Yunior García Aguilera – Page 2

Cuba, So Far From God!

Image of the protest in front of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television during the mass demonstrations on 11 July 2021. (Facebook/Leonardo Fernández Otaño)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 29 November 2023 — A recurring phrase in Mexico is the one attributed to former President Porfirio Díaz: “Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.” Although the expression brilliantly summarizes the history of a country, the truth is that many Mexicans have seen this proximity as quite the opposite. Even today’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador himself modified the phrase before the North American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in 2021. For López Obrador, those 3,180 kilometers of border were a juicy blessing from which they should get every possible benefit.

The US has land borders with Canada, to the north; and with Mexico, to the south. But the case of Cuba is quite unique. It is not only about the famous 90 miles that separate us, and that beat in the minds of a good number of Cubans like a fixed idea. There is also the land border that, de facto, covers 44 kilometers of wire fences at the Guantanamo Naval Base. The Mexican phrase could well be extrapolated to a country where poverty, the denial of God and belligerence with the North have been taken to absurd limits.

In 1961, 136 Catholic priests were expelled from Cuba. In his pathetic speech of 13 March 1963, Fidel Castro also attacked other religious groups that he called “instruments of imperialism.” For decades, admitting your religious creed could deprive you of studying for a university degree. I myself was “not approved” at the end of my secondary studies and could only aspire to study masonry at a trade school, despite having a notable academic record. My parents managed to remedy that matter and I was able to go to a civil construction polytechnic. I studied there for two years, without being able to build a single wall, because there were no bricks or cement anyway. continue reading

Some Jehovah’s Witnesses suffered unspeakable torture. One of them, after refusing to salute the flag, was hoisted as punishment on the flagpole itself, where he remained hanging upside down, under a hellish sun, for long hours.

Popular culture reflected the denial of faith that some had to feign. Adalberto Álvarez marked a musical milestone with his hit And what do you want them to give you?, where he sang: “There are people who tell you that they don’t believe in anything, and they go to consult each other early in the morning…” But others had worse luck. There are hundreds of testimonies of those who ended up in the UMAP camps, our concentration camps. I personally knew some Jehovah’s Witnesses who suffered unspeakable torture. One of them, after refusing to salute the flag was, as punishment, hoisted on the flagpole itself, where he remained hanging upside down, under a hellish sun, for long hours.

Although the regime never managed to completely distance us from faith, the visits of three Popes in recent years have also failed to erase the ditch imposed by an atheist State. The power aspired for the only sacred word to be that of the maximum leader. And the party cadres were to be the only clergy.

It already hurts to continue talking about Cuban poverty. It has become customary to recalculate the real value of the salary every week, watching helplessly as Alice in Wonderland’s potion is drunk. If the World Bank has established $2.15 a day as the poverty line, at what threshold do Cubans find themselves? We already know how the regime cheats with numbers to camouflage our misery in global statistics. With this they manage to deceive two or three clueless people who continue to mention Cuba as an example of certain “achievements.” But the Cuban who is there, biting into the mud, knows perfectly well what figures he carries in his stomach.

And we are left with the old and new relationship with the United States. The island’s politics have never depended as much on Washington’s sneezes as in these six decades. The North is the Goliath at whom Castro could not throw the stone, because Nikita Khrushchev took away the slingshot. The neighbor has become the magnet of blame, the perennial excuse, the wild card for the regime to to declare itself a victim before the world and hide its own atrocities against its citizens.

The truth is that the United States doesn’t care much about us. Its policies towards Cuba respond, above all, to the demands of a community with electoral weight in the state of Florida. The real conflict of the Cuban regime is not with the government of the Stars and Stripes, but with an ever larger exile and with more reasons to fight for the overthrow of that shameful dictatorship.

Poor Cuba, so far from God, from the United States, and from itself.

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Weyler, a Hitler in Cuba?

Valeriano Weyler, recognized as “the most sinister figure of the 19th century.” (Wikipedia)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 22 November 2023 — Cuban historiography recognizes Valeriano Weyler as one of the most nefarious characters in our history. And he certainly was. His “Reconcentration” policy caused the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians, especially children, women and the elderly. The “reconcentrated” were thrown together in the villages, surrounded by barbed wire. Families slept in doorways, streets and barracks, decimated by hunger and disease. American newspapers called him “the butcher,” “the most sinister figure of the 19th century.” And in the memory of Cubans he is recorded as a tropical Hitler.

For Spain, however, he was much more than an illustrious soldier. Not only did he participate in almost all the wars that the country fought in his time, but he was also captain general of Valencia, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, the Philippines, Cuba, Catalonia, Burgos, Navarre and Vascongadas and Castilla la Nueva. He was recognized as a capable, hard and inflexible soldier, oblivious to conspiracies and political compromises. He was senator of the Kingdom for the Canary Islands, head of the Central General Staff, twice Minister of War and president of the Supreme Council of War and Navy. He received the titles of Marquis of Tenerife and Duke of Rubí, as well as Spanish nobility and the Golden Fleece.

Today there are some monuments in his honor. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife there is a square that bears his name. And on Madrid’s Marqués de Urquijo street, number 39, there is a commemorative plaque where you can read: “Valeriano Weyler, model of loyalty.” One might ask: how is it possible that, in our time, someone with war crimes has monuments in his name?

His defenders, who are not few, attribute the black legend of Weyler to a campaign of the American press at the time. It is true that the American yellow press sought to force the Government into conflict. It is also true that the enemies of Spanish Prime Minister Cánovas echoed those complaints in Spain. But that does not diminish Weyler’s responsibility in the genocide. continue reading

Arsenio Martínez-Campos, whom Weyler replaced, had admitted to feeling unable to implement those drastic measures, although perhaps inevitable, from a military point of view. Weyler defended himself from his critics by arguing: “You don’t fight a war with chocolates.” Was the Spanish general successful? To a certain extent. He managed to kill Antonio Maceo, the ’Bronze Titan’, and to “pacify” the western part of the Island. But at what price?

There are some monuments in his honor today. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife there is a square that bears his name

On the other hand, those who seek to clear Weyler’s name argue that the Reconcentration Policy was neither new nor was it practiced exclusively by Spain. They also defend the idea that the Weylerian measures sought to protect the peasants from the mambises [rebels] abuses. And here I take a break. It is obvious that not all Cubans sympathized with independence. It is true that many openly supported Spain, even with weapons. It is more than likely that some insurgents committed abuses against those who refused to help them or considered themselves traitors to the ideal of independence. It is undeniable that the incendiary torch, the widespread burning of the countryside, practiced by the mambises contributed to the lack of food. However, the cruelty generated by Weyler’s policies was infinitely superior.

The images of the “reconcentrated”, with starving children and elderly, whose bones looked “like rings under a glove,” undoubtedly contributed to the decision of the United States to interfere. As some historians claim, it is possible that Weyler was winning on the battlefields, but he was definitely losing the battle of communication.

When the Mallorcan general was about to start the final offensive against the insurgents, an Italian anarchist murdered Anotnio Cánovas del Castillo in Spain. Spanish Prime Minister Mateo Sagasta, with whom he alternated in power for years, was among those looking for the path of negotiation. Weyler was leaving Cuba, taking as loot the watch, revolver and saddle of his archenemy Antonio Maceo. They say that a crowd went to the port of Havana to say goodbye to him as a hero. That’s how absurd and contradictory the real story is.

For millions of Cubans, there is only one character capable of accumulating more hatred and resentment than Weyler: Fidel Castro. For many, all of Cuba has been a huge concentration camp for more than six decades, where hunger has spread. The bearded man also has statues and monuments in various parts of the world. He also enjoyed a long life, like Weyler, who died at the age of 92.

