Yunior García Aguilera – Translating Cuba

The Cuban Regime and Cultural Colonization

The Island was too small for Fidel Castro and he set about conquering the rest of the world

Fidel Castro with Mengistu Haile Mariam, who overthrew the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie to establish a Marxist regime. / Historical archive

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 30 September 2024 — The ideologues of the Castro model repeat ad nauseam that their struggle is based on a supposed “cultural decolonization.” Abel Prieto Jiménez, a storyteller, civil servant and advisor to generals, has become tiresome with this matter. His latest books and conferences are like a catauro [basket] where he inserts loose phrases, gossip and memes, obsessively attacking Sylvester Stallone or Shakira and labeling anyone with a minimally liberal discourse as fascist. One of his most laughable anecdotes is about how Che was worried about young revolutionaries who read comics in the 60s, because Superman demoralized the effort of the Agrarian Reform.

Another of the champions of this “decolonizing battle” is the Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet. With his European passport, the highly paid intellectual travels through Latin American dictatorships, offering his unrestricted support to figures such as Díaz-Canel, Nicolás Maduro and Daniel Ortega. The Galician-Parisian says that the handicap of the left is ethics, because the left is incapable of lying. He could not be more cynical. The Cuban Revolution itself was born on the basis of four founding lies: the repeated denial of communism; the hope of free elections; the guarantee of forming several political parties; and the promise to respect freedom of the press. The lies did not last very long. In just two years, that supposedly authentic revolution became a tropical copy of the Stalinist model.

The lies did not last very long. In just two years, that supposedly authentic revolution became a tropical copy of the Stalinist model.

From then on we would learn to say “homeland” in Russian, we would copy the Bulgarian Constitution, we would travel in Ladas, Moskvich or Karpaty cars, we would send our children to study in Leningrad, and we would replace Mickey Mouse with Masha and the Bear, until the mighty Soviet empire said “ konets ” (end). For 30 years, we were culturally closer to a Pole or a Serbian than to our own former culture. We allowed the Russians to establish not only military bases on our land, but even atomic missiles. The crudest slap in the face to the word “sovereignty” was when we applauded the Warsaw Pact tanks entering Prague to crush its spring. Half a century later, the Cuban regime once again applauds interference, shamelessly supporting Putin in his invasion of Ukraine.

Fidel Alejandro Castro was, in essence, a colonizer. An unbounded admirer of his namesake Alexander the Great, he always thought that Cuba was too small for him. And, once he achieved the status of an Antillean demigod, he set about conquering the rest of the world. Cuba did not send its armies to Africa to decolonize that continent, but to establish Marxist regimes loyal to Moscow.

The USSR provided the weapons and we provided the dead. The most notorious case was in Angola, where Cuban soldiers massacred tens of thousands of Angolans, even after their country had gained independence from Portugal. On May 27, 1977, more than 30,000 dissidents were tortured or killed by Agostinho Neto with the help of the Cuban military occupation. In 2019, the president of Angola publicly apologized for that massacre. But the Cuban regime has never apologized.

Not to mention all the damage we caused in Latin America, infesting the region with armed guerrillas. Although almost all of them failed, many were linked to drug trafficking and others mutated into conventional politics. Today we have the Nicaraguan dictatorship, repudiated by the vast majority of the international community, but unconditionally supported by Havana. Ultimately, it is its bastard daughter. And in Venezuela we have shown that the Castro model is not only capable of ruining a small country, but can also metastasize poverty, in record time, even in the richest country in the region.

In Latin America today we have the Nicaraguan dictatorship, repudiated by the vast majority of the international community, but unconditionally supported by Havana

Much has been said about Castro-communism and its characteristics, but not so much about Castro-capitalism. The model example was the Convertible Currency Department (MC). Beyond the four executed in 1989 during the Causa Uno [Cause Number 1], the company laid the foundations for what is now Gaesa. Castro-capitalism is defined by being monopolistic, shady, hermetic, by having relations with drug trafficking, by the use of front men, by being controlled and led by the military, by money laundering, piracy and ghost companies, by being above the law and the comptrollers. Castro-capitalism uses human beings as merchandise, having healthcare providers as its star product. The Cuban State’s trade in doctors is more lucrative than remittances or tourism, and has been described by several human rights organizations as “modern slavery.”

We should also define Castro-imperialism, which seeks to replace Uncle Sam with Uncle Putin; to replace Batman posters with T-shirts of a Joker like Che Guevara; to vindicate the ETA, the ELN and Hamas; to impose Maduro as a “democratic paradigm”; to demonize the liberal model; to appropriate the discourse of minorities that it previously persecuted and marginalized; to replace the bourgeoisie with civil servants.

No, Mr. Abel Prieto, you are not seeking to decolonize anything at all, you are seeking to recolonize. You dream of imposing the hegemony of a single party and a single way of thinking throughout the world. Fortunately, fewer and fewer people are buying your rhetoric.
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The Cowardice of UNEAC, Cuba’s Writers and Artists Union

The history of the institution is a soap opera full of lynchings, expulsions, censorship and self-incriminations

Luis Morlote, former president of UNEAC, receiving congratulations from Esteban Lazo for his promotion to the Central Committee / Granma

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 19 September 2024 — Last Sunday, Cuba’s official newspaper Granma published a pamphlet entitled “The Brave and the Cowardly.” It was obvious that the article referred to the reaction caused by the expulsion of Dr. Alina Bárbara López Hernández from the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), since several members resigned from the organization and expressed their disagreement on social networks. But the article never dared to mention her by name. It preferred to gloat, in super-worn nautical metaphors and the phraseology of José Martí taken out of context, as Yusuam Palacios, director of the Fragua Martiana Museum, usually does in his pseudo-poetic parliamentary speeches.

However, despite the fact that the text was loaded with all that revolutionary syrup frequently used by the deputy of Sagua de Tánamo, no one dared to sign it. It appeared under the authorship of “Cultural Writing,” a waste of courage. From the language used, everything indicates that it was written by a single person, a bad poet or some cadre who aspires to be the reincarnation of the Naborí Indian,* although only his “Elegy of the White Shoes” was read.

I have spoken to some UNEAC members who remain in Cuba, and they have confirmed to me that the author did not dare consult them before publishing this mock declaration. So it was something fabricated in an office from an order, or an initiative of some enthusiastic official. In summary, the article that calls itself “brave” is not able to mention the name of the person who inspires it, does not dare to affix the signature of anyone in particular and does not have the guts to consult about its content with members of the organization that is attributed to its authorship. continue reading

In the comments, a reader states that she is totally lost as to the content of the pamphlet

In the comments, a reader states that she is totally lost as to the content of the pamphlet. Mirella admits: “I am interested in having more information about what is happening at this time that brought about this statement as a consequence. I have some idea, but not enough to be able to enlighten others.” Another reader, Lázaro Numa Águila, confesses: “The editorial makes me feel that we continue to make use of speech that is often unintelligible for some; what is the reason for this reaffirmation?”

For several years I was a member of UNEAC, until I resigned, after the infamous statement that the organization published after 11J.** A few weeks before the incident, the late Corina Mestre had called me to a meeting to suggest that I voluntarily resign. I remember he said something like this: “Oh, Yunior, my son, haven’t you read the statutes?” And he was right. Article 2 clearly stated that UNEAC recognizes the Communist Party of Cuba as the superior leading force of society and the State. In other words, in no case is it a non-governmental organization that is part of civil society. Not at all. It is an institution, like all, subordinated to the single party. It is an extension of State Security, with the sole purpose of monitoring and controlling the guild of artists and intellectuals.

Believing that I was someone smart, I thought I could do something useful from within, that continuing to be part of their ranks served to raise my voice in the assemblies, denounce abuses and promote the democratic changes to which I aspired. Being totally honest, I also believed that continuing to be a member was a kind of protective shield, for the minions to think twice before siccing their dogs on me. But I was wrong. I wasn’t someone smart; I was naive and cynical. The history of UNEAC is a soap opera full of lynchings, expulsions, censorship and self-incriminations. UNEAC is not a guild fraternity, it is a minion institution. It’s not a protective shield, it’s a scaffold. From Heberto Padilla to Alina Bárbara there is a long list of convicts.

From Heberto Padilla to Alina Bárbara there is a long list of convicts

Some years ago, in Holguín, during one of those useless provincial assemblies, the troubadour Fernando Cabrejas asked: What is UNEAC for? Others, who also asked for the floor, argued that it was a cultural old folks’ home, which served to be shipwrecked on the Internet, to speed up a journey to capitalism, to drink cheap coffee and eat croquettes without having to line up or to have a bathroom to go to when walking through the city center.

UNEAC’s X Congress was scheduled for June of this year, but culture has never been a priority when it comes to authorizing budgets, nor was the oven used for pastries. In January, Luis Morlote was “promoted” and went from being president of the organization to being a second of Rogelio Polanco in the Auxiliary Structure of the Central Committee for Ideological Affairs: what a rise! Miguel Barnet praised his record as a leader; Polanco justified the decision made, not as a weakness, but as an ability of UNEAC to forge cadres, and Lazo gave a painting – according to the grotesque tradition – to the promoted cadre.

