, freedom of expression, free creation and dissent.
-Cessation of harassment, defamation and discredit by the official media.
-Recognition and respect for independent positioning.
-No more police violence, no more political hatred.
Let love and poetry unite this people.
[Fernando Rojas takes note.]
Mauricio Mendoza : I am concerned about the treatment given to independent journalists, that you do not include us, you do not give us space to express ourselves, or to be able to show a reality that is not the one shown in [the State newspapers] Granma or Juventud Rebelde.
We do not agree with the Government, so what?
Thanks to many independent media, the things that are happening in Cuba are known.
I do not understand how a person can be judged so easily, that he is so easily accused of being a mercenary and that the institutions that accuse him never retract
We deserve and have the right to work.
[The Diario de Cuba journalist also speaks of the recognition of the independent press, of the right to participate in these debates and to document. Also of the blockades of the independent media in Cuba; the need for freedom of expression and the right to exercise the profession, as well as the discredit suffered by independent journalists in the official press.]
Daniel Díaz Mantilla : We must remember the years prior to the founding of the Ministry of Culture: it arose at a time when dialogue seemed impossible to establish a communication channel between creators and the Government. And that has not been done. The lack of dialogue between the Institution and the artistic community continues. We must put an end to the lack of communication between artists and Culture officials that has existed for years.
We are not enemies, we have to find common ground to dialogue. There is no need to antagonize, you have to listen. Your job is to dialogue with other government bodies, that is your function: to find ways for us to exist.
What I see in these muchachos is the same as I experienced in the nineties and early 2000s: censorship, suspicion, distrust, abuses. The reality is changing and it is something that some do not want to see. We must find a way to build a healthy and constructive dialogue. We must prevent the use of criminal methods to treat Cuban society.
We made a new Constitution and the right of these people, which is constitutional, is not being respected. State Security is violating even the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba. When you resort to criminal methods you are criminal and when the State resorts to criminal methods, that State is also criminal.
What was it fought for? What was so much fighting for? Trust is achieved over time, but the criminal is not admissible.
Those laws are the ones that defend us, those that take care of us, but State Security comes with a force that makes the best young people leave, those who do not have the courage to say what they think remain.
I have my opinions, some decisions I do not share, but I am grateful that there is a State. But, now, State Security is taking actions that are not consistent with its role and with total impunity, they sow fear, destroy friendships, families… None of us here are taking positions that threaten sovereignty, far from it.
I do not understand how a person can be judged so easily, that he is so easily accused of being a mercenary and that the institutions that accuse him never back down. You have a responsibility in this happening.
Those laws are the ones that defend us, those that take care of us, but State Security comes with a force that makes the best young people leave, those who do not have the courage to speak their minds remain. You have to have the courage to say what you think in this country, as we are now saying what we think.
Honor the reasons why you exist as an Institution.
Yunior García : The congresses of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba [Uneac] have been a theater. I went to the congress of the FEEM [Federation of High School Students] and there the topics that each person should speak were chosen. It is also a staging.
This year has not been gray, it has been black, because of the senseless censorship. Let us remember the case of Pedro Junco , recently expelled from Uneac for political reasons. There is also the case of Aparicio.
It cannot be allowed that I am being censored for giving an interview for CiberCuba.
Fighting censorship is exhausting. I have the right to say what I think. It cannot be that an artist is demonized for thinking differently, he is treated like a criminal, his dignity is violated, half truths are told and he is defamed in the press. The official press, by not telling reality, is denying something that the whole world already knows from the independent media and the foreign press. Not showing the true Cuban reality or hiding it is lying.
We demand respect for the dignity of artists, not censorship or discrimination for political reasons. Understand that this youth is not the same as it was years ago.
Cuba is a country that is fooling itself and nobody believes it anymore. The mechanisms that were used yesterday no longer work. Enough of that lousy staging.
If a crime is committed, ok. But no one can censor a work for being political, if they do not agree, do their own. Political ideas are fought with ideas, not with censorship or jail.
We must repeal [Decrees] 349 and 370, which violate our rights.
Fernando Rojas : That is not the spirit of this table.
Yunior García : We have had it worse since the last UNEAC congress.
The statement of the AHS [Hermanos Saíz Association] is disastrous, it does not recognize the opinion of its own associates. It cannot be that you are more like the UJC [Union of Young Communists] than us. It’s a cheo [ridiculous, outdated] speech , we have to end chealdad. It is not necessary to defend this or another specific ideology, but to have diversity. The diverse Cuba is not reflected in the official press or in the institutions.
Cuba is a country that is fooling itself and nobody believes it anymore. The mechanisms that were used yesterday no longer work. Enough of that lousy staging
Those who left the UNEAC Congress, when they came back in the bus, were very happy. And now they are disappointed.
They have to stop seeing us as enemies. We are not. We are Cubans who think differently.
Juan Pin Vilar : I have found myself in a terrible situation. How is it possible that these people who are here and that I do not know are right and you [he says addressing the officials], who are my friends, are not right?
These people have a play. Nobody has the right to say who is an artist. Everything we have seen here is the result of the inefficiency of the Ministry of Culture. These people exist and have rights, and you are there for them.
This here is full of officials who steal. For years we have seen corruption in the institutions. How does the press not talk about it and call us mercenaries? What greater example of corruption than, for an artist to sing, you have to sign a piece of paper? An authorization to make a movie costs $400. The responsibility for this is yours.
Michel Matos, that boy that I don’t know, put on a festival [Rotilla], they take him away and end it. If they had taken it to make it better, but no, they took it away to do absolutely nothing.
I’ve known you for forty years [he says, pointing to the Ministry of Culture officials]. It is not possible that you do not understand that these people exist and have rights.
They are the reason for being of the Ministry of Culture, if it were not for them, the Ministry would have to close.