No one who commits genocide should have statues, no matter how “heroic” some people think them.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Respects Neither Human Rights nor ‘Human Lefts’

In countries such as Cuba, power is cynically ambidextrous. All the dissidents who have been persecuted, imprisoned or exiled know this, even if they espouse social democratic ideas. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, 15 November 2023 — The international left sometimes seems less like an ideology and more like a dogma. Many of its organizations and activists are motivated by compacts, debts and interests, not by principles or objectives. The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, for example, are capable of embracing today’s dictators while turning their backs on other mothers now fighting for justice for their unjustly imprisoned children.

The sect had its share of altars, relics and prayers but its aspirations were emptied of their content. Poets and singers lent it their talents with blind fanaticism, paving the road to hell with good intentions.

The fires of that hell burn in countries like Cuba, where no one believes in songs about equality and social justice anymore because reality hits you in the face like a henchman’s boot. We have stopped speaking in the future tense. Our everyday speech now compels us to disguise the future as some uncertain present. No one says, “I will come tomorrow.” Instead, we say, “I come tomorrow.” In Cuba we stopped dreaming a long time ago. Now we escape en masse, heading towards the American dream or the Spanish siesta. continue reading

The western world’s oldest dictatorship has acquired extensive experience in influence trading and diplomatic marketing

It is paradoxical and disingenuous in the extreme that a regime as abusive as Cuba’s retains a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. One might ask: What is the purpose of an institution whose judges are notorious criminals? What’s the point of putting a jurist’s robe on a known human rights violator?

It’s obvious the system is not working. It has a factory defect. The western world’s oldest dictatorship has acquired extensive experience in influence peddling and diplomatic marketing. They know exactly what screws to tighten to get favorable votes in international institutions. And once the truth becomes plainly evident, they have a loyal left all too willing to betray its ideals and play along with the bloc.

Nothing remains of the old 20th century utopia. Every version of the great revolutionary scam became more dystopian, both in Venezuela and in Nicaragua. Ultimately, it was never about the people, much less the workers. It was about power, plain and simple. The Orwellian prophecy came to fruition in spades, filling the farm with ever more two-legged pigs.

Like every religion, the Latin American left had its own sacred texts. Eduardo Galeano’s The Open Veins of Latin America became the bible of the continent’s progressives. The Uruguayan writer later admitted he had a shaky grasp of economics and politics when he wrote the book. “I wouldn’t be able to read it today,” he admitted in Brasilia in 2014. “That sort of traditional leftist prose can be very heavy-handed.”

It is, in fact, a well-written albeit populist book. It simplified complex issues using seductive language. It appealed more to emotion than to reason. It absolved us of all blame, foisting all our problems and their solutions onto the shoulders of others. Despite this, Galeano continues to be quoted with the same fervor that Jesuits quote St. Ignatius Loyola.

Another poet of the pantheon is Mario Benedetti. In his poem “Everything Is Clear Now” he posed a challenge, calling for a broad internernational compaign for “human lefts.” The writing is unquestionably brilliant. But in countries such as Cuba, where power is cynically ambidextrous, such work is ultimately sterile.

All the dissidents who been persecuted, incarcerated or exiled know this. One young man, Romero Negrín, knew it in his ribs. He once dared to hold up a poster that read, “Socialism yes, repression no.” They beat him to death. Alina Barbara Lopez Hernandez, an intellectual accused of resistance and disobedience, knows it. Everyone who has tried unsuccessfully to form an independent trade union knows it. The teachers who do not get paid on time, whose monthly paychecks are only enough to buy a measly carton of eggs, know it. Doctors who lack what they need to save lives while hotels get everything they want know it.

I would like to pose my own challenge to Cuba’s state-run press: I dare you to publish the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in your newspapers’ centerspreads, without taglines or manipulative commentary. Would their owners permit it? Cuba is the country where the police could once arrest you for covertly distributing this document. Cuba is where the regime’s henchmen shouted “Down with human rights!” during pro-government demonstrations. In Cuba not even the poetic though impotent human lefts are respected.

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Cuba’s ‘Peacemaker’

Martínez-Campos returned to Cuba in 1876 with the mission of achieving peace. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 8 November 2023 — In 1895, when almost all of the rest of Latin America had already achieved its independence, we Cubans were still a colony of Spain. All previous attempts had failed: the Big War and the Little War. And Martí’s War, as Máximo Gómez called it, began with the early and unnecessary death of its principal brain.

The captain general of Cuba at that time was Calleja, who had some 14,000 soldiers throughout the island and did not attach much importance to the new uprising. He believed that the conflict would soon die down due to lack of fuel. But in Spain all the alarms bells went off. Almost immediately, Calleja was replaced by the man from Zanjón, “the most prestigious military man in Spain”: Arsenio Martínez-Campos Antón.

For most Cubans, Martínez-Campos is only remembered for the Baraguá Protest. And from this event we only have two sentences: “Guard that document,” and “We don’t understand each other.”

In Retiro Park, in Madrid, there is a solemn equestrian sculpture dedicated to the Spanish general. When I saw it for the first time, I thought about how little we Cubans know about a character who had a major importance in our history. For most Cubans, Martínez-Campos is only remembered for the continue reading

Baraguá Protest. And from this fact we are left with only two sentences: “Guard that document” and “We don’t understand each other.”

For the Spain of 1895, the Segovian was a figure of the first order, with extraordinary military, theoretical and political experience. He had returned from his first stay in Cuba with the rank of brigadier. He later participated in the Carlist wars and was the architect of restoring the Bourbons to the throne, becoming “the man from Sagunto” for the Spanish. In 1876 he returned to Cuba with the mission of achieving peace.

Much is said about Maceo and his protest against Zanjón, although in reality, the Bronze Titan, as he was known, had to leave the country shortly afterwards with a safe conduct. However, little is known about another great Cuban and another act of resistance: Ramón Leocadio Bonachea and the Jarao Protest. This was the last mambí left fighting in Cuba and the only one to reach the rank of division general in the war of 1868. And although he was also forced to go into exile, he returned in 1884, and was arrested and executed one year later.

Martínez-Campos returns to Spain as “the peacemaker” of Cuba. He held the position of president of the Council of Ministers and Minister of War. He then took charge of creating the General Military Academy. It is said that the decision to send him again to Cuba in 1895 did not unleash the general’s joy. The queen regent, at his farewell, saw him disheartened and pessimistic, and she was convinced that he was not the man to lead that war. It is also said that before setting sail, he murmured: “Who knows! What is now is not what was then. The pitcher can only go to the fountain so many times…”

The fall of Martí in the Dos Ríos skirmish did not diminish the morale of the Mambises, as the Spaniards expected. In June, Máximo Gómez crossed the Jobabo River, entering Camagüey against all odds. This depressed Martínez-Campos to the point of his wanting to resign. But later he would defeat Maceo in his attempt to take Bayamo with twice as many men, something that gave him back a bit of optimism.

In June, Máximo Gómez crossed the Jobabo River, entering Camagüey against all odds. This depressed Martínez-Campos to the point of his wanting to resign

However, doubt gnawed at the 64-year-old general. He was convinced that his attempts to negotiate peace were fruitless, because the parties had lost influence; because Spain had not finished applying the Abarzuza reform law of 1895, finally granting autonomy; and because the mass of the population supported the insurgents. He was aware that it would be inevitable to isolate the towns, reconcentrate the families and cut off supplies to the mambisado. But his Christian principles and character prevented him from such cruelty. He even said: “I think I don’t have the conditions for the case. In Spain, only Weyler has them.”

In November, Gómez harangued his troops, speaking of “the hard and merciless war,” in contrast to that “generous and brief war” that Martí preached. He had 3,000 horsemen to cross the trail that divided the island in half, and they succeeded. The Spanish spoke of a “fugitive offensive,” since the purpose of the invading column was to flee forward, avoiding confrontations and burning everything in its path. Martínez-Campos offered himself as bait, to provoke a direct confrontation, but Gómez and Maceo “wobbled,” leaving the Spanish general with all the desire, “fighting against fires and hurricanes.”