The conclave has been postponed to November. That’s why State Security is on the run threatening and cutting off heads. That is also why the entire propaganda apparatus of the regime publishes daily tomes about UNEAC, Although the note of pessimism is obvious. La Jiribilla, a weekly magazine of Cuban culture, has been repeating a litany of elegies for a week, hysterically shouting that UNEAC unites, adds, multiplies and any other mathematical operation they can think of. They are visibly desperate. They are afraid. They want the next congress to be like every other one, an inventory of complaints and promises. But they are terrified that someone will depart from the script and propose to delete Article 2 of their statutes. The Article 2 that demonstrates its absolute submission… and cowardice.

Translator’s notes:

* The Cuban poet, Jesús Orta Ruíz, was known as the “Naborí Indian.” After the defeat of the US in the Bay of Pigs, Orta Ruíz wrote the poem to commemorate the deaths of many civilians, including a boy whose white shoes were destroyed. A pair of bloody white shoes is on display in the Bay of Pigs museum, a memento of the first military defeat of the US in Latin America and the Caribbean.

** The first Vice President of UNEAC, Ernesto Limia Díaz, published a statement on Facebook on July 12, 2021, in support of the Regime’s suppression of the July 11th demonstrators.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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A Perfect World for Dictatorships

Politicians are dithering, companies are just out to make money, and ordinary people are becoming increasingly polarized on social media

Members of the Bolivarian National Police confront demonstrators during a protest against the results of the presidential elections, in Caracas. / EFE/Ronald Peña R.

14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguiler, Madrid, 12 September 2024 / Latin America suffered several dictatorships during the 20th century. One of the declared aims of these regimes was to stop the advance of communism in the region, to curb the influence of the USSR and Cuba, its spearhead in the region. These regimes were defeated in the streets, at the ballot box or by transitions they themselves permitted. But the trail of blood they left only managed to fuel resentment against right-wing ideologies and incubate a left-wing mystique that would later be exploited by populist leaders. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Fukuyama spoke of “The End of History.” It seemed that liberal democracy had definitely triumphed. However, it was not yet the end.

The Cuban regime was left as a lost cause against which it was not worth using too much force or giving the final blow. It would disappear on its own, like a dying dog, or it would be forced to transform itself. Pushing it to adopt open-minded recipes should have the same effect as in Eastern Europe. However, they underestimated the ability of the regime to take advantage of misery to its advantage, to victimize itself, to make the citizens more dependent on its crumbs, to awaken new sympathies in the world and to wait in ambush for the opportune moment to expand, once again, its influence.

Today, at the end of the first quarter of the new century, there are three dictatorships of pure Castro style in Latin America and a handful of pseudo-democracies that prop up these regimes and flirt with authoritarianism. Today’s dictatorships have noted all the errors of their predecessors and have a new manual that is proof against ballot boxes, social upheavals and transitions. Nor is the world is the same as it was in the 1990s. continue reading

Contrary to what some people expect with a pang of nostalgia, the US is not going to intervene in the region, neither with Kamala nor with Trump in the White House

Paradoxically, China was one of the countries that benefited most from neoliberal globalization. The red giant became a super-capitalist power without giving up ideological ground. And Putin’s Russia, for its part, played the “let’s make Russia great again” game. While this was happening, the American middle classes were affected when large companies migrated to countries with cheap labor. This created a perfect breeding ground for ultra-nationalist ideas, the resurgence of anti-immigrant sentiments and the need for a strong leader focused on domestic issues.

The American superpower is in full decline, threatened by its internal fissures and oriented externally towards its main enemy: China. This has caused it to divert its attention from Latin America and delegate leadership to countries such as Mexico and Brazil, today governed by the left. Contrary to what some expect, with a pang of nostalgia, the United States is not going to intervene in the region, not with Kamala and not with Trump in the White House.

Aware of the world we live in, Nicolás Maduro commits the biggest fraud in history to stay in power, forces the elected president into exile, represses and harasses the opposition… and nothing happens. Daniel Ortega, for his part, makes and unmakes in the most crude way in Nicaragua, crushing the most basic rights… and there he remains. Miguel Díaz-Canel, in Cuba, imprisons and exiles dissidents, takes the economic and social crisis to inhuman levels… nobody cares anymore. There they are, without ballot boxes, but with weapons; without rights for all, but with totalitarian laws; without civil society, but with docile institutions and yielding to their whims.

There they are, without ballot boxes, but with weapons; without rights for all, but with totalitarian laws; without civil society, but with docile institutions and yielding to their whims

It is the perfect world for these shameless dictators. Who is affected by a couple of sanctions, as long as the BRICS provide them with relief in a timely manner? What good are four denunciations and strong declarations at international summits, if in the end they are a dead letter? What does it matter what the European press says, if their governments play at extreme caution, without even daring to call the dictatorships by their name?

People suffering under these dictatorships have only three options: to revolt, to flee or to bow their heads. The last option is ideal for perpetuating the dictators and forcing the population to resign itself to material and human misery. The second is a problem for countries with solid democracies, where waves of migration are causing more and more discontent among their own voters. And the first option represents a sure grave or prison for those who dare to take it.

Parallel to all this, there is the issue of social media. A priori, it is a tremendously effective tool for denouncing abuses and mobilizing the population. But it also has its dark side. News oversaturation tends to normalize a problem, whatever it may be, turning information into noise. People can follow a crisis closely for a couple of months, but then they get fed up and feel the trivial need to turn the page and focus on the next crisis, as if real life were a streaming platform where we click on the next entertainment show. Opinions, on the other hand, do not come only from experts or well-informed people. It is common for stupidity to dominate the forums, replacing arguments with slogans, ideas with insults and concrete proposals with empty cries.

It is common for stupidity to dominate the forums, replacing arguments with slogans, ideas with insults and concrete proposals with empty cries

No one is surprised that the man who defeated Maduro in a landslide at the polls had to flee the country where his integrity was threatened. But it is also not surprising that the masses accustomed to Marvel and DC are quickly disappointed if they do not see superhuman powers in the hero. There are already attacks on the networks against Edmundo González, for the sin of still being alive. Contrary to what the masses accustomed to Netflix series think, the dead do not change regimes, the living do. When I hear María Corina Machado say “this is until the end,” I never expect that the end will be her death, because these are not the times of martyrs. And we Cubans should know this. The death of Oswaldo Payá did not pose any danger to the regime, on the contrary, and if he were still alive perhaps the opposition would have the leadership that we lack today.

It would be terrible if, within one decade instead of three, Latin America doubled its number of dictatorships. And it would be terrible if the international community continued to do nothing about it. While politicians dither, companies only want to profit, and while ordinary people become increasingly polarized on social media, we are creating the perfect world for dictatorships to spread, like a pandemic.

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‘Killing Castro’: Getting Inside the Skin of the Dictator

The actor Diego Boneta watched every existing video that showed the tyrant in his youth and looked through dozens of photos and testimonies

Promotional poster for the film ’Killing Castro’ directed by Eif Rivera / Imdb

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 27 August 2024 – Last year a young and very talented Mexican actor invited me to dinner in Madrid. He was Diego Boneta, known mainly for bringing Luis Miguel to life in the successful biographical series, although he had also worked with Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger on Hollywood productions. The motive for his invitation was to talk about Fidel Castro. He was interested in my take on him as dramatist and actor, but also as an opponent of the regime. Diego was facing the most difficult role of his career to date: to play the Cuban dictator.

I was really surprised by how much he had already researched his role. He’d watched every existing video that showed the tyrant during his youth, and had looked through dozens of photos and testimonies. But beyond mastering the voice and the gestures of his character, Boneta wanted to understand his soul, his ambitions, doubts, weaknesses and frustrations. And he’d already begun to grab that by the balls. When I asked him, ’what do you think was his ideology during the period of time covered by the film?’, he replied, ’his only ideology, at that point and, I believe, until the end of his life… was power’.

The most interesting thing, for me, wasn’t the disastrous planning and execution of the event but rather the reactions to it

Firstly, we talked about the letter that an adolescent Fidel wrote in English to President Roosevelt in 1940. In the missive he addressed the most powerful man in the world as “my good friend”. He wrote that he was willing to reveal the location of the best iron ore mines in the country for a payment of ten dollars. But also, he lied about his age, saying he was 12 when in fact he was 14. continue reading

The second theme was the attack on the Moncada Barracks. The most interesting thing, for me, wasn’t the disastrous planning and execution of the event but rather the reactions to it. Because, for a narcisist like Fidel Castro Ruz, the most important thing wasn’t the action itself but the high profile impact that it created. Actual communists at the (New York) Daily Worker condemned the action, branding it a putsch committed by bourgeois gangs. And they wrote off the so called gangs’ leader as a mere irresponsible adventurer. To top it all, an ultra-left Chilean newspaper even declared that it was the CIA that was behind the events of 26 July in Cuba.