It is not necessary to defend this or another specific ideology, but to have diversity. The diverse Cuba is not reflected in the official press or in the institutions
I’ve been hearing the same for years. At the time I was at AHS, when the Paideia Project was brought in, everything was said against them. To respect yourself as an artist, sometimes you have to say: yes, I have to leave the AHS, because they are sinking another fellow artist. And that’s why I left the Association.
How is it possible that I understand these people I don’t know better than you? How is it possible that the bureaucracy has buried the San Isidro Movement?
Alfredo [Guevara] was a censor but he argued, and he did not allow the police to arrive.
Being a mercenary? Where are we going to work? I have not been able to work for ten years, and I am going to start working for Diario de Cuba.
In my life, I have hurt the Revolution. You can go to jail [referring to Denis Solís] because he committed a crime, not because he painted or made a song. Do not use the organizations, it cannot be that cuatro gatos [four cats] speak for everyone.
We are not mercenaries. There must be freedom of expression.
Gretel Medina Mendieta : We must insist on what has brought us here today, and those demands transcend creative freedom. It is the freedom that we have to exist, it is citizen freedom in general. All this transcends artistic freedom, it is the freedom that someone can express themselves freely.
Why do we come here? Because you are the ones who represent us. It cannot be that in Cuba violations of the Constitution are being committed and the institutions that represent us have not spoken. We do not feel that you represent or protect us. They have not mediated anything that has happened.
Henry Eric Hernández : “Words to the intellectuals” in the sixties, what looks so beautiful, was nothing more than a pact with guns. It was not an inclusive pact. In Cuba there have been many gray five-year periods.
Before being an artist, you are a human and a citizen.
They have to stop seeing us as enemies. We are not. We are Cubans who think differently
Our friend Italo had a pedagogical project that institutions do not have, not even the National Museum of Fine Arts. They fined him 3,000 pesos and made him destroy his garden. We waited for answers from the Ministry in the case of Italo Exposito for two years, since the meeting by Decree 349 in September 2018. Italo got tired and had to go to Europe. You mistreated him and expelled him.
Italo’s case was postponed for you, Fernando (he said looking at Rojas). He got tired of this country, of the repression of his social project, he went to Europe. We lost a colleague.
The path is not yours. In Cuba there is no art critic that questions political violence.
It seems fundamental to me that plurality does not exist here and that includes non-management from the multiparty system. These freedoms must be generated, agreed or affirmed now.
Since the eighties Fernando [Rojas] has been in cultural management and censorship. We have always seen the repression of the signatories of the Letter of the Ten, the Black Spring, Paideia or Art-De… I know not to all, but to many intellectuals this repression does not seem right and we are opposed.
There are people who defend the Government before defending the citizens. With all due respect, 60 years have passed and I have been watching the same battle against censorship. The artists have had to leave.
This here is full of officials who steal. For years we have seen corruption in the institutions. How does the press not talk about it and call us mercenaries?
They will put up other political cadres, but they are 60 years of repression. I have friends in Paideia, in the Letter of theTen and they are more communist than many of those who are here [he said pointing to the table of officials].
I have a friend who had the political stigma of his father, Bernardo Marqués Ravelo, one of the signatories of the Letter of the Ten, and ended up leaving ISA [Instituto Superior de Arte]. And your father died in Miami, never being a mercenary, as you said.
We have been asking for the same thing for 60 years: inclusion, end of censorship, freedom of expression…
Their role as political actors is painful, they exercise evil, censorship and discredit. You need to finish solving this, quickly. You are old, by the law of life you are going to die. We are going to condemn them if they do nothing now and they will die as criminals. Get out of there!
When you censor a person, you go beyond cultural politics. When, from there to here, is the pressure going to stop? Do you think that is the cultural policy of the Revolution? The culture of thought will create a democracy. If you can’t handle that, get out.
Julio Llopiz-Casal : I would like to start by talking about a Cuban writer who lives in exile named Rafael Rojas, whom all of you should know, he wrote a book called Tumbas sin tranquility. This book was given to me by my father after a trip to Spain and shows a large part of the history of Cuba: it talks about Roberto Fernández Retamar, about the debates between different political parties to write the Constitution of 1940, about the diversity of opinions and the consensus…
I do not agree with Roberto Fernández Retamar, but thanks to Rafael Rojas’ dismantling, I was able to understand what he was as an intellectual.
Italo’s case was postponed for you, Fernando [he said, looking at Rojas]. He got tired of this country, of the repression of his social project, he went to Europe. We lost a colleague
I wonder, why a thinker like Rafael Rojas is not part of the compass of the historical thought of this country?
How is it possible that I had to wait for a book from Spain to fall into my lap to want to know my country, its history, to see Cuba from the heart, to be able to look at Cuba with my hand on my heart, without hates and no low feelings?
What is going to happen the day that a thousand people say “down with the Revolution,” when it is loaded with such a black story? Nothing. It is not about saying the Revolution up or down, it is about shaping a country, a country with a very sad history. It is a very sad story that has shaped this revolution.
In my family there have even been family divisions due to political issues, but in general we respect each other, and we live together despite our differences of opinion. Why can’t our country be like this?
Amaury Pacheco : The San Isidro Movement was born from an anomaly in the system: Decree 349. Since then, we have suffered the repression of the State Security and even attacks from the press. We have also faced, as part of those dark decrees, Decree Law 370 .
Decree Law 349 can work for a government, but it hurts the nation. We have said “enough” and we are assuming it. We have lit a fuse towards a national plurality.
When, from there to here, is the pressure going to stop? Do you think that is the cultural policy of the Revolution? The culture of thought will create a democracy. If you can’t handle that, get out
I was part of the Endless Poetry project and you, Fernando (addressing Rojas), took us out of the headquarters of the Casa de la Cultura in Alamar, and when we talked to you about love, about poetry, you told me, Fernando Rojas, “the order is given.”