In February 1896, Valeriano Weyler was appointed captain general. But Weyler… Weyler is another story.

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Cuban Totalitarianism’s Philosophy of Disposession

With Raúl Castro and his feint of a timid and fruitless opening, it seemed that the waters would calm down, but the general was only looking for Israeli investment. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 1 November 2023 — Unpopular Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has called for “global action” to stop Israel. It is clear that the conflict in the Middle East is much more complex than sensational or biased headlines may show, but Cuba is far from being a neutral country in this story.

Cuba was the only country in Latin America that voted against the creation of a Jewish State, in 1947. Ramón Grau San Martín was governing at the time and his decision to oppose Resolution 181 responded to multiple reasons.

The Cuban intellectual Carlos Alberto Montaner met Dominique Lapierre, one of the authors of the famous book Oh, Jerusalem! When they talked about Grau’s decision, they referred to three fundamental reasons: the need to appear sovereign in the face of Washington’s dictates; the conviction that this would bring permanent instability in the region; and the corruption suffered by the Island, where many were willing to accept bribes from countries like Saudi Arabia. continue reading

Both political parties and civil society organizations, including the University Student Federation and the Cuban Workers Union, advocated for the recognition of Israel

However, Grau’s position did not enjoy great internal support. Both political parties and civil society organizations, including the University Student Federation and the Cuban Workers Union, advocated for the recognition of Israel. So, in 1949, the Jewish State was finally recognized and its admission as a full member of the United Nations followed a favorable vote.

Since 1959, the left wing of Zionism sympathized with Fidel Castro and his bearded men. They, for their part, decided to have a friendly relationship with Israel until the mid-1960s. Cuban socialists were fascinated with the kibbutzim, and Hebrew collectivists helped the Island in citrus production. But the submission of the young revolution to the interests of the USSR, as well as Arab pressures within the non-aligned movement, led Castro to break relations with Israel in 1973.

The decision had nothing to do with Zionist expansionism and everything to do with Cold War alliances. The closer Israel got to the United States, the more the Cuban regime became involved with the enemies of the Jewish state. Fidel Castro sent military advisors and instructors to Palestinian bases in Jordan to train the fedayeen. Cuba became the most belligerent non-Arab country against Israel at the UN, while it firmly supported the United States in its policy of sanctions against the Island. The Castro regime gave all its political and diplomatic support to the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Yasir Arafat was greeted with cheers in Havana in 1974.

With Raúl Castro and his feint of a timid and fruitless opening, it seemed that the waters would calm down. The general wore a kippah during his visit to the Shalom synagogue in Havana in 2010. He was invited to light the first of the five candles on the fifth night of the Hannukah, the Festival of Light. He also spoke of the “fabulous history” of the Hebrew people and took the Torah to his home. But what really interested Raúl was Israeli investment in Cuba’s disastrous agriculture. If those people were capable of planting crops in the desert, what couldn’t they achieve in our tropical lands?

With Díaz-Canel, ten steps have been taken backwards and now the unmentionable plays at being the leader of the non-aligned

For pleasure. Fidel’s little brother did not read the Torah nor were our lands filled with milk and honey. With Díaz-Canel, ten steps have been taken backwards and now the unmentionable plays at being the leader of the non-aligned, assuming the strongest anti-Israel rhetoric and justifying the terrorist attacks by Hamas, a group with which he maintains fruitful relations.

With his usual dyslexia, Díaz-Canel has read in front of cameras an official statement for “global action” against Israel. Orphaned by his own ideas, he has once again cited Fidel Castro and his “philosophy of dispossession” as the fundamental cause of wars. And this is repeated by the same regime that unconditionally supports Putin’s Russia in its invasion of Ukraine!

The same dictatorship that stripped Cubans of their property, their rights and their freedoms, now talks about philosophy. The same regime that has taken our native soil from us, pushing us into a mass exodus, now speaks of dispossession. One has to have a very hard face to talk about peace when, in response to the most peaceful protesters, they threatened to call out the tanks and crushed our white roses with combat orders.

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To Kill Marti?

For more than a century, José Martí has been the Cuban figure most likely to go from flesh to marble. (Civic Square, 1957)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 25 October 2023 — Judging from online chats, private conversations and articles in the independent press, more and more Cubans are coming down with Martían fatigue syndrome. For more than a century, José Martí has been the Cuban figure most likely to go from flesh to marble, from light to dust, from elegy to meme. He is the banner raised by opposing, irreconcilable ideologies. Many a fortune cookie contains a quote by him. For us, he is simultaneously the Cuban Christ, the Caribbean Plato and the Marilyn Monroe of national pop art.

In our collective postmodernist hangover, we hit the accelerator, desanctifying all the altars as quickly as possible. The hasty effort did produce a bit of valuable research but also a lot of Martíanoid sausage. The crowning touch was the ruling party designating former Cuban culture minister Abel Prieto and National Assembly delegate Yusuam Palacios as high priests of the sanctum sanctorum. The ensuing indigestion, along with the urge to try to kill off the hero once and for all, was predictable.

Speculations about suicide are not completely implausible, nor are they far-fetched given his romantic nature

Much has been written about that Sunday in May 1895 when Martí seemed to be looking for a way to die. Speculations about suicide are not completely implausible, nor are they far-fetched given his romantic nature. In his writings he described death as a victory, a celebration, a silver stripe laid upon black velvet. For a man plagued by diseases such as sarcoidosis, chronic catarrhal conjunctivitis with a drooping right eyelid, sarcocele and acute broncho-laryngitis, death in combat was more desirable than imminent death in a foreign bed.

In his 1933 biography Martí, the Apostle, Jorge Mañach asks three essential questions about his demise at the Battle of Dos Ríos. Was it caused by a fit of madness? Inexperience? Or was it just his time to go? Carlos Márquez Sterling attributes his loss to “providence itself.” Gonzalo de Quesada y Miranda comes back to the idea that it was his “appointed hour.” The Argentine writer and poet Ezequiel Martínez Estrada described his death as “enigmatic, absurd, inexplicable, unusual and improbable.” continue reading

Some have blamed Máximo Gómez for the desperation and clumsiness of that day, which were incomprehensible given his experience as a soldier. The generalíssimo himself acknowledged that he was very poorly prepared for battle and did not have time to worry about Martí. Others blame Baconao, the spirited white horse that José Maceo gave him. Quite a few blame the fatality on his wardrobe, which was more appropriate for a wedding than for the rigors of combat. The fact is that Martí — the newly appointed major general, the would-be lawmaker, the likely future president — was the only casualty the Cubans suffered in this militarily insignificant operation.

The hypothesis that he threw himself at the bullets to set an example makes no sense in light of the fact that only Ángel de la Guardia saw him fall and, even then, only felt compelled to rescue Martí’s hat and revolver. The theory that he disobeyed Gómez’s order to “fall back” presents us with an image of a reckless, adolescent Martí very much at odds with his intellect and demonstrated ability to not become self-absorbed when faced with disdain, contempt or even humiliation.

Three bullets pierced his flesh though the drum of his Colt was still intact

The Spanish soldiers could not believe it. They had heard that some “big birds” were among the rebel troops but they could not imagine that the main instigator of that war, which had only just begun, would be such an easy target. It was a firing squad. Three bullets pierced his flesh though the drum of his Colt was still intact. When giving his account of the incident, the Spanish captain Antonio Serra would murmur, “There is a mystery here.”

Another often discussed enigma is the Cuban connection to the shot in his chest. The trajectory of the bullet indicates that Martí was either bent over his horse’s neck or was shot when he was already on the ground. The latter is consistent with claims by a Cuban soldier, Antonio Oliva, who fought for the Spanish under the command of Colonel José Ximénez de Sandoval. Grandfather of the renowned Cuban painter Pedro Pablo Oliva, he boasted of having killed Martí with his own gun. But not everyone believed him. Maybe he was just looking for a medal and a pension.