Much has already been speculated about what was Castro’s ideology during those years. His first speeches and writings would seem to indicate that he’d read more fascists and falangists than Marx or Lenin. Also, his declarations, in English and in Spanish, denying any link between the Revolution and Marxist ideas, are very well known. “A despicable campaign” was how the emerging dictator described accusations that he was a communist.

Nikita Kruschev himself consulted with the socialists in Havana, interested in the bearded one’s ideology. But the people of the Cuban PSP (People’s Socialist Party) at that time considered him a simple nationalist petit bourgeois. The big question is: ’was he deceiving everyone?’ If we are to be guided by that letter, written when he was 14, pretending to be 12, we could presume that yes, the guy was an uncontrollably compulsive liar. But if one delves a little further into his narcissism and his obsession with power, we could say that he was ready to adopt any ideology that would guarantee his clinging onto that power. And in this, the United States was the key.

His first speeches and writings would seem to indicate that he’d read more fascists and falangists than Marx or Lenin

The biggest blow to his ego came about in Washington. His April 1959 visit there was marked by various gaffes of protocol. First, he’d travelled without invitation from the White House. As a result, President Eisenhower refused to see him, excusing himself with a game of golf. Castro explained that he hadn’t come to beg for anything, although fifteen days later he would send an emissary to do just that. Then vice President Nixon agreed to meet him for two and a half hours. But Nixon too was inept. During their meeting he took it upon himself to make the bearded one see that he had no idea about economics and that he was naive about the USSR. Fidel returned from that visit humiliated. And Soviet analysts took note, drawing up a plan that would attract Cuba, inevitably, into their orbit.

Castro’s following visit to the country to the north was already on the agendas of both the KGB and the CIA. And it is precisely this visit upon which the plot of ’Killing Castro’ is based. The film is now complete and will be released at some point this year. Also in the cast is Al Pacino, as well as the virtuoso Cuban actor Héctor Medina. We await the film’s premiere. I’m sure it’s going to generate much debate, most of all amongst Cubans.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Freedom Without Anger and Without Hatred, for Cuba

The regime has taken advantage of our anger to present us as “haters” and to feed the fear of change

The supposed “unity” of the regime is not based on the hope that one day things will get better / EFE Archive, 1980 [Text of sign: Out With the Scum]

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, August 7, 2024 — “Libertad sin ira,” “freedom without anger” [lyrics] is one of the most representative songs of the Spanish transition to democracy. In its lyrics it speaks of a Spain personified by the old authoritarianism and another embodied in a generation that sought to be free, without bloodshed. At that uncertain moment, after the death of dictator Franco, the song of the Jarcha group became a hymn for many. In our Cuba of 2024, the frustration of a people who fail to dismantle a desperately long-lived dictatorship often leads us to anger. I don’t deny that there are a thousand reasons that can support it. However, I wrap my brain around this question: is resentment useful? Will we be able to achieve a freedom without anger or will we perpetually writhe in anger without freedom?

The Cuban regime has taken advantage of that rage to adorn its narrative. While they, supposedly, are the ones who “love and build,” we are the “haters.” Such cynicism only increases the fury on the opposition side, justifying it equally with concepts from José Martí, such as invincible hatred and eternal resentment. But I haven’t come here to talk to you about poetry. I want to talk about strategy.

Martí has been used by Cubans with almost the same intensity as those who quote Christ to shore up their creeds. That’s why I would like to put the emphasis, rather than on his words, on his actions. The man Cubans call ‘the apostle’ was able to forgive even the henchman who tried to poison him. And not only did he offer them his forgiveness, but he also managed to persuade them to join the independence ranks. The story reveals to us how young Valentín ended up fighting on the Mambí side, reaching the rank of commander and becoming a convinced devotee of Martí for the rest of his life. continue reading

Martí has been used by Cubans with almost the same intensity as those who quote Christ to shore up their creeds

I know, it’s always easier to have a repertoire of Martí quotations on the lips than to imitate his behavior. Others will say that we leave the dead alone, that we live in another century, that we should stop waving the apostle as if he were a carnival flag. And maybe they are right. But what we call values, principles or ethics is always a convention based on references. It is useless to give up Martí. In the next century, if there is any Cuban left alive, we will continue to name him.

During these days, there have been heated controversies on social networks about the victory in Paris of the Greco-Roman fighter Mijaín López. Those who congratulate him are right; his sporting feat is undeniable. And those who point to him as a furious defender of Castroism, protagonist of repressive episodes, are right. Others have chosen to celebrate Yasmani Acosta, also Cuban, for his meritorious silver medal representing Chile. Although there is also no shortage of those who have lashed out against him, for his “warm” statements about the dictatorship.

Some European friends write to me without understanding not even one word. You Cubans, they tell me, will never be able to agree. And I’m not saying I’m free of blame. In my case, I limited myself to recognizing the triumph of Mijaín López, with nothing more to add, receiving my corresponding downpour of insults.

In this fight of ours, the most common thing is to entrench ourselves on one side, incessantly lobbing verbal grenades towards the opposite ditch, although it is also common for us to attack ourselves inside our own trench. At this rate, if we achieve freedom one day, we will all be so emotionally mutilated that the reconstruction of the country and national reconciliation will continue to be postponed.

At this rate, if we achieve freedom one day, we will all be so emotionally mutilated that the reconstruction of the country and national reconciliation will continue to be postponed

We have a lot to learn from our Venezuelan brothers. Regardless of how everything ends, the opposition has already managed to concentrate all its arrows against the dictatorship. They have unmasked the tyrant;
they have managed to add the vast majority of the people, and they have captured the attention of the whole world. Their speech is firm: there will be no impunity, but they extend their hand to anyone, military or civilian, who takes the right side.

In his book “The Art of War,” Sun Tzu recommended always leaving an escape route to the enemy. At the same time, he recommended putting your army in a dead-end position, to motivate them to fight to death, without ever considering withdrawal. The Cuban regime has read the manuals very well. For decades they have suggested to their supporters that, in the face of an eventual change, they expect they would all be hung in the public square. There are ordinary people convinced that the enemy will go house by house to look for them to settle scores for having been in the FMC [Federation of Cuban Women] or the CDR [Committee for the Defense of the Revolution]. The supposed “unity” of the regime is not based on the hope that one day things will improve, but on the fear that one day things will change. And sometimes we ourselves contribute to that mentality.

In order for this battle not to be eternal or useless, it will be necessary to dismantle many myths and change strategies. The possibility of joinig together must always be left open. We must be able to differentiate between justice and revenge. We will have to know how to convince as many Cubans as possible that the future will not be a simple change of flags in the barracks of hatred, exclusion and insult, but finally, freedom without anger.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The World is Watching Caracas

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the main accomplice of the three dictatorships on the continent

AI-generated image of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, published by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro / /Jair Bolsonaro/X

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, August 3, 2024 — On August 2, a haggard-looking Nicolás Maduro gave a press conference where he threw out clues about how he intends to hold on to power in Venezuela. Grabbing a Bible, he read a passage from the Gospel of St. John where Thomas’ disbelief is recounted. In chapter 20, verse 29, Jesus said to his apostle: “Blessed are those who did not see, and believed.” So… that’s what it’s all about. Maduro doesn’t plan to show a single bit of evidence of his supposed triumph, because he doesn’t have it!

The dictator hopes that both Venezuelans and the rest of the world will swallow the story of his victory as a matter of faith. But the opposition made a sagacious move. Despite all the difficulties that their supporters faced in accessing the voting centers, in the end they managed to get the voting records they needed to dismantle the fraud. Making those records available to the whole planet has made the National Electoral Council look ridiculous. In those votes, which now account for more than 80% of the total, it can be confirmed that the winner of the elections was Edmundo González, with 67% of the votes. The opposition has not defended its victory with mere statements or chest pounding; they are protecting it with verifiable evidence.

The opposition has not defended its victory with mere statements or chest pounding; they are protecting it with verifiable evidence

I confess that, at first, I was concerned about the way in which some of those records, which Venezuelans nickname chorizos [sausages], reached their hands. Knowing the deceptive nature of authoritarian regimes, I feared that Chavismo itself would provide them with false records and then go out to deny them. It is something they usually do, for example, with certain videos on social networks. They themselves make fictitious material, upload it to the internet, wait patiently for some clueless opponent to replicate it and then go out to denounce that it is fake news. It is a tactic that Castroism also used during the 11J mass protests in Cuba, in July of 2021, to try to deny the demonstrations. However, falsifying voting records is much more complex than adulterating videos, and the Venezuelan opposition “is not sucking its thumb” [‘wasn’t born yesterday’]. continue reading

So far I have not seen any Chavista dismantle the results of the opposition website. This Friday, the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, tried, unsuccessfully, to convince us that the records displayed by the opposition are fake. This guy often uses sarcasm to cover his poverty of arguments. However, in his very brief speech, he devoted himself to speaking carefully, without daring to question the QR of a single record, without comparing them to his own in the sight of everyone, and without denying a single concrete result of any of the more than 24,000 tally sheets that the opposition has documented.

