Category: Translator: GH

Of course, the official press, trying to cover up the scandal, rushed to deny the detention of the former minister, but the fact that a group of high-ranking officers, most of them active with various positions in the chain of command – with troops and weapons under direct command- are whispering behind the back of the hierarchy is something unprecedented that is already very relevant and serious, and cannot be concealed by the Castro establishment, above all because it clearly questions the leadership of the high command, calls into question the myth of blind obedience to its outdated ideals and leaves its allegedly infallible counterintelligence with its pants down.

This situation has a very simple human explanation. In a society where poverty is so deep-rooted, real privileges are reserved only for the high command and leaders of the upper echelons, while the middle-ranking military officers must make do with crumbs and chicken skin at the end of the month, which they must perceive as outrageous, even though this may seem a luxury in contrast with the even more appalling poverty of the common people. Well, now this unpredictable iceberg may have entered a collision course against this ship without a captain at the bow, which is drifting aimlessly, without leadership or port of destination.

Now, on the other hand, it cannot be a coincidence that just now the corruption scandal involving Alejandro Gil, former Minister of Economy along with dozens of minor figures is breaking out. This happens after several months of repeated public denunciations through dozens of alternative media – independent press and Cuban youtubers, hundreds of blogs and social networks – and that it is precisely now, just when those murky waters within the military officialdom are stirring, that Gil’s defenestration takes place?

What at another time could be taken as yet another of the cyclical purges of Castroism, the sacrifice of a typical scapegoat that seeks to focus on a nobody the anger of millions of Cubans subjected to bloody shock policies, today’s move must be read as an obvious tactic. So far so ugly for the photo, but fatally for Castroism, it is in the middle of this tasteless move that tens of thousands of Cubans, fed up with so much misery, hunger and blackouts decided to take to the streets in what were the largest demonstrations – but not the only ones – in Cuba since 2011.

This was not in the plans of the Biran clan and it definitely complicates the picture because it happened at the most inopportune moment, when those in Havana are breaking records of unpopularity and suffer a total discredit at the international level, when they can no longer find any creditor to swindle even under the ground, with an economy in absolute ruin and a literally chaotic social situation, all of which makes up what Rubiera [Cuban meteorologist, specialist in hurricanes] would have called a perfect storm for Castroism.

This is undoubtedly the most delicate and difficult moment for the dictatorship since the mass protests of 11J, to distract national and world attention and so hide the hottest potato on the table, a typical smokescreen that tries to cover up the unmentionable terror of the leadership in the face of the most serious evidence: that a part of its officialdom has conspired in something that clearly and from any angle smells like a plan for a coup d’état! !??

So far so ugly for the photo, but, fatally for Castroism, it is in the middle of this tasteless move that tens of thousands of Cubans, fed up with so much misery, hunger and blackouts decided to take to the streets in what were the largest demonstrations – but not the only ones – in Cuba since 2011. This was not in the plans of the Biran clan and it definitely complicates the picture because it happened at the most inopportune moment, when those in Havana are breaking records of unpopularity and are suffering a total discredit on the international level, when they can no longer find any creditor to swindle even under the ground, with an economy in absolute ruin and a literally chaotic social situation, all of which makes up what meteorologist Rubiera would have called a perfect storm for Castroism. This is undoubtedly the most delicate and difficult moment for the dictatorship since the mass protests of 11J.

It is at this point that we have to regret the absence of a cohesive opposition with a strong and convincing leadership, capable of effectively channeling popular anger in the face of so much injustice, with clear proposals, with a realistic previously announced action program, which, when the time comes, will take the flood of the people towards the reconquest of power, without improvisation but without hesitation, until this political mafia that today tries to silence us with a couple of pounds of rice and four bits of skin taken from some military unit, which is highly offensive and clearly a mockery by these immoral pieces of shit.

But if the regime has been good at anything, it has been at disuniting us and extinguishing public spirit. After subjecting several generations of millions of Cubans to the fiercest indoctrination, this is how they have us, asking for bread and light, as if freedom no longer calls for more than that. It hurt to hear that crowd shouting “electricity and food!” when if you save your breath and listen harder you can hear it shout “Liberty Damn it!!!!” or “Down with dictatorship!!!!!”

I know that this is all more complicated than it seems and that it is easier to write about it here than to shout it in the streets, but if after the brutal repression suffered on 11 July, my people dared to go out into the streets again with their faces uncovered to shout before the incredulous eyes of the repressors not only “electricity and food” but also “Freedom” and “Homeland and Life“, the world would realise the extent of our desperation.