Martí died face up, as he dreamed. But that night a two-hour downpour drenched his corpse while it was being carried away by his enemies. One-hundred twenty-eight years later he is still falling off his horse, in multiple ways, for a lot of different reasons. The truth is that we needlessly lost the man the future republic needed most. Or maybe not. If he had survived and had governed, the current ruling party would no doubt now be calling him corrupt and self-serving. Thousands of busts and statues of him would not exist, nor would so many Cubans on social media be trying in vain to finish off Martí.

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Encounters of the Third Kind with Cuban State Security

Artists being arrested by police in Havana for protesting in front of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television on July 11, 2021. (EFE)

14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, 4 October 2023 — Those of us who have been a target of the State Security often make two serious mistakes. On the one hand, we overestimate them. They are not the X-Men. They do not have all the latest technology nor are they omnipresent. Their officers come off as increasingly clumsy, ill-prepared, with a progressive decline in cultural awareness. That feeling that you can’t even trust your pillow because they know every time a leaf moves in Cuba, that is a myth they themselves perpetuate in order to paralyze us. It’s not as though their gears operate like those of a Swiss watch — they’re more like those of the National Energy System — no matter how much some government minister beats his chest on TV claiming otherwise.

But neither should we make the mistake of underestimating them. State Security’s founders were trained by the KGB and the Stasi. They inherited manuals and techniques whose effectiveness still stand the test of time. They have penetrated and control every grassroots organization in the country, which is really their greatest strength. From the Federation of Cuban Women to the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, from the National Artists and Writers Union to the National Association of Small Farmers, from the labor unions to the Federation of University Students. Every day these organizations report their findings to State Security and act as its eyes, ears and fists. continue reading

They have penetrated and control every grassroots organization in the country, which is really their greatest strength

The first time I was “interviewed” by a counterintelligence official was in Holguín, shortly after firing off fifteen questions, which automatically made me a target. I learned from others that the aforementioned individual had been ordered to approach me, though he himself admitted to feeling unprepared. So he spent a few weeks visiting the Provincial Council for the Performing Arts, getting a crash course in drama that, if we’re being honest, didn’t help him much.

His first words were: “We know you’re not collaborating but we would still like to know what you’re doing because we have lots of collaborators around you.” Apparently, I was on a list of young opinion makers and they wanted to warn me that they were watching me closely, trying to stoke fear, paranoia and paralysis in me. But they chose the wrong officer. The man’s lower left eyelid quivered, his words sounded scripted and he seemed eager to be done with his uncomfortable mission as quickly as possible. Instead of working like an anesthetic, it had the opposite effect.

They did not make the same mistake twice. After November 27, they sent Yordan, a cross between U.S. basketball legend Michael Jordan and Cuban wrestler Mijaín Lopez. The guy was over six-and-a-half-feet tall. Standing in front of my house, putting on his scariest face, he told me that I could not leave until he decided I could leave. I have to admit that, this time, the guy was convincing. But State Security also didn’t want to run the risk of him scaring me to the point it radicalized me.

At that time, I still had all the naivetee of someone who had not yet looked into the eyes of Satan. So, a few hours later, they sent in the “good cop.” This time they chose an officer who had been trained overseas, who had more self-confidence and a less limited vocabulary. He said his name was Rodrigo and he took the opportunity to compliment me in an effort to boost my ego. All the while, he was ripping to shreads all the other known activists. He then deployed the “you’re not an enemy, you’re just confused” strategy.

Although at first I swore not to touch anything on that table, eventually I gave into hunger

Later came my first abduction. They took me to one of those houses with curtains on all the walls (and cameras behind them). On the table before me lay all the things that were in short supply in the stores: coffee, cans of soft drinks, candies, even shellfish. Actually, they asked me almost nothing. Again, they just talked bad about everybody and left me alone for long periods of time. Although at first I swore not to touch anthing on that table, eventually I gave into hunger.

I have often asked myself what exactly that scene was all about. What was up with the shellfish? What tidbits were they looking for? I later realized that they just wanted some visuals for their files. If, at some future point, they had to take things further and I publicly accused them of physical violence, all they would have to do would be to take out those videos of me eating shrimp. They know how the mind of the average Cuba works. They knew that, upon seeing those images on national television, some people would say, “I want them to torture me too!”

State Security officials often use several categories to classify their victims: possible agents, willing or unwilling collaborators, confused revolutionaries or incorrigible revolutionaries. They also take into account your ability to influence people and the types of people who could be motivated to follow you. There is a particular approach for each case. But when it comes to good-natured, kind or helpful people, you get the same rough treatment. It doesn’t matter if you are an intellectual or a dock worker.

Once they have made the decision to destroy you, they will do it one step at a time. Possibly, you will first be subjected to cyber attacks. They will accuse you of being a mercenary because money was added to your cell phone account from overseas. Then there will be the disrupted internet, the interrogations, the home surveillance. They will disparage you at your school, at your workplace, to friends and family, and especially to other activists. They will look for ways to exploit egos, jealousies, prominence, and human misery. If you are having an impact online, they will ask TV newscaster Humberto Lopez or the Con Filo lap dogs to tear you apart on the small screen. That will be accompanied by acts of repudiation and a guard permanently stationed at your front door to keep you from leaving the house.

If you are having an impact online, they will ask TV newscaster Humberto Lopez or the Con Filo lap dogs to tear you apart on the small screen

With me, in particular, they resorted to an alleged Afro-Cuban curse. They decapitated two pigeons on my metal fence and smeared feathers, blood and dirt across the doorstep. Several housing department and electric company inspectors also came to visit, allegedly because of complaints of illegal activities that they were never able to prove. Then the public prosecutor’s office will threaten you with sentences that could amount to decades in prison for crimes such as “subversion.” By this point, you are clearly the enemy. And they will try to annihilate you.

There are five ways of finishing you off. Turn you into a non-person, someone with no friends, no family, no internet, no freedom of movement. Fry your brain, making you anxious, paranoid, single-minded, extremist and spouting rhetoric so radical that you elicit no empathy. Force you into exile, where it does not matter if you continue posting online because, if you are not there, you are not relevant. Throw you into prison, where some will advocate for you but the vast majority will get on with their business. And finally, kill you. Cuba’s recent history has no shortage of “accidents,” after which nothing happened.

Cubans have two options. We could act the Swedes, avoiding everything that could happen to us and leave the problem to our children, who would be the ones to take the risk later. Or we could swallow our fear and try to do what we have to do as a generation. It doesn’t matter that hundreds of us have failed before. Someone could do it right and that person could be you.

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Cuba: False Emissaries of Peace

The Army of Liberation was riddled with internal strife, plagued by regional divisions, defeatism and poor discipline. (Wikimedia)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, September 27, 2023 — By 1877, the Ten Year’s War was was at an impasse. The Spanish had not managed to defeat the Cuban guerillas and the insurgents were nowhere close to a decisive victory. The Army of Liberation was riddled with internal strife, plagued by regional divisions, defeatism and poor discipline.

Vicente García, who had led a seditious revolt in Santa Rita, refused to abandon his territory to join the western invasion. Holguín declared itself an “independent canton” outside the control of the Republic in Arms. And the secretive Republican Unity society in Las Villas was unaware that Gómez and Maceo were leading the war effort. The Cubans were also dealing with a chronic shortage of military hardware, lack of support from the Cuban emigré community and an intelligent enemy in the guise of the new captain-general.

Martínez Campos, a military officer from Segovia, had been a professor at the General Staff School and was the leader of the1874 military coup in Spain. There he was known as the man from Sagunto who restored the Spanish monarchy, famously proclaiming Alfonso XII king of Spain under a carob tree.