Some media have baptized what is happening as “the war of the votes,” but this is imprecise

Some media have baptized what is happening as “the war of the votes,” but this is imprecise. The only votes that we have all been able to observe, so far, are those displayed by the opposition. Maduro’s only exist in his speeches. The CNE, for its part, justifies its lack of transparency by quashing us with an alleged “cyber attack,” which has jumped from North Macedonia to Elon Musk, detracting from any seriousness of the matter. The doubt here would be: if the alleged hacking somehow prevented them from obtaining the records, where the hell did they get the statistics that awarded the triumph to Maduro? The CNE is caught in its own trap.

Some netizens talk about supposed Chinese experts who even falsified the Apollo 11 moon landing. However, even if this were true and the counterfeiters managed to manufacture new voting records, these would only serve for the internal circus that Maduro has mounted in the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. They would never dare make them public, tally sheet by tally sheet, because it would be too easy to refute them.

Meanwhile, each foreign Government has recognized as president the candidate most aligned with its own ideology. The allies of Chavismo in the OAS have boycotted a statement, but without daring to vote against it. The cowardly abstentions and absences translate as: “it is obvious that Maduro is lying, but we need cheap oil.” Lula continues with his wet dream of winning the Nobel Peace Prize as a mediator in some conflict; that’s why he pretends to fight from time to time with Maduro, to gain some credibility. But we all know that, deep down, the Brazilian president is the main accomplice of the three dictatorships on the continent.

Meanwhile, each Government has recognized as president the candidate most aligned with its own ideology

The world, fortunately, is still watching Caracas, although any result in another country or in the Olympic Games would be enough for us to stop watching, and Maduro continues to scam and massacre the people of Venezuela. The worst thing is that young people are increasingly losing their confidence in democracy and international institutions, dangerously returning us to those times of the violent struggle.

Operation Tomás* means everything should be resolved by faith. Maduro hopes that when the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (obviously controlled by him) ratifies the results announced by the CNE, everyone will accept his words as holy, and the “saint” will have won. Believing without seeing, that is the ruling party’s bet, as if we were living in the Middle Ages. But Maduro is not Jesus Christ; he is Herod. Maduro hasn’t even read the Bible very well. The donkey of Miraflores believes that Jesus was a Palestinian child killed by the Spanish Empire. And his false Operation Tomás is abut to appear to be Judas.

*A reference to Maduro’s use of the “doubting Thomas” story in the Bible.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Culture Warriors and Power Struggles in Cuba

Who is Díaz-Canel grooming for a possible promotion? Jaime Gómez Triana, a shadowy cultural commissar

Fidel Castro with Alpidio Alonso and Abel Prieto, Cuba’s two most recent Ministers of Culture / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 27 July2024 — In Díaz-Canel’s recent closing address to the rubber-stamp National Assembly, the appointed president referred to a statement that was totally unrelated the rest of his speech. The focus of the address was supposed to be the economy. Therefore, one might logically have expected him to reference something an economist had said, or to mention a comment by an entrepreneur he had casually met on one of his endless walk-abouts around the island.

But no. He only mentioned the heroes of these supposed “success stories” in passing, as if to fulfill an obligation or justify the enormous expense of these junkets. It seems not a single one of their opinions was worth mentioning. Just blurting out their names, to elicit that primitive feeling of self-satisfaction: “Wow, the president talked about me. That’s me, the guy from the Santa Rosa estate.”

However, the person he did mention — by both first and last name, quoting from a long speech that the person had given — was a bland, virtually unknown figure who has been rising through the ranks of the powerful groups that promote cultural policies in Cuba. Aware that he had gone completely off-topic, Díaz-Canel justified this digression with a question. “Why do I choose to mention this, which seems so far removed from the harsh economic reality that we are facing right now?” He answered his own question with the usual refrain: That if Fidel, Raúl, Che, etc. . . That if socialist society, etc. . . continue reading

The herd of delegates applauded out of habit, as usual. But the two or three people whose suspicions can still be aroused immediately began adding things up and whispering in the corridors. The meeting seemed like the prelude to an imminent appointment. It was a sign of favor, the equivalent of when the alpha male in a troop of chimpanzees chooses another primate to pick the fleas off his back.

So who the hell was Díaz-Canel referencing with his random quote? Who is he grooming for a possible promotion? Jaime Gómez Triana. And who is that? readers may ask. Let’s take it step by step.

Our grandparents also had to put up with attacks on rock and roll and with Fidel Castro’s critiques of certain behaviors that he described as “Elvis Presley-ish”

Jaime’s thoughts are nothing new. They are part of a sermon on “cultural colonization” that former culture minister Abel Prieto broods over, day in and day out, hoping to be invited to international events alongside Ignacio Ramonet and Atilio Borón. It is a cyclical fight over whatever work a particular generation finds to be pseudo-cultural, banal or degrading.

That same rhetoric (and Jaime should know this because he is a playwright) was used against Cuba’s “teatro bufo” back in 19th century, when it was accused of being immoral, superficial, vulgar and unscripted.

Our grandparents also had to put up with attacks on rock and roll and with Fidel Castro’s critiques of certain behaviors that he described as “Elvis Presley-ish.” Our parents witnessed the crusade against “timba” in the 1990s, when very uptight comrades were horrified by its vulgarity. Jaime’s take is hardly original. It is the same argument that was used to justify the infamous Decree 349, which prohibits artists from performing in public without prior approval from the Ministry of Culture.

Jaime is clearly a smart guy. He has always stayed in the background, whispering in the ear of some deputy official. He knows he is not very attractive and is aware that he has a speech impediment which causes him to mispronounce words. However, given the current crisis surrounding the cultural commissars, it seems that he has been convinced to take on a much more visible role.

His colleagues do not remember him as a person with ideas or as someone remotely close to those in power. During his theater phase, he was quite close to Victor Varela and Nelda Castillo, who were known for speeches that were openly hostile towards the regime. But then the lad accepted a post as vice-president of the Saíz Brothers Association and sold his soul to the devil. Okay, maybe not the devil himself . . He sold it to Luis Morlote, a kind of junior devil. Thus, the lanky, blond Jaime and the standard-bearer of the purported “cultural avant-garde” began his ambitious ascent up the career ladder.

Power struggles in the cultural sector have been notoriously scandalous during these decades of dictatorship

Power struggles in the cultural sector have been notoriously scandalous during these decades of dictatorship. Iroel Sánchez was perhaps the last great leader of this cult, placing his hardline fanatics in strategic positions, dominating the media and trying to eliminate any rival in his quest for total control of the cultural sphere. But Iroel is dead and his followers’ days are numbered.

Abel Prieto is the consigliere who has survived the longest in the cultural mafia. He may have been the person most frightened by the mention of Gómez Triana during Díaz-Canel’s closing speech, especially since Jaime is now vice-president of Casa de la Americas. The former culture minister recently posted a homophobic tweet on X that may have made him new enemies among senior government advisers. They may want to “do a Biden” and convince him to step aside for reasons of age and mental health.

What is clear is that Cuba’s cultural map is being redrawn. The gangs seriously hate each other and are having fights to the death. No one should be surprised if, in the coming days, resignations and replacements are announced. The fact that Díaz-Canel mentioned Jaime at a completely unrelated event is not a coincidence. Team Morlote is on a roll and that suggests heads will roll.

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The Day Fidel Castro Admitted the Assault on the Moncada Barracks Was a Flop

On a program intended to commemorate the event, Castro ended up saying publicly that he should have skipped it and gone “straight to the Sierra Maestra.”

Fidel Castro during a July 24, 2000 appearance on State TV’s Roundtable program in which he spoke about the attack on Moncada. / Screencapture / Roundtable

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, July 17, 2024 — During a taping of the “Roundtable” program in 2000, Fidel Castro showed up unexpectedly at the television studio. “The problem is that I was listening to the program on television like everyone else,” he said on camera, “but I didn’t know that you were going to address these topics. And suddenly I see you asking a question. Someone interprets it one way, someone else another. And then I’m left thinking, ’Wow… I’m still here!’”

Needless to say, the panic on the faces of the panelists was immediately obvious. You could tell that everyone was trying to figure out where the hell they had screwed up. One of them, the most obsequious, nervously blurted out, “Who better than you, commander?” so they handed him the microphone. No one knows what brand of whiskey the dictator was drinking that day but it threw him for such a loop that it resulted in a stream of gibberish of biblical proportions.

The entire liturgy of the Castro regime is basically a celebration of failure. Mountains of books have been written on this topic but, if you ask any average Cuban student about it, the only thing he has been taught to say is: “It was the small engine that drove the big engine.” An example of how common it is in our classrooms to confuse history with mechanics.