I move from civil liberties and freedom of expression. We demand an end to the attacks and harassment of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and the MSI. Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is missing, has a record of arrests and has resisted more than a person can resist. Luis is an essential point and is still missing. San Isidro is not going to turn its back.
Cuba today has a seat on the UN Human Rights Council and violates human rights. This is not understood.
Ian Benavides : The divorce between the state and society is caused by censorship. The Ministry of Culture does not recognize independent artists. This only causes the State to divorce itself from the cultural reality of society. Today there are social networks and the internet, the people sooner or later get to the content and know the reality, but if the official mass media do not accept or discredit these artists, the people end up distrusting and not taking into account those media. In the case of music, we are subject to a long bureaucracy to be able to participate in radio and television, a bureaucracy that leads to corruption.
Gretell Kairúz : I think we should talk about what unites us, and what unites us is that we love this land, Cuba, we want a society that is beautiful, prosperous. For that to exist, you need your children, each and every one of your children, my mother who was a literate and communist, and my father who was a gusano [literally ‘worm’, applied to people who left Cuba]. That is my family and also my country.
I wonder, why a thinker like Rafael Rojas is not part of the compass of the historical thought of this country?
I’m not interested in concepts. Cuba is ajiaco [a stew]. We call this polis of ours Cuba. And Cuba needs the fulfillment of each of its children. We need freedom to say and do. Something worries me a lot: What society do we have if I can’t think, say or do? In a Cuba that has a great tradition of thought, which was a light for Latin America: Martí, Varela… Those of us who are here today are the children of that tradition.
If I cannot think or do it is because I cannot dream. And yes, you can dream. I need to believe that we are capable of dreaming. All of us, those from inside and outside the country, are dreaming of Cuba. I also believe that there is no Cuba without us and without you [he says, addressing the officials].
And I ask myself: Is this the Cuba that we want to leave to our children? Dialogue and respect are needed to be able to dialogue. The Cuba that we are going to bequeath to our children is our responsibility. That is why I am sitting here.
Yunior García : I must say, I am proud to be part of this meeting. I am proud of my generation, of all of us who are here inside and of those who wait for us out there.
Tania Bruguera : I must tell you that I too am proud of you and what is happening out there.
The censorship in Cuba is also that independent art is not recognized in Cuba. I can exhibit at MoMA but not in my country. Independent art is not the enemy, it is a right; the artist is independent by nature.
I have several doubts: What is the relationship between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Culture? Why is the Ministry of the Interior assisting me as an artist and not the Ministry of Culture?
It is not about saying up or down the Revolution, it is about shaping a country, a country with a very sad history
You cannot continue to behave as if independent art is your enemy. Why is the institution the only way to make art? See us as competition but as healthy competition.
What is the situation with independent projects? What will happen to them?
You have to be careful with the use that is given to aesthetics, because the institution uses it as a justification to censor artists. The only ones who can criticize works of art are the critics and the public, not the institution. It is not for an official to say what is or is not art, or what is good or bad art.
For 30 years I have experienced censorship in Cuba and the members of Instar [Hannah Arendt Institute of Artivism] have had to face the constant repression of State Security. Security summons us and harasses us, throws acid under our doors, takes our invited foreign workshop experts to interrogation … If you want to know where the Instar money comes from, check the text I recently published for Hypermedia. Everything is totally transparent.
But if we talk about censorship, it must be said that it does not stay in Cuba, that censorship has spread abroad. I have come to artistic events in other countries where they have told me how officials from this institution have gone there to speak ill of me and other uncomfortable and critical artists, to say that we are not artists. And they do it, I know, to isolate me, to eliminate professional opportunities, it is not enough for them to censor me in my own country. By what right do they do that? This has also happened frequently with cinema: a film censored in Cuba is removed from international festivals due to the intervention of Cuban officials.
You do not have to interfere with the professional opportunities that Cuban artists have outside of Cuba, that is outside of your functions.
Fernando Pérez : I am happy to be here, for the first time I feel that here in the Ministry of Culture there is a diverse group; that’s a first step. I feel identified with many of his interventions.
We must end censorship, manipulations of the official press, acts of repudiation.
I was part of the Endless Poetry project and you, Fernando (addressing Rojas), took us out of the headquarters of the Casa de la Cultura de Alamar, and when we talked to you about love, about poetry, you told me, Fernando Rojas, “la order is given “
The history of our country has been very dark. There is a principle that must be respected, which is freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is free or it is not, and that must be applied to all spheres of reality.
I do not know if the answer will come from here, but there must be concrete answers to what has been said here. We cannot continue denying spaces. But they can’t be promises, concrete answers are needed
In the plurality and diversity is the strength of this nation.
Camila Ramírez Lobón : From the moment in which the Constitution uses the adjectives to describe the nation as Fidelista, Marxist and all that, it is clear that the only thing that is protected is the Government and anything against citizens’ rights is justified.
Today I entered here before everyone else, with Yunior, in a first meeting. And one of your officials told me something that has already been mentioned in the media, that the street belongs to the revolutionaries.
The street and public space does not belong to revolutionaries, but to all citizens born in this country. And they have to get to that understanding or at least respect it. Ideas cannot be attacked with repression. A government and politics can do it, they are not sacred. No government is sacred, they are public officials. Politics cannot be above the elementary rights of the people; that way is violence.
Today there are social networks and the internet, the people sooner or later get to the content and know the reality, but if the official mass media do not accept or discredit these artists, the people end up distrusting and not taking them into account. media
I remember a performance by Luis Manuel, Where is Mella, in which Luis disguises himself as a sculpture with Mella’s face and stands in the Manzana de Gómez as a demonstration against the removal of the sculpture that was there for the construction of the new 5 Star hotel. And the State Security and the Police go, and yourselves, and again evict Mella. What does that mean? What are they saying by that? This country is not yours, it does not belong to the government. You have to respect the word.