But conditions in Cuba were such that the Spanish also found themselves unable to prevail in the conflict. With an army that was ill-prepared, even more badly dressed, and poorly fed, nine out of ten soldiers were being felled by yellow fever and other tropical diseases, not guerilla machetes. The idea of signing a peace deal was in the minds of the combatants on both sides.

However, a law prevented the insurgents from even mentioning the subject. The Spotorno Decree, adopted by the House of Representatives of the Republic in Arms, proscribed the death penalty for anyone, Cuban or Spanish, who turned up on the battlefield talking about peace.

Then a singular character showed up in Havana: William Pope. He claimed to be a member of the “Peace Council”, bishop-elect of Haiti and envoy of the U.S. secretary of state. His mission was to meet with the insurgent leaders and negotiate the controversial capitulation.

One cannot talk about peace in today’s Cuba. The regime subjugates its citizens with an iron fist. Prison and exile are the predictable outcomes for anyone who dares to raise his or her voice

The meeting took place secretly on May 11, 1877, at the governmental headquarters of the Republic in Arms. The then-president, Estrada Palma, was rumored to have annexationist ideas. At the meeting there was talk of continue reading

paying Spain a figure of between 100 and 150 million pesos to buy independence. That money, of course, would be lent by the United States. And although it was not entirely clear to the rebels, the seeds of ending the war without having defeated the enemy had been sown.

It is said that Bishop Pope later met with Martínez Campos, who told him he was not authorized to accept such a proposal, urging him to instead travel to Madrid and present it to senior government officials. Pope celebrated a military mass in Santiago de Cuba’s cathedral, where he was given a bishop’s ring by the captain general.

But this is where the story gets murky. It turns out that Pope was not American after all but Irish. Nor was he a bishop, just a priest with outsized ambitions. The man apparently dreamed of distinguising himself by playing mediator in some important affair and, perhaps, serving as bishop of Havana. Years later, Máximo Gómez would find him in a Honduran prison, convicted of stealing some religious vestments and a Holy Communion chalice.

In December, 1877, the House of Representatives overturned the Spotorno Decree, paving the way for the Pact of Zanjón, which was was signed on February 10 the following year. Antonio Maceo famously rejected the treaty in a document known as the Baraguá Protest. He would acknowledge shortly thereafter, however that the conditions necessary for carrying on the fight were not there. The Bronze Titan was forced to negotiate with Martínez Campos for a letter of safe conduct out of the country to exile in Jamaica.

Enrique Collazo would write, “The Cuban people, deaf for ten years to our cries of glory and agony, watched impassively as the revolution died, drowned in the blood of its martyrs.” It was the end of a long war that fizzled out without achieving its basic objectives.

One cannot talk about peace in today’s Cuba. The regime subjugates its citizens with an iron fist. Prison and exile are the predictable outcomes for anyone who dares to raise his or her voice or engages in even the most peaceful of protests. And though there is no Martínez Campos in the government, ready to negotiate, there is no shortage of Popes who talk falsely of bridges, of peace, of love.

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The Cuban Regime Is Not Alone, But It Is in Very Bad Company

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel received Iran’s Vice President Ruhollad Dehghani on the occasion of the G-77 summit plus China in Havana. (Estudios Revolución)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 20 September 2023 — These days the propaganda of the single party in Cuba has used to the point of exhaustion a desperate slogan: Cuba is not alone. In fact, we have seen some characters parade through Havana who never leave their caves, except to come to ours, where they find refuge, pats on the shoulder and exchange tricks on how to perpetuate themselves in power. However, it alarms other democratic leaders that, like Aesop’s frog, they mount scorpions on their backs.

The 47 agreements from the G77 plus China summit repeat the mantra of science, technology and innovation, as if they prayed to the gods of the North for a little attention. It is obvious that progress depends on the development of this knowledge and these tools, but it’s unfortunate that totalitarian systems use the privilege of attendance not to produce more or find solutions to our problems, but to monitor, control and punish.

The countries of the South, after this summit, have not “raised their voices” as some catatonically insist; they have simply threatened to change their masters

The countries of the South, after this summit, have not “raised their voices” as some catatonically insist; they have simply threatened to change their masters. In the next edition, the same dilemmas will be heard again, similar agreements will be signed and we will remain in debt up to our necks. The complete absence of self-criticism does not allow us to understand the weight of our own guilt in the advance of hunger, misery, violence and the lack of hope suffered by the peoples of the South. With these songs, we will be even poorer, more whiny and less democratic.

The summit has actually served to legitimize authoritarian models, to bring a considerable block of nations closer to the axis of China, to mitigate the condemnations against Russia and to promote the puppet of Castroism as a “world leader.” continue reading

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel arrived in New York wearing that suit, or believing that he was wearing it, although he was naked. His dyslexic speech has been a pastiche of everything that Cuba has been ruminating for decades. All that is condemned at a global level is reproduced internally. They condemn the sanctions but mercilessly sanction any Cuban citizen who disagrees; they speak of “blockade” but block and put absurd obstacles on the Island to any development initiative outside state control; they condemn a hegemonic world but defend the hegemony of the single party; they want an orchestra of multipolar nations but keep Cuba as a monolith, creating a solo of maracas.

Beyond exhibiting to the world an appearance of a leading country, Castroism urgently needs to show the Cubans some light at the end of the tunnel. That desperation to hold great events or flaunt the occasional victory reminds me of the Pan American Games in Havana in 1991. Fidel Castro then praised the Pan-American Villa and swore that he had never seen anything more beautiful. He even said, with his usual fondness for hyperbole, that it should be called “Olympic Villa.” But the Berlin Wall fell and we would suffer the worst crisis in our history. And all Cubans know what the ruins of that mirage look like today.

Now the regime is determined to be re-elected for one of the 47 seats of the UN Human Rights Council

At the recent G77 summit, Havana did not have a Tocopán,* and they knew that a mediocrity like Díaz-Canel was not enough to impress visitors or look like a leader. They needed a sacred cow, a relic, another Tocopán, so they used the nonagenarian Raúl Castro as the mascot of the event.

Now the regime is determined to be re-elected to one of the 47 seats on the UN Human Rights Council. It sounds frighteningly absurd that the country with the most political prisoners in the region, a flagrant violator of all those rights, is running to occupy a chair. But it wouldn’t be surprising if Cuba succeeded either. Latin America has three positions, and only Cuba, Peru, Brazil and the Dominican Republic compete for them. As the winds are blowing, it is likely that nations will vote for the dictatorship, even if that completely discredits the Council.

Thus, the abusive communist regime goes through life becoming the defender of the victims. On the Island, repression and censorship continue; misery, inflation and crime advance, and hopelessness and the migratory tsunami progress. But the world is so crazy that it prefers to turn a blind eye and suck up to the hypocrite. If those who are truly committed to peace and democracy do not act effectively soon, the authoritarian gang will grow to become Ali Baba and the 77 thieves.

*Translator’s Note: Topocán, K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’, was the founder and first ruler of a Mayan dynasty.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Who Would Believe a Regime of Tartuffes?

Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel and Vladimir Putin beside a statue of Fidel Castro in Moscow. (Sputnik Kremlin)

14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, 5 September 2023 — In the last few hours, several international media outlets have reported that Cuba has uncovered an illegal scheme to recruit Cuban citizens to fight in Ukraine. But the truth is that the regime has uncovered absolutely nothing. It has only reacted — and very late at that — to a scandal that has been brewing on social media for several days. The recent statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is an attempt to wash its hands of the matter and provide cover for a dictatorship that has been Putin’s faithful lackey since the start of the war.

It was the influencer Alain Paparazzi who uncovered this Pandora’s box when two young men contacted him to report their situation. Alex Vegas and Andorf Velázquez, both 19-years-old, signed contracts allegedly to do construction work in Russia. Their willingness to move there under the current circumstances is a reflection of just how desperate young Cubans are to leave their country, no matter the cost. Once on Russian soil, they were relieved of their documents, forcibly inducted into the military and transferred to the front lines in Ukraine.