No one knows what brand of whiskey the dictator was drinking that day but it threw him for such a loop that it resulted in a stream of gibberish of biblical proportions

The young Castro’s plan seemed simple enough: dress up some boys to look like sergeants, walk into the second largest military barracks in the country, take it over in ten minutes, give orders to the soldiers, grab the weapons Black-Friday-style and mobilize the entire party-going population of Santiago de Cuba. Such was Fidel’s confidence in the town that he decided not to recruit anyone from the area except for one person who, out of obligation, had previously cased the surroundings. In short, if the town continue reading

turned out to be too hungover to follow the beat, the fallback plan was to flee to the mountains. Piece of cake! The strategy dreamed up by this “genius” was primarily based on the assumption that the barracks’ soldiers were all as dumb as rocks.

It is not my intention in this article to rehash what happened at Moncada. Readers themselves can find thousands of accounts circulating online. Much better than listening to opponents demystify the event is being able to appreciate the personal frustration of its protagonist. Castro himself had already said in other interviews how, as a child, he became a ringworm killer. From his own mouth we found out that he learned at university it was better to bring a gun to the classroom than a book. But the Roundtable interview to which I refer is a real gem. In it, he confesses to a lot of unusual things. For example, we learn that Raúl Castro never led his battalion but that historians had just assumed he had been its leader. Or that he literally recruited a bunch of young people to support him so that he could become “the first professional revolutionary.”

In his usual smug tone, he started out characterizing the plan as “perfect,” then immediately added, “If I had to do it over again, I would do exactly the same thing. But then things got out of hand. As he was recalling the events, he began realizing how crazy it all sounded and his body language started to give him away.

“That’s why I say it. . . what I’m not going to say. . . but I’m not going to say it because, once I’ve said it, some people might, you know. . . somewhat disagree.”

The old tyrant began to doubt his own words on camera. A few seconds later, he was already admitting to a huge disappointment. I quote: “That’s why I say it. . . what I’m not going to say. . . but I’m not going to say it because, once I’ve said it, some people might, you know. . . somewhat disagree.”

The Roundtable propagandists went into full Shakira mode: deaf, dumb and blind*. The program they had prepared was supposed to celebrate the achievements at Moncada, not dismiss them. Finally, the khaki-clad fossil had had enough and categorically disavowed the whole Moncada affair. He admitted in front of everyone that he should have skipped it and gone “straight to the Sierra Maestra.” He looked at his subjects as though he had just relieved himself of a heavy burden and said: “There, I’ve said it!”

That is how Fidel Castro himself upended the whole Moncada myth.

*Video…. and Lyrics in English

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Carlos Espinosa, An Essential Look at Cuba

I want to think that death surprised him while he was reading, with his eyes shining when he found some clue, some lost piece in the puzzle of our culture

Cuban intellectual Carlos Espinosa passed away this Saturday in Madrid at the age of 74 / Facebook

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 8 July 2024 — In one of the presentations of the play Jacuzzi [written by the author of this article] in Madrid, someone from the group came running to the dressing room with the news that Carlos Espinosa Domínguez was in the audience. If there had been a nerveometer to measure the ensuing panic, it would have broken instantly. But not because of the fear that fierce critics provoked; we already knew that Carlos was very elegant when it came to giving a professional opinion, even if it was negative. What triggered our anxiety was the privilege of acting before one of the most authoritative voices of Cuban theater, whose name was synonymous with rigor, wisdom and excellence.

At the end of the show, the actors approached me: “Did you see him? Did he tell you anything about the play?” Nothing, I answered them. And we all felt low, and neither the audience’s applause nor the congratulations could raise our spirits. Nobody confessed it that night, but each of us went home with the terrible feeling that he didn’t like the play.

However, the next day, I received a call. On the other side of the phone, a soft and slow voice said good morning to me. It was Carlos. He had gotten my number through a mutual friend and wanted us to know that he had been deeply excited about Jacuzzi. He apologized for leaving the theater in such a hurry, but he had to return to Aranjuez, almost 50 kilometers from Madrid. After that he didn’t write just one, he wrote two articles for Cubaencuentro about the show. The second carried a title where it positioned itself without hesitation: The dream of a free and inclusive Cuba*. continue reading

Since that day we haven’t stopped talking. He wanted to know everything. He wondered with a child’s curiosity about details that I hadn’t even noticed myself

Since that day we haven’t stopped talking. He wanted to know everything. He wondered with a child’s curiosity about details that I hadn’t even noticed myself. I went to see his apartment in Aranjuez, a retreat where he avoided any distraction that would take him away from what was important: to investigate, rummage through the bowels of Cuban culture until he found what they call soul. I was surprised how up-to-date he was, especially about what was happening in Cuba. We conspired. We confessed terrible experiences suffered on that Island, but we did it more with hope than remorse. He himself proposed to me the publication of a volume of five of my works for the Verbum Publishing House. And that was his penultimate job.

This Saturday, when I left the flamenco show where I earn my bread, Maestro Carlos Celdrán called me to give me the news of his death. Another friend of his, the journalist Carlos Cabrera, also called to share his pain. I couldn’t believe it. I called him immediately and his cell phone was busy. It seemed like one of those hoaxes, Chomsky-style, but on the networks there were publications from serious colleagues who also talked about his death. The rest of the times I insisted on calling, a long ringing with no answer confirmed the worst.

I learned later, from an article by Carlos Cabrera, that a neighbor of his warned the firefighters, surprised because Espinosa did not respond to his calls. He lived alone, with that loneliness of the alchemist whose research has become a sacrament. I know that his last work, Así Siempre los Tiranos [Thus Always Tyrants], had become an obsession that required him to stretch every minute. And anyone who knows the size of his work, knows that Carlos was like those men of other centuries who make you wonder how the hell they could write so much. That’s why I don’t want to think about the sadness of his solitude but about the freedom that the word also implies.

I want to think that death surprised him while reading, with his eyes shining when he found some clue, some lost piece in the puzzle of our culture or our history, if they are different things. I want to remember him with his shy smile, despite the daring of his writing. I want to stay with his absence of anger, which did not imply any absence of character. Carlos Espinosa was, like few others, a man with judgment, but his opinions about the political situation in Cuba went beyond the immediate. They were much more comprehensive and profound.

I am not at all surprised by the silence of some institutions in Cuba to which he contributed a lot, nor the silence of some of his colleagues. There remains his work, tremendously immense.

I didn’t want to refer to Espinosa’s biography in this article. Other voices, more authoritative than mine, have already written excellent obituaries. Also on the networks, several artists and intellectuals have expressed deep sorrow at his loss. I am not at all surprised by the silence of some institutions in Cuba to which he contributed a lot, nor the silence of some of his colleagues. There remains his work, tremendously immense, which speaks more than anything else.

My main reason for this article is to be able to say goodbye, as if he could read it. In his last message he scolded me big time for taking so long to answer his calls. I didn’t have time to talk to him about my telephone phobia. I couldn’t thank him enough for his effort to bring out a book that we couldn’t present together. I didn’t get to tell him in the most sincere way how much I owed him, how much we owed him. Carlos knew how to look at Cuba as you look at the things you love. And his look – time will be in charge of confirming it – has been an essential look.

Translator’s note: The review closes with this: On his Facebook account, Carlos Celdrán, National Theatre Award winner, wrote: “Since I saw it, some time ago, in Havana, I assumed that Jacuzzi , by Yunior García, was a tremendous, sincere, unusual, highly accomplished work. Last night, and this time in Madrid, Jacuzzi has shaken me again. Not only me, but the entire audience that filled the room and gave a standing ovation, moved at the end of this performance that, I can assure you, has been a high point, very high, in Yunior’s theatre. The show crossed time, distances, the accumulated pain of these last years to arrive purified, whole and leave us with what only the theatre with its stripping down can achieve.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Never a Time of Peace for the Cuban Economy

The revolution is not in crisis. The revolution itself is a perennial crisis and a chronic illness.

Photo of the most recent Council of Ministers meeting where measures to deal with a “war economy” were proposed / Granma

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, July 2, 2024 — Fidel Castro did not want to call the great Cuban debacle of the 1990s a crisis. He preferred the euphemism “Special Period.” He used the term twenty times during his speech on September 28, 1990 along with the tagline “in times of peace.” He made his audience’s heads spin with talk pf sweet potatoes and cassava that had been harvested nine months late yet had not dried out. When one looks back at his speeches dispassionately, one wonders how our parents came to believe in the commandante’s “consummate genius.” Clearly, his genius was in direct proportion to our stupidity.

The Royal Spanish Academy dictionary has two definitions for the word “crisis.” The first refers to “a profound change with important consequences in a process or a situation, or in the manner in which they are observed.” The second meaning indicates the “sudden intensification of a disease’s symptoms.” When we talk about the Cuban economy, the latter seems to better align with our own experience. The revolution is not in crisis. The revolution itself is a perennial crisis and a chronic illness.

In April 2019 Raúl Castro was frightening everyone with the prospect of a return to the Special Period. The measures he announced at the time now seem like a precursor to to every package of new legislation that has followed. continue reading

All the government’s fanfare masks preparations for the crisis Venezuela will experience following presidential elections on July 28

The specter of the Special Period arouses so much public anxiety that party ideologues advised Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel to avoid mentioning it. Like crossword creators, they have been puzzling out different ways to describe the crisis. In September 2019, the anointed president began talking about a situation that was “simply energetic,” describing it as “temporary.” Faced with a barrage of criticism over this, he casually mentioned a few days later that the situation could be permanent.