This crowd of ragged people who took to the streets knows that more than a thousand political prisoners are today serving long sentences in Castro’s prisons, that among them the majority are 11 July prisoners – including dozens of minors and young people whose sentences exceed their own age – and they have not forgotten the unpunished beatings with which the “revolutionaries” – that is the bunch of assholes who, under the leadership of Diaz-Ratbag, repressed their own people – defended these same streets just in order to guard the Biran estate.

In the end, social engineering works and more than sixty years of terror have taken their toll on us; all that dust has produced this mud. In the absence of a civic front which sticks together and of a proposal to be taken up by society – which does not mean that such a proposal does not exist – we had to be satisfied with social catharsis, with walking through the streets putting our hearts and souls into it, in a cry which is just, but chaotic, lashing out like headless chickens and without precise objectives, without a hill or a center of power to conquer, without a concrete program for the future clutched in our fist to endorse our cry of anger with a proposal for a free country.

Instead we must endure in the midst of nausea that Diaz-Ratbag and his Umbertico Lopez planting their faces on TV to accuse imperialism and its “mercenaries” for the thousandth time as the cause of all this rage that again, at least for the time being, we will have to swallow.

Translated by GH 

You should know, Mr. Trump, that you came out with that nonsense just when El Salvador is registering historic lows in emigration and thousands of hopeful Salvadorians are seriously considering returning to their country after decades of violence and systemic neglect, precisely because Bukele worked the miracle and locked up tens of thousands of murderers. Attacking the man who subdued those criminal gangs that for decades, long before his first term in office, Mr. Trump, had already spread throughout Central America and reached the west coast of his country, the leader who promised peace and security to his people and more than delivered, was an Olympic mistake that if it goes any further could cost you millions of Latino and non-Latino votes in this final stretch of the campaign.

Today, millions of Latinos are crying out for a ruler like Bukele from countries that continue to impact crime levels in the United States, from which thousands of tons of drugs continue to be exported, including the latest wave of fentanyl that has flooded many American cities with zombies. You should know, Mr. Trump, that while you unjustly accuse Bukele, Mexican and Colombian cartels are penetrating more and more North American neighbourhoods every day, and all kinds of deliveries from the Venezuelan narco-dictatorship continue to arrive.

Mr. Trump, If there is one thing we Latinos have plenty of, it is miserable petty bastards, and wherever you shoot you will hit the target; if you are looking for them, here you have a wide range of culprits: There are the dictatorships of Maduro and Ortega — even the Cuban one that has exported criminals and spies for more than half a century to the USA — and the corrupt populisms of López Obrador and Petro with their dozens of active cartels, unpunished and at ease, among other countries that have never stopped exporting all kinds of scum, but in the midst of this rottenness, among so many wretches on the loose, you fix your attention on Bukele? Really…?!; You cannot be serious, Mr. Trump!!!

To affirm that in El Salvador prisons are being emptied and criminals are being sent to the USA is a fallacy contradicted by the recent visit of Trump Junior to Nayik Bukele, where they treated each other with total cordiality and even talked about closing deals, or that of the Republican congressman for Florida, Matt Gaetz, who from the CECOT jail itself [maximum security penitentiary in El Salvador] has just launched his personal testimony, but if you, Mr. Trump, have proof to the contrary, please let us in on it. You should have informed yourself better before coming out with such nonsense. Now it is time to seriously question whether it was all just a trap that some Democrat Trojan left on your desk with false information to make you look bad in this final stretch of the campaign, because if so, it more than succeeded.

Bear in mind also that this outburst was launched in the midst of the final globalism offensive financed by a Davos clan that has set 2030 as its final delivery date, and in the face of which few, but very worthy, voices in America and Europe are speaking up in resistance, including Bukele with his unyielding defence of traditional values that are now under merciless attack. At a time when the globalists are putting up a monolithic front, this blunder must have sounded like music to their ears.

To sum up, Mr Trump, you have screwed up in the worst possible way and at the worst possible time. Those of us who, on the basis of common sense, have bet on you to stop Democrat cynicism and the consequent destruction of the West, as part of a global destabilisation strategy, hope you will fire the person who misled you on this and issue a sincere apology that the Salvadorian government would doubtless accept with all due humility. But if out of ignorance, ego or arrogance you decide not to do so, I advise you to wash your mouth out and opt for a modest silence the next time you hear the untainted name of Nayik Bukele. It will always be best, for you, I have to tell you.