Diaz-Canel is a pawn who thinks he is a bishop. His outward moves seem deferential to Putin while under the table he is playing footsies with Biden

During the Cold War, Fidel Castro also behaved like a Kremlin pawn but the bearded one had his own way of moving around the chessboard. It was he who popularized a Cuban rhyme that might be translated as “Nikita, my little ladybug, you can’t steal what’s already been given to you.” The Soviet leader would later sideline him from negotiations during the Cuban Missile Crisis before ultimately withdrawing offensive missiles from the island. They say that the homophobic Fidel employed his cigars as anti-kissing shields on his trips to Moscow to discourage his Soviet comrades from engaging in this particular display of affection. When perestroika was unleashed, he had no qualms condemning his favorite general to death by firing squad to send and clear and unequivocal message to those in Cuba’s own nomenklatura who were sympathetic to Gorbachev’s reforms. For this and other reasons, the Cuban regime survived the fall of the Soviet bloc. The Cuban pawn knew he was a pawn but aspired to get to the other end of the board so he could become queen. continue reading

Diaz-Canel, on the other hand, is a pawn who thinks he is a bishop. His outward moves are deferential to Putin but, under the table, he is playing footsies with Biden. Despite all the pro-Putin propaganda from official media in Cuba, to say nothing of foreign outlets such as TeleSur and Russia Today, most Cubans reject such a blatantly imperialist military invasion. And yet the government has not voted in favor of any of the resolutions condemning the war. Not even the one sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) decrying the almost 1,000 attacks against Ukrainian hospitals and healthcare centers.

The famous Molière character, Tartuffe, is one the world’s most archetypal hypocrites, which makes the Cuban regime the quintessential Tartuffian dictatorship. For decades it has condemned invasions, wars of aggression, annexations of territories and mercenary escapades. But now it finds itself trapped in its own moral back alley. That is why the Foreign Ministry’s statement is so disgusting. It reads like the script for an energy drink commercial.

They are looking for what every nation at war needs: political and military support. In this regard, the only thing Cuba can offer them is cannon fodder

Diaz-Canel has shown no qualms about flying to Moscow to pay homage to his tsar-in-chief. His last visit broke Putin’s near total isolation at a time when even Xi Jinping could not be bothered to pick up the phone. A squad of high-ranking Russian officials have also been parading through Cuba. They are hoping to not only collect on their debts but to expand their Cuban investment portfolio. They are also hoping Cuba can serve as the front man for their interests in Latin America and Africa. And they are looking for what every nation at war needs: political and military support. In this regard, the only thing Cuba has to offer is cannon fodder.

It is no coincidence that Cuba has so many military personnel at its embassy in Moscow. And it is no coincidence that, during a meeting with the head of the Department of International Military Cooperation in Minsk, Colonel Mónica Milián Gómez — Cuba’s military, naval and air attaché for Russia and Belarus — that let slip a possible indiscretion as we know from her Twitter account. Or that Belarus’ Deputy Defense Minister Valery Revenco wrote that “the main focus of attention the was training of Cuban military personnel.”

So the regime has nothing to do with recruiting young people to go to war? Really? Tell that to Orgon or Madame Pernelle. No one with half a brain would take the statements of such a Tartuffian regime seriously.

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For Whom Is Argentina Crying?

Milei’s rhetoric about ending “the parasitic, stupid, useless political caste” has caught on with voters. (EFE)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, August 22, 2023 — To understand the Milei phenomenon, we have to go back a bit in history. Almost all of us have heard the song “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” a show tune that has been covered by the likes of Madonna, Sinéad O’Connor, Sarah Brightman, Christina Aguilera and Andrea Bocelli. It was inspired by María Eva Duarte, better known as Evita Perón: a politician, actress, first lady of Argentina and wife of Juan Domingo Perón. Evita died of cancer in 1952 when she was only 33 years old. After her death, she was declared “Spiritual Leader of the Nation.”

Since then, Peronism has been the country’s most influential political movement. Its broad spectrum of adherents has made it difficult to classify. Several groups, from both left and right, claim to be Peronists. Among its most important offshoots, however, is the populist, nationalist wing, which is closely aligned with the working class and whose main issue is social justice.

Perón left Argentina after a military coup in 1955. After the demise of the so-called Liberating Revolution, and then the Argentine Revolution, (which were nothing more than dictatorships), Perón returned to Argentina and became president for the third time in 1973. He died a year later, however, leaving the presidency in the hands of his new wife, Isabel Perón, a former nightclub dancer who was thirty-five years his junior.

Argentina has now experienced thirty years of uninterrupted democracy. However, the beginning of the 21st century saw the collapse of the economically liberal policies adopted ten years earlier by Carlos Menem.

Isabelita, whose real name was María Estela Martínez, was not exactly a left-wing feminist. All thirty-nine cabinet ministers during her time in office were men. The country also suffered from runaway inflation, consumer shortages and corruption. Violence was unleashed, mainly between an anti-communist vigilante group, known as Triple A, and guerrillas of the radical left, known as the Montoneros. For much of the Cold War, Argentina was the only country in the region not governed by a military dictatorship and, even then, its weak democracy existed on life support. continue reading

Last year, the movie Argentina, 1985 won a Golden Globe award and received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It dramatizes the trial of the military junta which ruled the country from 1976 to 1983, leading the most brutal dictatorship in Argentina’s history. During this time, 9,000 persons disappeared, prisoners were tortured, infants were kidnapped, and people were even thrown alive from aircraft into the sea during “death flights.”

In 2018, I personally met General Martín Balza in Buenos Aires. In 1995 he surprised everyone with a self-critique on national television. The then Chief of the General Staff read a statement in which he acknowledged that the Army had committed human rights violations. For the first time, the military admitted its guilt and condemned all uniformed personnel who gave or carried out immoral orders.

Argentina has already experienced a thirty-year period of uninterrupted democracy. However, the beginning of the 21st century saw the collapse of the liberal economic policies adopted ten years earlier by Carlos Menem. Five presidents paraded through the Casa Rosada in one week, anarchy broke out and Fernando de la Rúa boarded a helicopter to his forced retirement. The stage was set for a new center-left Peronist variant: Kirchnerism.

Except for a period from 2015 to 2019, when Mauricio Macri was presdient, the Kirchnerists have governed the country since 2003. But the Argentine situation is once again chaotic, marked by an increase in poverty, insecurity, corruption scandals, internal divisions among the Kirchnernists, widespread discontent and chronic, intolerable inflation.

The economist Javier Milei speaking during a rally in Buenos Aires after primary results were announced. (EFE / Gala Abramovich)

Into this scene comes Javier Milei, an anarcho-capitalist libertarian, faithful disciple of the Austrian school, and admirer of Trump and Bolsonaro. His ideas had already been generating a lot of noise on social media as part of several cultural wars being waged by Argentina’s Agustín Lage, Guatemala’s Gloria Alvarez and Chile’s Axel Kaiser. The ruling party focused its efforts on demonizing Milei, which only made him more attractive to younger voters.

Aware that voters had had enough, Milei decided to play the Joker, grew sideburns like Menem and adopted incendiary rhetoric. His enemies made the mistake of attacking him for his relationships with his dogs and his sister, whom they compared to the Game of Thrones character Cersei Lannister. His calls to abolish “the parasitic, stupid and useless political caste” has caught on with voters, even though he himself has become a leader of that caste.

Milei is proposing to massively reduce in the size of government, to “voucherize” education and health care, and to dollarize the economy. He has even talked about doing away with all restrictions on firearm possessions and about creating a marketplace for the sale of human organs. It remains to be seen if he will be elected president, or if he will be capable of carrying out the policies he is proposing, or if he will inspire or prevent largescale social unrest. For now, Milei is the person for whom more than seven million Argentinines are crying.