We are totally helpless, in the hands of State Security. How is it possible that I, an artist, 25 years old, who weighs 110 pounds, is considered a threat to State Security, simply because I do or don’t think the same as or disagree with the government? How is it possible that they send me lieutenant colonels, summons, arrest me, carry out acts of repudiation? Enough of the same speech to justify the brutality. Those they are repressing the most are those who are demonstrating through peaceful and civic means, those who are teaching how to build dissent. The other thing that is going to be left to them is repression.
Enough. No more sticks. The changes that are to come are through respect, civility.
I ask you, vice-president of the AHS [she says, addressing Yaser Toledo], do you really believe that the members of the San Isidro Movement are mercenaries? Because that’s what the statement released by the AHS says.
[Yasser Toledo does not respond. He obviously doesn’t know what to say.]
Camila Ramírez Lobón : The question is simple, yes or no?
[Yasser Toledo does not respond.]
Mijaíl Rodríguez : Do not underestimate the power of art. With these repressive actions they are showing that they are indeed afraid of art.
We here are artists, people in general. This is a hope. This moment has brought us together. Institutions force us to separate, but this moment has brought us together.
It is not for an official to say what is or is not art, or what is good or bad art
As with Cardumen , they never received us when we went to the institutions to complain. We are talking about what is happening and you are not learning. This fight did not start yesterday, it takes years.
Cuba hurts us and we care about Cuba. We have lost fear thanks to the networks. And we will be. We have to take to the streets because the small spaces that they have offered us have not solved anything for us. We are tired.
You have to get out of here with something constructive and concrete. The Government has a duty and an obligation to work for these people.
Reynier Díaz : My mother called me in fear when she found out I was here. My mother has been a revolutionary woman her whole life and now she is afraid that I am here. That means something is wrong. Fear is a lethal weapon. I’m afraid too, but here I am.
Here people have joined of their own free will. Although some have not been allowed to arrive, this morning, at 11 we were 15, now we are 300. What does this say? That despite the fear, there is a real reason, something that motivates several generations.
Ulises Padrón : Here we see a generational change.
Today there is a lot of apathy among young people for politics, for everything, and that is due to the lack of spaces for participation. There are no spaces of creation, where they feel part of something. Young people need to find that space in society.
Miryorly García Prieto : I hope this is the first of many meetings to bridge the gap between us and the institution.
It is not the first time that we address the institutions. We have to get out of here with the problems resolved. We come here with love, with the will to dialogue.
I do not know if the answer will come from here, but there must be concrete answers to what has been said here. We can’t keep denying spaces
We do not come to be defended, we have already learned to defend ourselves, but we want you to participate as well. Above all, we are here because we are giving you a chance. It is your responsibility to do the right thing for Cuban culture.
The first thing we have to do is say the right thing, tell the bosses what we think. At the moment, they are lying, defamation, crimes are being committed and, at the rate we are going, some may even die. That is the urgency.
I don’t stay at home because I feel responsible and the institutions will also be responsible for what happens.
The institutions replicate the lies of the official discourse. The media are being left as liars and unworthy, because they are not telling the truth and they are giving false news.
Tania Bruguera : We need to hear what they have to propose to us, because there are two hundred people out there waiting for answers.
Reynier Leyva Novo : Today there has been a whole police security device out there, State Security, paramilitaries dressed in civilian clothes, police patrols… That only fits in a sick mind. That is abuse of power, intimidation.
We have not left because we had the courage and we did not feel like it. Be aware of the pressure we have been under out there.
Michel Matos : The process against Denis Solís is unfair. A policeman broke into his house and it turns out that he was the one accused.
How is it possible that I, an artist, 25 years old, who weighs 110 pounds, is considered a threat to State Security, simply because I do or don’t think the same as or disagree with the government?
State Security has taken over the nation. Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is on a hunger strike and has been beaten bloody. Vice Minister, beaten to the point of bleeding even while handcuffed, I have seen him. That sounds like Batista or Machado. State Security is operating above the law.
If Luis Manuel dies, he would have no words to say that we will never be able to talk again. Denis Solís has not even had rights. We are desperate.
Katherine Bisquet : I was arrested for reading poetry outside the police station at Cuba and Chacón streets. I’m here after all that, after having slept in a dungeon, after having gone on a hunger strike from which I have not yet recovered, after being about to see a person die. I am here ready to dialogue. This is not pressure, it is your responsibility. Out of respect for everyone, we need answers.
Jorge Perugorría : It is time for dialogue. This shows the diversity of thoughts. Everyone has the right to be heard. Today an important step has been taken, as the doors of this Ministry have been opened. This opportunity should not be missed by the Ministry of Culture. I think we must continue the dialogue.
[ Fernando Rojas says that he cannot respond immediately, he also says that he does not know anything about the military deployment around the Ministry of Culture and the peaceful protesters. He is even oblivious to all the acts of repression by State Security narrated by some of those present. Some tell him they have evidence, but he doesn’t even ask to see it. He knows, and everyone knows that he knows, even if he wants to deny it.]
Tania Bruguera : You must ask right now for the release of Luis Manuel. Call (she says to Fernando Rojas), call right now the official of the Ministry of the Interior with whom you work and ask for the freedom of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.
Fernando Rojas : No, Tania, with that level of confrontation I cannot dialogue.
Juan Pin Vilar : I came here today without even knowing what these kids were demanding, but I came to support them. And I was surprised that these are who you call mercenaries. If they were really mercenaries or criminals, they would have already planted a bomb in the Ministry of Culture, as the July 26 Movement did. If they were really mercenaries and criminals, they would not ask for dialogue with you.
My mother has been a revolutionary woman her whole life and now she is afraid that I am here. That means something is wrong. Fear is a lethal weapon. I’m scared too, but here I am
You are responsible for this whole situation. You have to recognize independent artists; they have the right to express themselves, and they cannot be repressed or criminalized for that.