As the Mexican singer/songwriter Juan Gabriel would say, that’s how it goes. Currency unification and the Covid pandemic combined to expose the ineptitude and haplessness of the Castros’ heir, though, this time, widespread frustration led to the biggest public protest in our country’s history on 11 July 2019. They say that Díaz-Canel, once a fan of Communist-sponsored neighborhood street parties, now can’t stand listening to Julio Iglesias.

The crisis has gone from being a “contingency” to something worthy of a Hollywood premier: an “economy at war!” At this point, one imagines Soviet T-55 tanks transporting ration baskets and the regime’s last ten fighter planes firing rounds of grocery store bread.

If this crisis is the same as previous ones, why change the name? Why use this term at a time marked by real conflagration? Not even Fidel at his most reckless was ever so foolish. At least when he used war-time terminology, he was subtle enough to clarify that it was being done “in peace-time” to avoid poking the bear during a moment of extreme internal weakness.

It is not at all certain that, after Maduro’s eventual fall, the Castro-Canel regime will also crumble

The world’s press has reported the news without giving it too much importance or wasting one drop of ink talking about the U.S. embargo. For example, Spain’s “El País” preferred to quote the economist Pedro Monreal to help explain the subject to its readers. It cites bureaucracy and inefficient management of state institutions as some of the causes. On the other hand, the Cuban government insists that it is a matter of “correcting distortions.” All indications are that that, when they use the verb “to correct,” they are referring to the Royal Academy’s sixth definition of this word, which means to expel excrement.

All the government’s fanfare mask preparations for the crisis Venezuela will experience following presidential elections on July 28. There is no way for Cuba to emerge from the process unscathed. If Maduro loses, it’s all over. If Maduro steals the election, the public outcry will be so great that the sound of protestors banging pots and pans in the streets of Caracas will be heard back in Havana. Anyone with at least a passing knowledge of the Venezuelan situation knows that Maduro does not even have the support of his country’s Communist Party, which describes him as a gangster who brought about a national tragedy.

On the other hand, there is no guarantee that, after Maduro’s eventual fall, the Castro-Canel regime will crumble also. Some heads will roll and replacements will eventually be found for Alejandro Gil, the former economics minister who was summarily removed from office last February. The heads have been falling for more than sixty years but the abyss is so deep that they have not yet hit bottom. Just in case, Díaz-Canel has already prepared a long list of new euphemisms for his next crisis.

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Attack Yarini: The Combat Order Is Given

The great Havana pimp was the dandy who dazzled everyone while riding his white braided-tail steed or walking his greyhounds through the streets of the capital

The Havana pimp in one of the few photographs of him remaining / Archive

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 23 June 2024 — Yarini has become news again. The great Havana pimp, the most bastard of national heroes, the greatest sex symbol of our myths, returns to the Cuban scene thanks to Carlos Díaz and theatre company El Público. Obviously, the regime’s moralistic halitosis has exhaled its discontent on social media. Why so? Well, because Yarini is not an accepted theme in the murals of the CDRs (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution,), but his tomb continues to receive flowers; because his name is not listed in the pantheon of the PCC (Cuban Communist Party), but it continues to inspire artists and poets. However, what irritates the one-party terrorists the most is not Yarini’s heterodox morals, but the neighborhood where he sculpted his legend, a name they would rather erase from all our maps today: the neighborhood of San Isidro.

Alberto Manuel Francisco Yarini y Ponce de León was not just a pimp. If he had not died in the “war of the pant flies,” perhaps he would have held a position as a representative to the House for the Conservative Party, and who knows if his popularity would have brought him to the highest chair in the Republic. His funeral was attended by more than 10,000 people, including President José Miguel Gómez. His friends refused to load his coffin in the imperial hearse and decided to carry it on their shoulders to the Colón cemetery. Enrique José Varona was the first to place his signature on his obituary. Sindo Garay and Manuel Corona shared friendship and songs with him. His “ekobios” [brothers or friends in the Lucumí religion] sang the dirge “Enlloró” before the cemetery walls.

His friends refused to load his coffin in the imperial hearse and decided to carry it on their shoulders all the way to Colón cemetery

Yarini was the dandy that dazzled everyone while riding on his white braided-tail steed or walking his greyhounds through the streets of Havana. He had attended the best schools in Cuba and the United States. But he was also the guy willing to help the abused, rubbing shoulders with the disadvantaged, admiring and defending patriots who had lost favor. continue reading

One of the anecdotes that started his popularity occurred in the café El Cosmopolita. Yarini and other young men were chatting with Major General Jésus ’Rabbi’, a hero of the three wars. A few meters away, two foreigners looked at them in contempt. One of them muttered in English: “What a filthy country this is, where whites get together to drink with blacks.” Yarini was perhaps the only one in the group who understood the phrase. With his usual courtesy, he asked the Mambi hero to move. But already outside the café, the racists continued their mockery. So Yarini went from words to action by fracturing the more insolent man’s nose and jaw. Later on, it would be known that this man was the chargé d ’affaires of the United States Embassy, no less.

Yarini was not and did not intend to be a pure man. It is nonsense to judge him based on the current discussions about machismo and feminism. It is precisely his anti-hero quality that has inspired so many creators for more than a century. This ‘homme fatal‘ from Havana has been inspiration for writers from Leonardo Padura to the extreme government supporter Miguel Barnet. His person has been present in films such as “Secondary Papers,” by Orlando Rojas, or “Broken Gods,” by Ernesto Daranas. The most referential biographical essay is undoubtedly “San Isidro, 1910: Alberto Yarini and his time,” by Dulcila Cañizares.

But it is theater where the criollo Casanova has been fantasized about the most. There are almost a dozen drama plays inspired by him. The best known are “Requiem for Yarini,” by Carlos Felipe and”El Gallo de San Isidro“(San Isidro’s Rooster), by Brene. One of the most interesting plays is called “The French are not from Havana,” written by the exiled playwright Pedro Monge Rafuls, where the author recreates one of the most controversial rumors about the male-myth: the homoerotic relationship between Yarini and his best friend, Pepe Basterrechea. This storyline is not simply Monge’s creation. Even Cañizares herself subtly touches on it in her book.

The repressive apparatus’s spokespeople would be mocked if it were just another stupid trolling of the Cuban theater

I would have loved to see the version Norge Espinosa has written for “El Público,” but I am almost 7,500 kilometers from the Trianon of Havana. No one is surprised that it was a resounding success. Nor is it surprising that the regime’s cyber-combatants lash out at the premiere or that the chosen henchman is Marco Velázquez Cristo. This individual has been one of the ink-spitting siphons of State Security for a very long time. His writings are a hemorrhage of bad taste, ignorance and fundamentalism. But it is obvious almost no good writer would be willing to fulfill such an embarrassing task.

The presenter of the TV show “Con Filo,” Michel Torres Corona, has proposed to playwrights to do works inspired by Álvarez Cambra. It is clear that, for him, art is nothing more than a political-cultural activity, a morning paper or a pamphlet. I do not deny the possibility that someone can be inspired by the eminent Cuban orthopedist, but to turn him into a dramatic character it would be necessary to investigate his dark side, his conflicts, his contradictions. But knowing our narrow-minded bureaucrats, it would surely lead to censorship.

Carlos Díaz has already had similar experiences. When former spy Antonio Guerrero went to see Agnieska Hernández’s “Harry Potter: The Magic is Over,” he left the theater insulted and did everything possible to cancel the play. Thanks to the guild’s support, the play continued successfully, but the punishment was to leave it out of the most important national event, the Camagüey Theatre Festival. They say that Abel Prieto himself called Carlos Díaz to tell him the bad news, but Carlos responded in his own way: “Don’t worry, Abel, by that time, I will be on a trip… in Miami.”

The spokesmen of the repressive apparatus would be mocked if it were just another stupid trolling of the Cuban theater, but we know that behind these publications there is always an order given from a dark office. And in Cuba there is no “sacred cow” that is safe from being slaughtered. Anyone can be sentenced to a living death.

The order to attack Yarini is given. When a certain State Security colonel heard about a politically incorrect man, a rooster from San Isidro, a name immediately came to mind: Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.

Translated by LAR

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Cuba: Change So That Everything Remains the Same

In December 2014, Raúl Castro and Obama surprised everyone with the news that relations between both countries would begin to normalize.

In 2018, Díaz-Canel’s face was unveiled as “president,” although Raúl Castro would clarify that he was actually handpicked by him / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, May 24, 2024 — The last decade in Cuba is, perhaps, the one that has seen the most changes in half a century. However, we have the feeling that everything remains the same, or even worse. This reminds us of Lampedusa’s famous novel, The Leopard. In it, Tancredi’s character says to his uncle a phrase that has been repeated countless times: “If we want everything to remain as it is, we need everything to change.”