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The Unfortunate Laziness of Our Liberty

An engraving of Havana’s Plaza Vieja in 1763 during the British occupation, by Elias Durnford.

14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, August 16, 2023 — Why did it take Cuba so long to gain its independence? By the time most of its neighboring colonies had won their freedom, why was Cuba still known as “the ever loyal one”?

So why has the Castro regime lasted so long? Jorge Videla was dictator of Argentina for only seven and a half years, Augusto Pinochet ruled Chile for seventeen and Francisco Franco was caudillo of Spain for thirty-six. But Castro-ism has been entrenched in Cuba for more than six decades! And we are not talking just about exile, repression and censorship. These years have been marked by poverty, financial ruin and backwardness. How is it possible that we have not been able to get ourselves out of this pothole?

I try to avoid looking back on our past with pessimism, though at times it is inevitable to find some examples of history repeating itself. “Continuity” (another term for laziness), “loyalist reform” (change so that everything can stay the same), and “creative resistance” (I am suffocating but I enjoy it) are faults that have almost always been with us, making us prone to fatalism

During Havana’s eleven years under British occupation, its inhabitants never much bothered trying to learn English. In language, religion and culture, we have always felt closer to Madrid than to London. It is said that local peasants refused to sell the invaders fruit and that some even tried to poison the “redcoats” by feeding them bananas while they were intoxicated.

Nevertheless, the British never really faced much opposition. In some stately homes tea began being served at five in the afternoon, at which time more than one local official gladly offered his services to them. Their uniforms were the color of the mamey,* so tea time came to be known as “the hour of the mameys.” But, bottom line, the mamey proved to be quite a luscious fruit. A popular rhyme of the period went something like “The girls of Havana have no fear of damnation. / You can find them with the British / In the barrels at the rice plantation.” In July of 1763 the English traded us for Florida and sailed off… leaving us not much worse for wear. continue reading

It was then that Spain began to pamper us a bit, heaping enlightened despotism on top of natural paternalism: “Everything for the people, but without the people.” Cuba gave birth to one of the greatest and most brilliant men of the time, as some say: Don Francisco de Arango y Parreño. The American historian and hispanicist Allan J. Kuethe says of him, “He could have been a Bolivar, but he died like a true bureaucrat.” Beyond his contributions to trade and the island’s development, Arango y Parreño was a reformist, an smart guy, a man loyal to the crown.

Haiti was one of the first countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to obtain its independence. And today some pro-Castro ideologues claim Cuba and Haiti are two spurs from the same rooster. What is undeniable, however, is that, after the Haitian revolution (1791-1804), the Cuban elite did everything possible to keep the same thing from happening here. “Fear of the black man” was stronger than the urge to be free. Rather than showing solidarity, what Cuba actually did was take over Haiti’s position in the world market. For us, that was what” having spurs” meant.

Cuba is undergoing the worst crisis in its history and today others are benefitting from our misfortune. How many businesses in other latitudes are prospering because there is a dictatorship in Cuba?

The regime has its reformists, whose responsibility is to patch things up from time to time. But the system is more tattered than a carnival banner. Neither Murillo, nor much less Gil,** could fill Arango y Parreño’s shoes.

There are those who opt for satire or memes, like the residents of Havana during the time of the mameys. Others are more lukewarm and prudent, seeing themselves as legitimate partners. There are those who give very radical speeches but deep down prefer Cuba to remain the same, if for no other reason than to serve as a bad example. There are even those who feign a radical, extremist stance, then spend every hour of the day attacking any objective attempt, any realistic initiative, to attain democracy.

But laziness in not conducive to liberty. It has always come at the cost of blood, sweat and tears. We are up to our eyeballs in tears and blood. It’s time for us to get a little wet. Sweat is the blood of our times.

Translator’s notes:
*A tropical fruit popular in Latin America and the Caribbean.
**Minister of Economic Planning Marino Murillo and Economics Minister Alejandro Gil.

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To Have or Not to Have Private Businesses

A Castro-era campaign against private businesses, in this case bars. (Archivo)

14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, 9 August 2023 — No one hated private business in Cuba more than Fidel Castro. In his 1968 speech announcing the Revolutionary Offensive, which nationalized all remaining small private businesses in the country, he called business owners lazy, hangers-on, exploiters, privileged and lazy. Spooked by his own shadow, he vented his spleen against the 955 private bars that still existed in Havana. According to his “detailed” report, 72% of the owners had a counterrevolutionary attitude and 66% of their regular clientele was made up of antisocials.

With that over-the-top, carnivalesque tone, the comandante shouted: “Gentlemen, we did not have a revolution here to establish the right to trade! . . . Are we going to build socialism or are we going to build boutiques?” He also emphasized that no one had shed his blood so that others could earn a few pesos selling rum, fried eggs, or omelettes. He was much more blunt when he prophesied, “There will be no future in this country for commerce, self-employment, private industry, or anything else. Because whoever is self-employed then pays for the hospital, the school, pays for everything, and pays dearly for it!” His offensive was intended to uproot capitalism, it seemed, once and for all.

However, after the fall of socialism and the crisis of the 1990s, the communist leader had to swallow his pride and permit small private initiatives. This “necessary evil” was seen as a temporary measure, though the paladares (private restaurants) would cling to life in ongoing skirmishes over the size of their seating capacity, as though it were the game of musical chairs.

Shortly after inheriting the throne, his younger brother became aware that his power of hypnosis was not enough to keep the masses entertained with ludicrous battles of ideas. The beardless general urgently needed to get the economy out of the swamp, or at least appear to be trying. To avoid enraging the party’s most pro-Fidel faction, he opted for the word “update” over “reform.”

However, the most rabid “I-am-Fidel-ers” did not remain silent. Who would have thought that what would save socialism was more capitalism? Iroel Sanchez, a compulsive Castrophiliac, echoed his guru in apocalyptic tones: “This revolution can be destroyed. . . We can destroy it and it would be our fault.” continue reading

Certainly, few things have fractured the regime’s image of unity as much as the aforementioned MSMEs (micro, small and medium-sized companies). Anyone who has the stomach for the “revolutionary debates” coursing through the internet will realize how polarized opinions have become on this subject among those who claim to be supporters of the system. On Iroel’s side is Javier Gomez Sanchez, dean of the School of Audiovisual Communication Art. In an online post complaining about the privatization of Jalisco Park, he writes, “To make matters worse, they say that they are going to inaugurate it on July 26. . . Have they no shame? How far are they going to go? What’s next? The privatization of Coppelia?”

The Cuban bureaucratic caste has always been concerned that those they refer to as the “emerging bourgeoisie” will usurp their privileges. But to avoid sounding envious, they try to present themselves as tenacious custodians of the Marxist-Leninist faith preached by Papa Beard. They argue that McDonald’s and Coca Cola are a more lethal threat than the U.S. Navy and warn against the dangers of the carrot-and-stick approach of soft power politics. They are loathe to admit that the idea of socialism as the precursor to true communism has died and that its corpse is on display in the supermarkets of Chinese capitalism.

Now, can a free market alone bring about democracy? We know it cannot. When I discuss this question with knowledgeable Europeans, they almost always tell me Cuba is not China, and China is not Vietnam, but you do not have to look far for comparisons. You have only to see what is happening in Venezuela or Nicaragua to understand that the existence of private enterprise is not enough to eradicate totalitarianism.

In certain quarters of the exile community and the opposition, there are also differing opinions with respect to private enterprises in Cuba, though at times it is easier to find more slogans and conspiracy theories than arguments. While fully aware of all the anomalies surrounding MSMEs, I for one defend the freedom to give them a shot, even in places where freedom has yet to be attained.