Miryorly García Prieto: We demand that you tell the truth as an institution. Let them say that the boys from San Isidro are artists and that they were repressed. That story is on the networks, they are being left as liars. We are not afraid nor will we ever be. If you think that giving an example, we are going to shut up, quite the opposite. We are giving you the opportunity not to lie.
And if tomorrow they fire me from work, I don’t care, I’ll start selling croquettes to support my son.
We are willing to repeat every word spoken here to anyone, even to Raúl Castro.
[Fernando Rojas evades a statement from the Ministry of Culture as an institution:]
We will come to constructive positions. I agree that human lives are sacred. We are going to be interested, in the way that we can, in the case of Denis Solís and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is on a hunger strike and has been beaten bloody. Vice Minister, beaten to the point of bleeding even while handcuffed, I have seen him. That sounds like Batista or Machado
[And he turns to Mauricio Mendoza, a journalist from Diario de Cuba who was right in front of him taking notes and says: “And don’t change a single comma, I know that Diario de Cuba has lied on some issues. He then mentions that this medium receives funding from the United States Government. Mauricio Mendoza tries to answer him and ask him a question.]
Fernando Rojas: I ask you, Mauricio, not to interview me.
I promise to continue these discussions (he says referring to the topics presented by the creators).
Mauricio Mendoza: So, the points so far are: a dialogue channel will be opened with the institutions; they will be interested in the situation of Denis Solís and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara; a work agenda will be organized with multiple proposals on topics from both parties; review the AHS statement; there will be a truce, that is, artists will be able to meet in independent spaces without being harassed.
Fernando Rojas: Meet to talk about these issues discussed here today [clarifies].
Liatna Rodríguez: Excuse me, Vice Minister, this is not the first time that we have crossed paths in a meeting. Two years ago you spoke to us about dialogue about [Decree] 349 and we are still waiting for an answer. The current situation does not give us time. Let’s not talk about procrastination; the decree was postponed and not repealed.
Gretel Medina Mendieta: The Ministry of Culture must pronounce on the existence of us as artists and what is happening in Cuba, and that is your responsibility. The recent statement from the AHS is false, it did not count on the artists for that.
If they were really mercenaries or criminals, they would have already planted a bomb in the Ministry of Culture, as did the July 26 Movement. If they were really mercenaries and criminals, they would not ask for dialogue with you
You have ignored the voices of the almost 300 artists gathered here today, and the thousands who have spoken in recent days in public statements, against the police repression, imprisonment and harassment of different artists, especially the strikers of San Isidro. As an institution to which we belong, which has the responsibility to represent us, we demand that you publicly acknowledge the existence of our voices and the positioning of these thousands of artists in relation to the state of affairs in recent days.
[Fernando Rojas tried to postpone everything: we are going to work on this, yes, we are going to analyze it… He insisted that he did not know anything about the events that were narrated to him, that he was not doubting the words of those present, but that he should investigate it. ]
Juliana Rabelo : Minister [the participants remind that it is the vice minister], well, vice minister, you speak of your opinion, I would like to know, who subscribes to the statements of the AHS and the Cuban Rap Agency? Here we come in the first person and with faces, I would like to know who signs these statements because I do not know who is responsible and I know that they are not everyone.
Fernando Rojas: I don’t know.
Juliana Rabelo: Well, isn’t knowing this one of your functions? If this is not one of them, what are they?
Fernando Rojas: I don’t have to give you an account of my work.
[How? Said many of those present.]
Juliana Rabelo: Your representative power as a public official obliges you to give an account of his functions, it is a matter, let’s say, public, political.
José Luis Aparicio: Who wrote the AHS statement? It’s offensive, it’s regrettable, and it has even grammatical and concordance problems from the first sentence.
Yasser Toledo: Let’s see, the Declaration was written, discussed and approved among the members of the National Council of the organization.
Camila Ramírez Lobón: That statement from the AHS is defamation, they have called the members of the San Isidro Movement mercenaries, some of whom are here at this meeting. Tell us now, do you consider us mercenaries?
[Yasser Toledo does not respond.]
Camila Ramírez Lobón: It is a yes or no question.
[Yasser Toledo does not respond.]
The artists spent more than 12 hours planted in the street in front of the Ministry of Culture. (14ymedio)
Reinier Leyva Novo: Tell us, it’s a yes or no question. You are the vice president of the AHS, if you are not qualified to answer that question with a yes or a no, then you are not even qualified to lead that organization.
Yasser Toledo: Let’s see, now that you tell me about them and there are some here present, and you show them to me as well as their friends, I might think they are not mercenaries. We are going to re-analyze the statement between the National Council of the organization.
[Some ask for a retraction.]
Yasser Toledo: If we decide to do so, then we will.
Jorge Alfonso: This meeting will be just the beginning. We must continue to debate these issues.
Tania Bruguera: We come here with an honest energy, and the only thing we are receiving is evasion, procrastination and ironies.
Marta Bones, vice president of UNEAC: It’s not you and us. Here we have put aside our creative work to work towards Cuban culture. I feel accused and it is not fair.
If I am fired from work tomorrow, I don’t care, I’ll start selling croquettes to support my son. We are willing to repeat every word spoken here to anyone, even to Raúl Castro
[As Bones spoke, the power went out; the first of at least two occasions. They were in total darkness, but the creators insisted on continuing despite this. Someone interrupted Bones to go out to see if those waiting outside were okay. They explained that they feared for their safety, and that the fact that the power went out could be, expressly, a maneuver by State Security.]
[Jorge Fernández, director of the National Museum of Fine Arts, went on to explain that they did not know anything about what those present told him about the repression:] We are going to work, to review the situation. We are going to talk with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.
Fernando Rojas: There are issues here that I cannot answer you right now. We are going to create a discussion agenda.