In December 2014, Raúl Castro and Obama surprised everyone with the news that relations between both countries would begin to normalize. The opposition to the island’s regime saw this event in two different ways. For some, the decision of the US Government was a betrayal of a historical exile, who had fought for years against the dictatorship. For others, it was the most intelligent and effective way to influence, killing me softly style, the fall of Castro-communism. However, for the majority of ordinary people within Cuba, this meant nothing more than a relief from the hardships suffered daily. It seemed like a moment of hope.

In 2015, internet access for the population was expanded. This tiny detail would mark a “domino effect” that would have a decisive influence on the perception of Cubans about the world and their own reality. The horse lost its blinders. continue reading

In March 2016, Air Force One landed at José Martí International Airport in Havana. Nine months later, Raúl Castro announced on television the death of his brother. It seemed that yes, changes were finally happening and that the end of an era would be inevitable.

But the year 2017 constituted a turning point. Obama eliminated the “wet foot/dry foot” policy before leaving the White House

But the year 2017 constituted a turning point. Obama eliminated the “wet foot/dry foot” policy before leaving the White House and his successor threatened to return to treating Cuba as what it was: a dictatorship. In June of that year, Trump was applauded in Miami for promising a tough line against the one-party regime. And in August, the scandal of the sonic attacks against the US Embassy on the Island broke out.

In 2018, the nomenclatura debuted the face of Díaz-Canel as “president,” although Raúl Castro would clarify that he was actually hired by him, after failing with 11 other test tubes of officials. The bad luck of the appointee would be marked by several tragic events, such as the crash of a commercial plane with 112 deaths. And to his misfortune would be added the accumulation of endemic problems of the system, as well as the ineptitude of a new cabinet that began his management with a disastrous decree: 349.

The following year, a new Constitution was approved that was more “catty” than the Lampedusa novel. The civil service went on Twitter calling half of the Cubans “bastards” and Díaz-Canel’s lack of ashé [‘power’ in Yoruba] was confirmed by a devastating and unusual tornado. In contrast, the capacity of civil society to articulate itself increased its scale of influence. The crisis, meanwhile, showed its worst face, although the designated test tube insisted on calling it “circumstantial,” with the implications of “temporary.”

In 2020, the pandemic and masks arrived, but also the resistance of a generation of young artists against censorship. Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and the San Isidro Movement began to receive solidarity within the guild, despite all attempts to discredit them. The apotheosis occurred on November 27, when hundreds of artists stood in front of the Ministry of Culture with demands not only in the field of culture, but also in terms of citizen freedoms.

And 2021 arrived. The deadliest year in all of national history. The crude mortality rate on the Island was the highest on the continent

And 2021 arrived. The deadliest year in all of national history. The crude mortality rate on the Island was the highest on the continent, although the regime reported minimal numbers of deaths from Covid-19 and boasted of having five vaccines. The pressure cooker burst on 11 July, a date that would be engraved in national history, leaving another 26th of the same month in a corner of the calendar.

The last three years are much fresher in the memory of those who read me. The regime managed to survive the outbreak by applying the worst techniques of repression and social control. They locked up and sentenced hundreds, while they drove many more out of the country. Since then they have dedicated themselves to keeping us divided and clashing.

As in Lampedusa’s novel, the Revolution is a dead dog. And although some insist on keeping it stuffed, it will be inevitable that it will end up thrown out of the window, like the dog Bendicó [Blessed] in The Leopard, towards the garbage dump of History.

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Díaz Canel’s Ten Lies

Ignacio Ramonet and Miguel Díaz-Canel during an interview which took place on May 11 at the Palace of the Revolution.

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 21 May 2024 — Some Cubans have dubbed Ignacio Ramonet the “French Randy Alonso,” a reference to the host of the Cuban TV interview show “Roundtable” and his sagging face. The truth is that Ramonet was born in Spain, raised in Morocco and educated in France, where he has lived for years. The sociologist has made good use of his status as a European intellectual to land a seat at the kitchen tables of Latin America’s dictatorships. His French passport and résumé have allowed him to cozy up with Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez and their heirs. No matter how undemocratic or repressive a regime might be, Ramonet manages to plant his flag there. Acting on behalf of the rubes of the contemporary feudal left, he is a colonizer of thought.

Ramonet’s recent interview with Raúl Castro’s hand-picked successor was rife with excuses and omissions. The Cuban bureaucrat recited the well-worn script without contributing a single new idea. What was most insulting, however, were his lies. After enduring almost two hours of an exchange that seemed more like a self-help session, I have summarized ten of the most outrages falsehoods.

1. 2030 Will Be Better

Cubans are sick of hearing that this year was bad but next year will be better. We heard it repeated, December after December, by the former economics minister, Alejandro Gil, whom the Cuban president avoided talking about during his complacent chat with Ramonet. Now we learn Díaz-Canel is postponing this idyllic future until 2030, with promises of renewable energy, a digitalized society and food security. You don’t have to be a fortune teller to predict what the speech in December 2030 will be if this bumbling and cynical regime is still in power.

2. The Anniversary Tour

When asked by Ramonet about his recent trip to Moscow, Díaz-Canel described it as “an anniversary tour.” He did a quick calculation and immediately went into a juggling act, trying explain away the gaffe. The fact is that he and his wife, Liz Cuesta, are celebrating their fifteenth wedding anniversary this year. The first lady does not accompany him on domestic tours but she is the first to sign up for every international trip the appointed president makes. Evidently, Moscow was her anniversary gift.

3. Cuba’s Role in the Putin Alliance

It is obvious from his response, however, what specific role Cuba plays for Putin. It is useful enough as pawn to be invited to the victory parade but not so useful as to attend the inauguration. For such solemn domestic occasions Putin prefers the company of others. Like Steven Seagal for example.

4. The BRICS* “Alternative”

Alternative is a difficult word to pronounce but what fascinates Díaz-Canel is not BRICS’ potential to foster development in its member states but rather the threat it represents to American hegemony and the dollar. It is not about what it can contribute but rather how it can stick it to the regime’s longtime enemy. No matter how “inclusive” BRICS may seem, continue reading

there is nothing to indicate it is ready to shoulder a ruined economy like Cuba’s.

5. Creative Resistance

When Díaz-Canel and his retinue visit the hinterlands, they do not allow local officials to use the U.S. embargo as justification for their shortcomings. What is required down in the trenches is “creative resistance,” pure and simple. When it is their turn to take responsibility, however, they never hesitate to whip out the ever-handy “blockade” umbrella. The word was mentioned about forty times in this interview alone. The basic message boils down to this: I can use the blockade as an excuse but you may not.

6. A Tighter “Blockade”

There are people in this world who truly believe that a fleet of American ships is encircling Cuba, preventing deliveries of food and medicine to the island. With all the talk about the “blockade,” not even Cubans themselves fully understand the implications of the embargo. That is why they are surprised when they see the “Made in USA” label on the packages of chicken they consume. What Díaz-Canel did not say is that the United States continues to be one of Cuba’s main trading partners according to data provided by the country’s National Office of Statistics and Information.

In terms of trade volume with Cuba, the superpower to the north ranks fourth among countries in the Americas and eighth globally. Not only did this commercial activity not fall in 2019, it actually grew to more than 308 million dollars. In 2022, the U.S. embargo was tightened so much that the figure grew to more than 391 million dollars.

What Díaz-Canel never mentioned was the disastrous implementation of Cuba’s currency unification rollout and its direct relationship to the subsequent inflation and general deterioration of the Cuban economy.

7. Social Justice

Díaz-Canel and his troops like to champion flashy reform measure and want to eliminate of freebies and subsidies. While there is a lack of resources for investments in healthcare and education, it is no secret that they find creative ways to fund hotel construction. Publicly, they often use demagogic terms like “social justice” but in the 2023 “Projections of Cuban Communist Party Central Committee” the phrase was conspicuous in its absence. Instead, they preferred to talk about “vulnerability” and reducing expenses without daring to mention the word “poverty.”

8. Management of the Pandemic

Raúl’s appointee does not know how to pronounce the word “epidemiology” yet still insists on boasting about his success at fighting COVID-19. He intentionally ignores the fact that the country closed its borders quite late in the pandemic. This was after claiming that the virus could not survive the Caribbean sun. He also intentionally avoids mentioning that, in 2021, there were 55,000 more deaths in Cuba than in the previous year though authorities claim only 8,500 died from coronavirus. And he intentionally hides the fact that the gross mortality rate that year was 14.68 per thousand inhabitants, much worse than rates in the United States, Brazil, and even Haiti.

9. The Right to Protest

The first to lie was Ramonet, claiming that, while the 11 July 2021 protests were unusual, they were not massive. What is undeniable, however, is that not even during the Machado and Batista regimes was there ever such a large outpouring of public discontent as occurred on “11J.” But Díaz-Canel raised the bar for cynicism by claiming that this was also the result of the “blockade,” adding that protest was a respected right, even if protestors were demonstrating against the Revolution.

Díaz-Canel’s lie is contradicted by the Archipelago initiative and the ill-fated Civic March, which was scheduled for November 2021. Even asking for permission two months in advance, and strictly meeting all requirements needed to hold a demonstration, were not enough. Instead , we were met with direct threats from the military, acts of repudiation, persecution, political repression and exile.