Much as I am reluctant to agree with the ultra-Fidelistas, so great was the aversion Fidel felt towards private businesses, and so great were his efforts to annihilate them, that it probably was not, as they claim, a heart attack that killed him. Maybe it was the MSMEs.

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When Havana Was Taken by the ‘Red Coats’

English sailors enter the bay of Havana after its capitulation. (Engraving by Dominique Serres based on the drawings of Lieutenant Philip Orsbridge, in 1762)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 1 August 2023 — On June 6, 1762, Captain General Juan del Prado Portocarrero saw an impressive English fleet approaching Havana from El Morro. At first he did not believe that it was an attempt at conquest; he assumed it was a mercantile convoy and even sent the soldiers back to their barracks. The mail that came with the news had been intercepted and gripped the partying habaneros. The clumsy Juan del Prado would show that the defense of the Great Antille was, in fact, too great for him.

It was foreseeable that the English would try to take Havana after declaring war on Spain. They had already occupied Martinique, and the Cuban capital constituted a geographical point of great strategic importance. Twenty years earlier, they had unsuccessfully sought to establish a colony in Guantánamo. To top it off, in 1756 the governor of Jamaica had been invited to go for a walk in Havana, as a gesture of goodwill, and returned to London offering detailed plans of the city and its fortifications.

Much has been discussed about whether Havana at that time was uncivilized, impoverished and miserable. Some have maintained that the capture by the English brought, at last, a little progress. Historian Ramiro Guerra dedicated several articles to Francisco José Ponte trying to deny those statements. Guerra strives to show us a French Havana, much more gallant than other capitals of rich viceroyalties, such as Lima and Mexico. The aforementioned sources showed that both wealthy and poor, white, black or mulatto, they were able to ruin their haciendas and their economies in order to show off the latest fashion. As for its population, Guerra tells us that Havana was more populous than any of the thirteen colonies of North America, even doubling New York.

In any case, Havana was a valuable possession for the Spanish crown. And the battle to try to defend it would highlight the mediocrity of some and the heroism of others. Among Juan del Prado’s blunders was that of disabling three ships of his squadron, seeking to block the entrance to the bay. The operation was disastrous. Not only did some men drown during its execution, but they lost their best warships and prevented other ships from going out to fight from the sea. continue reading

However, there is still talk in Cuba of a Creole like Pepe Antonio. The fifty-year-old Cuban, mayor of Guanabacoa, became legendary by carrying out reckless actions, which could be considered machete charges, long before Gómez and Maceo. In a month and a half he inflicted several casualties on the enemy and captured a good number of prisoners. His natural leadership and his unorthodox maneuvers aroused the envy of the inept Spanish colonel Francisco Caro, who dismissed him in a humiliating way. And the legend has it that Pepe died of disgust, a few days later.

Unfortunately, the chauvinism of our historical memory has made us ignore or relegate other brave defenders of Havana to the background. The most notorious case is that of Luis Vicente Velasco de Isla, who died defending El Morro. When the Spanish monarch learned of his feat, he had a statue of him made in Cantabria and minted several medals with his bust. He also ordered that in his royal Navy there should always be a ship with the name of Velasco and created a new noble title: the marquisate of Velasco del Morro, granted to his brother.

But the greatness of a soldier is more noticeable when it is his own enemies who show their admiration. The English were so impressed by his determination and expertise that, after his death, a 24-hour ceasefire was decreed, to bury him with the dignity he deserved. In addition, a monument was erected in his honor in Westminster Abbey itself. And they say that every time the British Navy passed in front of his hometown, salvos were fired in his honor.

Today there is a very small street in Havana that bears his name, parallel to San Isidro. I remember that, in my school texts, Pepe Antonio and his men were highlighted as “the true heroes of the defense,” while they limited themselves to recognizing Velasco as “one of the few Spanish officers who showed courage.” I think that, without minimizing in any way the heroism of the Creole, it is fair to recognize the indisputable prominence of Velasco in that episode of our history.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: Pirates of Yesterday and Today

On the day of the assault, Pérez de Angulo was governor and defended Havana with 65 foot soldiers and 16 on horseback. (Public domain)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 4 July 2023 – Laws that restrict business to an absurd extent usually generate corruption and all manner of roguery. Following the Conquest and colonisation of the Americas, the maritime powers established a commercial system that created an exclusive relationship between the metropolises and their colonies. Trading with foreigners carried the penalty of a jail sentence, excommunication and confiscation of assets. This measure affected the colonies most of all but it also promoted smuggling and filled the seas with plunderers.

It all started with a few French vessels laying siege to the fleets which arrived in the Canary Islands. Later, these sailors got hold of the Spanish navigation charts and approached the waters of the Caribbean. England, France and Holland saw such substantial gains in these sorts of ventures that they began to invest their own funds in the business. It was the heyday of the black flags with the skulls and crossbones.

As opposed to ordinary pirates, these pirates relied on permission from some country or other to attack and rob from their rivals. When two kingdoms were at war, the offender had to be treated as an enemy soldier, with all the guarantees that implied. In times of peace it was assumed that these pirates had to respect the truce, although the soul of a pirate will nonetheless grant himself a blank cheque to never take this sort of thing seriously.

The buccaneers, for their part, were a kind of pirate of terra firma. The term búcan was the Tainos word for the technique of smoking meat. Many Europeans learnt how to use these skills; they dedicated themselves to smuggling and adopted the name of buccaneers. In Cuba they were mostly to be found in areas like Camagüey and Las Tunas. continue reading

The fledgling Cuban population were victims of pirate assaults on a number of occasions. It’s known that Havana was reduced to ashes in 1538. And in the same year, outside the port of Santiago, the Sevillian captain Diego Pérez battled a French pirate for four days. By day they attacked mercilessly with canon fire. And by night they sent messengers bearing gifts, like good Christian gentlemen, until the French lifted anchor and bid them adieu.

But the most famous attack took place on the tenth of July 1555, led by Jacque de Sores. Ten years earlier, San Cristobal de La Habana was defended by a single canon of 47 hundredweight which they nicknamed “the savage”, evidence of which had been accompanied by exaggeration and ostentation from an early stage. Later the place was “fortified” until it had three canons. At the time of the attack, the governor was Pérez de Angulo, who defended Havana with 65 foot soldiers and 16 others on horseback.

As soon as the French pirate – follower of the famous Pegleg – returned to dry land, Angulo ran terrified to the yucayeque of Guanabacoa. However, the governor, Don Juan de Lobera, stood his ground the best could, defending from the old Fort.

But there wasn’t a great deal of courage in this resistance. Some of his men suggested he surrender, telling him that he could die if he wanted to but he wasn’t going to sacrifice all the others. Sores himself asked who was the madman that was trying to defend Havana with four crossbows. One of his artillerymen even went to negotiate with the pirates, speaking to them in German so that Juan wouldn’t understand a word.

Finally, the pirate conquered the place, although he didn’t find the riches he was hoping for, apart from an emerald ring and a silver dinner service. The Frenchman took hostages and demanded 30 thousand pesos in ransom…as well as some cassava bread loaves! He spared the brave defender’s life and promised not to molest the women.

Angulo, in a final attempt to save his honour, gathered an army together at Matanzas… no exaggeration. There were 95 Spanish, some 200 Africans and around 80 indigenous men. The element of surprise was a key factor, but the indigenous men, who were used to attacking with ferocious noise, alerted the French with their shouting and it was a disaster. The pirate swords repelled the attempt and Havana continued to be under French rule for a few more days.

As a counter-offer, three thousand pesos ransom was offered. However, the inhabitants only managed to get together one third of the amount. Sores, outraged in the face of such destitution (or miserliness), set fire to everything that could be burnt. Angulo was sent to Spain and was tried for cowardice and lack of foresight. He was the last of the civilian governors.

Today, centuries later, buccaneering still survives. And in Cuba many have permission to practice it, which, technically… turns them into pirates?

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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