[Also, at the proposal of those present, Fernando Rojas agrees to propose to the Ministry of the Interior to initiate a dialogue with the creators about the repression and violations of the laws by the State Security. Rojas once again attacks the independent press present, specifically Diario de Cuba.]
Fernando Rojas: I don’t believe in the press out there [independent and foreign press]. I don’t believe in social networks.
Fernando Rojas tried to postpone everything: we are going to work on this, yes, we are going to analyze it … He insisted that he did not know anything about the events that were narrated to him, that he was not doubting the words of those present, but that he should investigate it
After almost five hours of debate, the following agreements are made:
1. The vice minister would be interested in the cases of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Denis Solís.
2. The Ministry of Culture will organize agendas for debate, meetings with artists to negotiate their demands.
3. The Ministry of Culture would organize debate sessions on the application of the laws and the role of the Ministry of the Interior, in reference to the repression of artists by the Cuban State Security.
4. AHS would review your statement and, if it was accepted by the organization’s National Council, they would retract it.
5. Truce: The artists will be able to meet even in independent spaces without being harassed, to discuss issues related to their demands.
Fernando Rojas also transmitted a message from the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso, who promised to meet with the artists the following week, after Wednesday, December 1. He also gave in to the demand of those present to guarantee that the hundreds of people gathered [in front of the ministry] could return to their homes safely and without police violence.
After the meeting, Yunior García, Kaherine Bisquet and Tania Bruguera, informed the more than five hundred people and independent and foreign press that they were waiting gathered outside the Ministry of Culture. They had achieved the main objective that had taken them there: to be heard and the commitment to obtain answers.
Now that you tell me about them and there are some here present, and show them to me as well as their friends, I might think that they are not mercenaries. We are going to re-analyze the statement between the National Council of the organization
List of people who debated with officials of the Ministry of Culture on November 27, 2020:
1. Michel Matos (MSI)
2. Amaury Pacheco (MSI)
3. Katherine Bisquet (MSI)
4. Claudia Genlui (MSI)
5. Aminta de Cárdenas (MSI)
6. Tania Bruguera (Instar)
7. Camila Ramírez Lobón (Instar)
8. Juliana Rabelo (Instar)
9. Gretell Kairúz (Instar)
10. Reinier Leyva Novo (plastic artist)
11. Julio Llopiz-Casal (plastic artist)
12. Solveig Font (curator)
13. Sandra Ceballos (plastic artist)
14. Miryorly García Prieto (Art historian)
15. Liatna Rodríguez Jiménez (Art historian)
16. José Luis Aparicio (filmmaker)
17. Mijaíl Rodríguez (filmmaker)
18. Alejandro Alonso (filmmaker)
19. Gretel Medina Mendieta (filmmaker)
20. Juan Pin Vilar (filmmaker)
21. Ulises Padrón (writer)
22. Alfredo Martínez (contributor of Tremenda Nota)
23. Daniel Díaz Mantilla (writer)
24. Henry Eric Hernández (plastic artist)
25. Yunior García (playwright)
26. Ian Benavides (musician)
27. Reynier Díaz (actor)
28. Mauricio Mendoza (contributor to Diario de Cuba)
29. Nelson Julio Álvarez Mairata (contributor to ADNCuba )
30. Camila Acosta (contributor to CubaNet)
Guests
Fernando Pérez (film director)
Jorge Perugorría (director and actor)
Officials of the Ministry of Culture
Fernando Rojas, Vice Minister of Culture
Marta Bones, vice president of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC)
Yaser Toledo, vice president of the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS)
Jorge Alfonso, director of Génesis Galerías
Jorge Fernández, director of the National Museum of Fine Arts
Translated by Norma Whiting
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A police operation on Thursday, November 26, to arrest members of the San Isidro Movement, who were protesting the imprisonment of dissident rapper Denis Solís.(14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, December 4, 2020 — The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) claims that Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel are “setting the stage for civil war in order to hold onto power at any cost instead of adopting the reforms that Cuba urgently needs.”
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Madrid-based organization condemned the “wave of repression” on the island, citing at least 212 arbitrary detentions and 566 other abuses “at the site of activists’ homes (393), threats, assaults, harassment, police citations, fines, beatings and harassment.”
Last month saw the second highest number of arbitrary arrests this year. “Actions by the Cuban regime are causing ever more social and political discontent,” claims the OCDH, “and this translates into more police brutality against human rights activists and citizens in general.” continue reading
The Observatory particularly condemns the repression of activists from the San Isidro Movement (MSI). It warns the international community of the deployment of anti-riot troops in the streets of Havana and threats against the population,” citing the newspaper Granma’s warning of “armed struggle” against those who protest or dissent.
“It is very serious when, in the midst of a wave of repression, the Cuban Communist Party [newspaper] references on its front page the dreadful article in the Constitution which authorizes the regime to use arms against the civilian population,” states the organization.
It goes on to request immediate international condemnation of the regime and urgent political intervention by the European Union and the governments of Spain and Latin America.
Similarly, the executive director of the OCDH, Alejandro González Raga, published a letter in which he expressed his concern over the harassment to which MSI activists have been subjected after some thirty artists met with the Vice-Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas. He also condemned the “intense smear campaign in official media outlets” and the “criminalization” of the group’s members.
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The line outside a fish shop on 25th Street in Vedado to buy claria, a type of catfish.
14ymedio, Havana, 4 December 2020 – On Thursday the collection of shops on the ground floor of the Habana Libre hotel in Vedado woke up with line of people outside at the front doors waiting to buy food and other basic necessities. This routine has become more widespread since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
What are people waiting for this time? Is it the missing coffee? The scarce, low-quality bread. Some non-existent medication. A young man answers, “No one knows what they’re selling. I’m here just in case.”
Waiting in line once again sets the tone for the day. At the fish market on 25th Street, also in Vedado, there was another long line to buy ground claria, a type of catfish which some Cubans jokingly call “the national fish.” It was a product considered to be of little value until the growing food shortage began a few months. Now, in the absence of other food options, it is desperately sought after.