There are over a thousand political prisoners in Cuba, the most in the region. Hundreds of people have been sentenced merely for taping protests or defending themselves against brutal crackdowns during which shots were fired. In one instance, a young man died after being shot in the back.

10. Sitting Down with Biden

Lastly, this Castro figurehead announced that he is willing to talk with Biden even though throughout the interview he described the U.S. government as arrogant, stubborn and corrupt. He also stated that the purpose of this negotiation would be to end sanctions while stipulating that Cuba would not make a single concession. His facial expression betrayed a visceral hatred towards those he called perverts as well as towards the Cuban exile community living in the United States.

This time, Díaz-Canel did not play his usual hand. He didn’t need to. Ramonet was his teleprompter, continually nodding, completing his sentences and generally being extremely accommodating. This time, Ramonet was his card.

*Translator’s note: An acronym for a group of emerging market countries that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. It seeks to deepen ties between member states and foster economic cooperation and expansion. Its goal is to serve as a counterbalance to traditional Western influence.

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How To Forget Cuba in Three Tries

The complex thing here is that it is not about forgetting a person, but about removing an entire country from your bones, from your liver

Being Cuban is a singularity, not an identity that functions as a straitjacket / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 11 May 2024 — Those who have had a toxic relationship desire with all their soul to be able to say: it’s over, a clean slate. But, I wish forgetting were so simple! It usually happens that the more you try to leave behind that story that hurts you, the more you remember it. To get your ex-partner out of your head, there are dozens of manuals. The complex thing here is that it is not about forgetting a person, but about removing an entire country from your bones, from your liver.

No supermarket sells the famous Coca-Cola of oblivion. Even those who claim to have taken it often have relapses. I have met several countrymen who swear to me: “I had disconnected from Cuba, compadre, until November 27 or July 11.” That means that, in reality, they had not forgotten. They had simply put Cuba on pause.

Some neurologists claim that the brain never forgets. The memories are still there, trapped in collections of neurons called “engram cells.” The illusion of forgetting occurs when the circuits that connect these sets are broken. It is as if a path leading to an intricate place were filled with grass. The place still exists, what we can’t find is the path. continue reading

I know of Cubans who keep their phones on Cuban time, even though they live in France

I know of Cubans who keep their phones on Cuban time, even though they live in France. There are others who spend hours digging through Facebook, more aware of what is happening in Marianao than the Marianaos themselves. It doesn’t matter if you have an Australian passport, you are probably aware of the relationship between Lázaro and Yarelis; or Fernando, the pianist from Guanabacoa; or the dismissal of Lisandra, the “Cuban Amy Winehouse.”

Some, with greater political awareness, are unable to sleep all night every time they arrest an activist, and wear out their brains thinking of a thousand ways to bring down the dictatorship. But, let’s be honest, even those of us most committed to the fight for democracy have, more than once, felt deeply disappointed and exhausted. Above all, when after so much misery and abuse, we see thousands of Cubans marching and shouting slogans, trying to defend the indefensible. That is why we read comments like: “Cuba has no remedy” or “a people have the dictatorship they deserve.”

Those who opt to turn the page avoid websites and profiles that remind them of that piece of land with more marabou trees than palm trees. They try to get the algorithm to do its thing and send them different content. “You’re a masochist,” I am told all the time by a friend who has been successful, according to him, in tricking Zuckerberg and Elon Musk into getting the networks to show him news about Dubai, instead of talking to him all the time about Jatibonico.

The second piece of advice from successful forgetters is to assimilate into their new context. I met a girl recently who has only been in Madrid for a couple of months and she is already more Spanish than Lola Flores. In a single sentence she is able to say vale (okay), tío (dude), hostias (hosts), majo (nice), currante (hard-working) and even gilipollas (douchebag). The only problem is her spelling, the girl puts the Z wherever she wants. But I won’t be the one to judge her. She has her own reasons to prevent the Cuban from coming out of her pores. No Madrilenian cat will take her as a breed, but she will heal the occasional wound.

“The third and final step to hide Cuba in the drawer of amnesia is to achieve that abstract and idyllic condition of being a “citizen of the world.”

The third and final step to hide Cuba in the drawer of amnesia is to achieve that abstract and idyllic condition of being a “citizen of the world.” It sounds great, the problem is achieving it. Let’s see… I myself am against chauvinism and it seems very ridiculous to me to try to fit “in a Pepe way” with the stereotypes of what they call Cubanidad. For me, being Cuban is a singularity, not an identity that functions as a straitjacket. But, if getting a single residence, a single citizenship, is already a hell of a bureaucratic hassle, then imagine achieving them all and declaring yourself cosmopolitan!

Despite everything, some claim to have cured themselves of Cuba using this formula: evasion, assimilation, universality. If for the sake of your mental health you think it is necessary to permanently bury the memory of the place where you were born, well… try it. But if you have already tried everything and Cuba is still beating in your brain, then, like me, you suffer from chronic Cubanitis. We have to continue doing everything possible and the impossible so that this beautiful land is a place worth remembering and where it is worth returning… someday.

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Batista, a Tropical Messiah

Six decades of indoctrination can somewhat distort our view of the past.

Fulgencio Batista was born on January 16, 1901, the feast of Saint Fulgentius / Archive

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 5 May 2024 — Fulgencio Batista landed a major role in the soap opera that is Cuba on September 4, 1933, during the Sergeants’ Revolt. He went on to become its biggest star, earning the grandiose nickname The Man. How could an unknown sergeant go from bit player to leading man? How did a short peasant with a ruddy complexion manage to dominate the front pages during several chapters of our nation’s history?

His father, Belisario, fought in the Cuban War of Independence. In spite of being illiterate, he managed to educate his son while regaling him with stories of battlefield exploits. Little Beno’s first teacher was a girl from the village. Though not actually a trained educator, she did teach children to read. He would later enroll in a run-down Quaker school. After a day of cutting sugar cane and doing household chores, the boy would study at night. There are photos of him working as a tailor or carpenter, before he had any hint of a mustache.

His mother Carmela, by contrast, was a deeply religious woman. Batista would recall, however, how level-headed she could be, taking him in 1910 to watch the path of Halley’s Comet rather than succumbing to the fear and superstition which led the town’s other residents to hide under the covers at the time. He would lose her five years later when he was just fourteen years old.

There are photos of him working as a tailor or carpenter, before he had any hint of a mustache

A fan of the railroad, the young Batista managed to become a conductor though his true vocation was putting on a military uniform. Six decades of indoctrination might somewhat distort our view of the past. It is difficult for us to understand what impact the sight of the Rural Guard might have on a peasant of that time. However, there are stories that claim every Cuban peasant would look up from the fields or out the door of his hut whenever a pair of them rode by on horseback. It was a mixture of fascination and fear. And that was what Batista wanted until he achieved it in 1921. continue reading

He did not particularly distinguish himself as a soldier but he did use his free time to take a correspondence course in shorthand. The habit of walking around all day long with books under his arm earned him the nickname The Man of Letters, something he certainly did not mind. The most distinctive thing about that period of his life was that he became part of President Zayas’ security detail at a farm in Wajay. It was there that he met his first wife, Elisa Godínez, whom he would marry in 1926.

A year later he would be promoted to corporal, hardly an extraordinary accomplishment. He would have to wait another year before being promoted to sergeant-major and given a job as stenographer at the Cabaña fortress. Dreaming of becoming a captain was perhaps too lofty a goal for a soldier from such humble beginnings, someone without money, family connections or notoriety.

Batista gave a speech in which he employed all of his father’s working-class eloquence and all his mother’s wonder at seeing Halley’s Comet pass overhead

After the fall of President Gerardo Machado, civilian and military officials were unhappy with Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. A rumor, a mere rumor, was the trigger that sparked the mutiny. There was talk that the government was going to reduce the Army’s staff and cut salaries. That was how the Gang of Eight, led by a certain Pablo Rodríguez, came to be. One of the reasons Batista got involved was because of his skills as a typist. And he had an old Ford which allowed the conspirators to get around.

But Batista had another trick up his sleeve. He knew how to speak in public. Pablo Rodríguez never imagined he would have to step aside for a stenographer, who would end up sidelining him in the history books. Batista gave a speech in which he employed all Belisario’s working-class eloquence and all Carmela’s wonder at seeing Halley’s Comet pass overhead. He spoke of the “soldier-man” and emphasized with a peasant’s rage the word “dignity.”

At the conclusion, he said just one thing: Viva Batista! A week later he was a colonel and would go on to become the the Cuban Strongman, a nickname he had for a quarter of a century.

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1. 2030 Will Be Better

2. The Anniversary Tour

3. Cuba’s Role in the Putin Alliance

4. The BRICS* “Alternative”

5. Creative Resistance

6. A Tighter “Blockade”

7. Social Justice

8. Management of the Pandemic

9. The Right to Protest

10. Sitting Down with Biden

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