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In April 2003 – during the so-called ‘Black Spring’ — 75 opponents were arrested in Cuba, many of them journalists, for allegedly acting “in the interest of a foreign state.” (Archive)
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 6 December 2020 — I have several friends who have not slept for days, glued to the phone or having conversations in front of the mirror, with their pillow or in the shower. They are some of the artists who were in front of the Ministry of Culture on November 27 and who now are the target of a smear campaign. Several of their names have been singled out in the official media, and they have been accused of being “mercenaries,” “financed by the Empire,” and “terrorists.”
With the first insults, several of them told me in an incredulous tone “surely it is a mistake.” By the third day, they already knew that it was not confusion, because on television they continued to be associated with acts of vandalism. Then they called me to explain that as soon as the authorities reviewed their biographies more carefully, everything would be fine. After all, they are from the “left,” “from revolutionary parents,” they were “once members of the Union of Young Communists” and the only thing they have done is “love Cuba.”
There are few things as difficult as to snatch from a person who is the victim of the execution of their reputation the illusion that it is a mistake that will be corrected and they will be vindicated. Few listen when it is made clear to them that the system is designed to respond with that script to critics and that the current defamation bullets are calculatedly targeted and could soon become true fragmentation grenades against their prestige. continue reading
By the end of this week, on the other end of the phone the tone of the calls had changed and some voices were beginning to give way to anger and profanity.
“How are they going to say that about me if I have a drawer full of certificates for volunteer work?” an old acquaintance told me, someone who had been in front of the Ministry that night and is now overwhelmed by the Manichean reports that seek to link the San Isidro Movement and the events of ’27N’ [27 November] with sabotage and violence. In about 40 minutes of conversation, he repeated his biography to me: schools in the countryside, exceeding targets, art works donated to hospitals…
As I spoke, I remembered the first time I was called “mercenary” and “enemy” of my country. I was so thin-skinned in the face of this slander that, like my friend, I tried to show that this had to be a colossal mistake. I also tried to show my selfless academic record, my good grace for dialogue, my inability to hurt an ant, my ignorance of any training in “cyberwar,” and that love for the Island that keeps beating between my chest and my back. It was useless, just as now it will not serve those most recently vilified now.
It is useless to defend oneself against such accusations or to think that they must be a mistake on the part of some official, because these insults do not seek to be believed but to be feared. They are not aimed at the victim of the smear campaign but at passive viewers of the tirade, so that they know what to expect if they dare to move from applause to questioning. In that case, it awaits you to see their faces on the primetime newssurrounded by the worst adjectives, the threats to their families, the rewriting of their resumes to adapt them to the interests of the story that Power wants to tell, the insult of those who swallow such pseudo-informative mush. In addition to some act of repudiation and the inclusion of one’s name in articles, pseudo encyclopedias and morning assemblies at schools, wherever an enemy is required.
But, after crossing that desert, my friends will feel their souls lightened and their skins toughened against the injury, they will stop trying to explain who they are and they will care little about the thoughts of people who take it at face value, don’t look into it further, and accept a version without question. In addition, one question will forcefully come to mind for them. “If what they are saying about me is a lie and I know well it is, then when they said it about others previously, was it also false?”
It is at that point that the entire scaffolding of slander falters, the insults stop working and we come face to face, close and understanding each other, the accused of half a century ago, the harassed of three decades ago, the one tainted from the beginning of this millennium, the denigrated of the past five years and the ones blamed today. What system can crush the collective conscience of so many defamed?
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Soldiers guard the entrance to the Plaza de Carlos III shopping mall in Havana. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, December 1, 2020 — The areas around several Havana stores have been under heavy guard by military and special forces troops since Monday when windows in one of the stores were smashed. Purchases at these stores, known locally as MLCs (the Spanish initials for “Freely Convertible Currency”), can only be made with foreign currency, through pre-loaded magnetic cards issued by Cuban banks. Those selling food and personal hygiene products are under the the tightest security.
At the entrance to one of the city’s largest shopping malls, the centrally located Plaza de Carlos III, uniformed guards keep an eye on the entrance and on pedestrians passing by. The military presence has led to speculation by customers and area residents.
“We don’t know if it’s because the windows were broken at the hard currency store at Linea and 12th [streets] or because currency unification is about to happen and they’re preparing for public reaction,” says Liudmila Lopez, a resident of the nearby Los Sitios neighborhood. continue reading
The atmosphere in Havana has been growing more tense in recent days. Several activists from the San Isidro Movement have been on a hunger strike for more than a week, demanding the immediate closure of MLCs. They strongly distanced themselves on Monday, however, from the Panamericana store at Línea and 12th in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood.
Public resentment has risen sharply against stores such as these since they began selling food and personal hygiene products last July. The advent of this form of retail, where items can only be purchased with foreign currency debit cards, has coincided with a dramatic decline in the availability of consumer goods in stores that accept Cuban pesos (CUP) and convertible pesos (CUC). Products such as evaporated milk, cheese, butter, tomato sauce, shampoo and coffee have disappeared from the shelves of so-called “shoppings” and can now only be found at foreign exchange stores.
Last Saturday, activists called for a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Internal Commerce in Old Havana. Among their demands were that MLC stores either be closed or forced to join the network of stores that accept payment in CUC and CUP.
14ymedio has received numerous reports of the presence of so-called Black Berets, an elite military unit that the government mobilizes under special circumstances. The troops, who are armed, dressed in bulletproof vests and travel in military vehicles, have been especially visible on the city’s main thoroughfares and in various parts of the Vedado neighborhood.
“They’ve taken over the whole street,” laments a resident on 26th street near the corner of 23rd. “There are several stores here — a pharmacy and other businesses — and since we woke up, the street corners and surroundings areas have been under heavy surveillance. It is very frightening because nobody has explained what’s going on.”
The atmosphere surrounding currency unification and the MLCs has added to the simmering tension caused by calls for solidarity with the San Isidro Movement.* The government responded with a “spontaneous” demonstration in Trillo Park, which was attended by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel dressed in the colors of the national flag.
“Yes or no, these are days to stay home,” says a retiree who lives near a hard currency store on Havana’s Boulevard.” I used to not go out because of the pandemic but now I don’t want to go out because there’s a lot of tension in the street and nobody knows how this is going to end.”
*Translator’s note: A dissident movement founded in 2018, many of whose members are artists, musicians, journalists and academics who oppose what they call oppressive measures by Cuba’s communist government. (Source: BBC)
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“Freedom. Down with repression. #Free-Denis,” reads a cardboard sign carried by the young man. (Collage)
14ymedio, Havana, December 4, 2020 — A young man who was peacefully protesting on San Rafael Street in central Havana on Friday afternoon garnered solidarity from numerous passers-by on the popular pedestrian thoroughfare. When the police arrested the protester, there were shouts of “leave him alone” and “thugs.”
He was carrying a handmade cardboard sign that read, “Freedom. Down with repression. #Free-Denis [Solis].” Several people took note, recorded the moment and posted a video on social media that went viral within minutes.
On the recording the protester can also be heard saying, “Freedom, down with the dictatorship.” Some of those present expressed support by repeating “Down!” As he walked back and forth in the street, holding the sign aloft so that it could be easily read by everyone, several bystanders said that the young man “is right.” continue reading
In less than a minute several uniformed police arrived and arrested the protester, who began shouting, “Freedom!” In the video a chorus of voices can be heard shouting the same word as well as, “Thugs. You’re all thugs,” “Let him go,” “Down with the dictatorship” and “Oppressors.”
Several women attacked the police officers while the young man was being arrested. In the video they can be seen hitting and struggling with the police for a few seconds.
People come out in defense of a young man who protested in Havana #Cuba#SanIsidro#MSI
Near the location where the young man was protesting is another business selling cleaning and personal hygiene products, many of which cannot be found on shelves of stores where customers can pay with Cuban pesos. This monetary apartheid, as many refer to it, has led to calls for street protests to demand that these stores be closed.
The street, a pedestrian boulevard that connects Central Havana with Old Havana, is lined with stores, businesses and restaurants. Because of its proximity to the part of the city most popular with tourists, there is often a heavy police presence, which has increased throughout the city in the last week.
One of the most popular wifi hotspots in the Cuban capital is located at the corner of San Rafael and Galiano streets, a factor that contributed to the widespread dissemination of videos of the incident that afternoon. Some images were also posted directly from witnesses’ mobile phones.
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14ymedio, Luis Daniel Fernández Monzón, Havana, 5 December 2020 — Several graffiti appearing on the walls in the small city of Cruces, in Cienfuegos province, surprised the town’s inhabitants on Thursday. “Down with the dictatorship,” “We want the dollar stores closed,” and “Long Live Free Cuba, down with Dias [sic… it should be ‘Diaz’] Canel,” were the slogans featured.
The graffiti were painted during the night by unknown people on the facades of three houses on José Luis Robau street, at the corner with Paseo de Gómez (El Prado). The photos to illustrate this article were taken minutes before the authorities removed it.
As a consequence, there was a considerable deployment of police forces throughout the morning, a surveillance similar to the one that took place a few days ago in some commercial centers in Havana. With the difference that there are no dollar stores in Cruces at the moment, although it is said that one will open shortly.
The discontent of the population has increased since the Government determined last July to set up stores that sell food and cleaning products — that is basic necessities — but only take payment in freely convertible currency (MLC for its Spanish initials) — that is, foreign currency such as dollars and euros. In addition, shoppers must arrange through a bank to have a special magnetic card that carries the value of currency. (In this way, the State banks get the money before it is even spent.) continue reading
The closure of the dollar stores is precisely one of the requests of the San Isidro Movement, which considers that the measure divides society in two: those who have access to dollars and those who do not.
“Down with the dictatorship.” Following the appearance of the slogans there was a considerable deployment of police forces over the whole morning. (14ymedio)
In the afternoon of Thursday, the Cruces authorities organized an “act of redress” in Martí park, “in support of the Socialist Revolution and its leaders” and with songs by Silvio Rodríguez. At no time did the authorities make reference to the graffiti.
“They no longer know what to say, they no longer know what to do,” a resident told 14ymedio. “It is time to make the oppressors tremble. Now it is their turn to be afraid!”
The local media Radio Cruces reported a “revolutionary tángana” organized by the authorities in the municipality after the incidents. “Patriotic voices were raised in the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution number 7, in zone 21, located in the San José Popular Council of the municipality of Cruces,” the station explained.
“The counterrevolutionaries will not have any platform here, the counterrevolutionaries will not have the right to campaign against the Revolution here. It is over,” declared Elianis Sarduy, a student, at the official ceremony.
“Down with the dictatorship. We want the dollar stores closed. Long Live Free Cuba, down with Dias [sic] Canel.” (14ymedio)
This type of convocation has been taking place throughout the country after the hunger strike of several members of the San Isidro Movement and the protest of hundreds of artists in front of the Ministry of Culture in Havana, on November 27. The first of these “tánganas” took place in the Trillo Park of the Cuban capital and was attended by president Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The word “tángana” refers to student demonstrations against dictator Gerardo Machado in 1930, fueled by outrage at the death of 20-year-old leader Rafael Trejo. The pickets of young people gathered in the streets and squares to demand Machado’s resignation and their actions led to the end of his mandate.
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14ymedio, Clive Rudd Fernández, Miami, 10 December 2020 — I just got back to Florida after a five-day trip to Cuba. It had been about five years since I went, but a series of factors came together that led me to opt for Havana, and not the Bahamas or Cancun.