Translated by GH

That is why when this new Tania, whom nobody has appointed – although, to be fair, she does not declare herself an “official” interlocutor either- now addresses Díaz-Canel calling him Mr. President in a tone too honeyed for the Creole palate, and almost begs him for that reconciliation that the blunt Castroism has always denied us, alarm bells go off within the Cuban opposition, not by chance more radicalized. As almost always, it is usually that group which is most vehemently opposed to the upstart proponents of dialog, not because of wounded pride or gratuitous rancor, but because a greater maturity has given it the healthy habit of objectively analyzing situations without sweetening them, and holding on to the protection of the confrontational logic to which the reiterated waves of repression have forced it.

This opposition with its feet on the ground does not rule out the possibility that the regime has planned to set up a controlled stage on which to play out its own theater and thus evade real questions. Hence, when Tania arrives hand in hand with Eliecer Avila in this hushed kind of way, it cannot help sounding to many people like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Let’s remember that Eliecer, the “boy from the ICU”,( University of Information Sciences) rose to stardom with a famous video that went viral in a Cuba without Internet, which gave him unusual visibility, where he questioned several government policies before Ricardo Alarcón. That video, which was not recorded surreptitiously but with several professional cameras on sturdy tripods – something clear from the correct framing, the stable posture and several shooting angles- somehow mysteriously circumvented the infallible censorship of the political police, and the rest is known history.

Here I am saying nothing and proving nothing, but perhaps that inexplicable event still reverberates in our imaginary subconscious and emerges now, just when we get, by way of Eliecer, this “reformed” Bruguera, so candid, hinting at rapprochements with a counterpart which has never been inclined to abandon its intransigence, and that, on the contrary, continues to break records of house arrests, detentions, acts of repudiation,  and vandalistic raids. This is happening at a time when it is essential to have an overall perception in order to avoid costly distractions. Let us not expect obvious evidence; there never was and there never will be under Castroism, which is why all reading here must be done between the lines, from a panoramic perspective that guides us in the midst of a complex context always subordinated, don’t forget, to the enormous work of penetration of the Cuban opposition., maintained for more than half a century, by the State Security.

My introduction to this post is not gratuitous. Let us keep hold of the certainty that the Cuban State has always maintained a mafia-like approach in its relationship with its people: this bunch of no-goods commit crimes, break their own laws, steal with full hands and profits from our misery, extorts us inside and outside Cuba when we pay unjustified and expensive extensions, when it monopolizes exorbitant prices in its network of commerce; it makes use of force if you complain to it, it abuses its power when it makes generalisations about its lousy management, it traffics in influences in its public functions and restricts the division of powers when it sets itself up as judge and jury; it blackmails millions of Cubans when it denies them entry or exit to their own country because of political biases, in short, pure Mafia in the strictest sense of the term, and it is with these people that the dialogue partners hope to reach agreements.

If the prediction comes true and the regime agrees to “dialogue”, the most consistent opponents will never be invited to its assembly: Antonio Rodiles on behalf of Estado de Sats, José Daniel Ferrer on behalf of UNPACU, Coco Fariñas speaking for FANTU, Berta Soler for the Ladies in White, and the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights, will be among those not invited. Nor would the most vocal voices of the Cuban Independent Press be invited, from Yoani Sanchez to the dozens of activists inside and outside Cuba who would deserve to be there for having exercised, against all the odds, their legitimate right to disseminate truthful information, and have been the nail in the regime’s shoe.

No, this would not be the opposition they would invite to “dialogue”. Castroism has a different plan that would not expose it to real dangers: it would set it up according to its prepared pre-established script, and that is why it plants and equips its agents with credible profiles, to keep the door ajar and for everything to flow smoothly when the time comes. At that table, they would play a rigged deck, Castroism would bet on its cards and would invite only lightweight interlocutors and the occasional small-time voice so it could impose its usual monologue.  And it wouldn’t matter that at that precise minute its repressive apparatus would be continuing in the streets doing its business. Another dirty trick, comparable to the tomfoolery when Fidel Castro used to call “cordial” meetings in Havana to “normalize” his relationship with the emigrants.

What would happen next is obvious. the diplomatic and publicity offensive would follow, where he would employ his media figureheads, collect outstanding favors, pressure his extensive network of international accomplices,,squeeze the balls of his blackmail victims, and activate his agents in the US and Europe to pave the way for reopening the door to this Biden who until yesterday was trying to reactivate Obama’s freebies. That would be the ultimate purpose of the trap. With all this, Castroism would try to calm tempers while silencing the most critical voices and demoralizing the most radical opposition, but above all, it would gain precious time in the midst of this chaos generated by its absolute lack of cash flow and its pathetic political isolation, sinking every day deeper into an irreversible crisis that is leading it to a potential social upheaval.

A completely different scenario, however much it may resemble it, would result from an authentic step-by-step negotiation, in the style proposed in ADN. In that case, clearly, each step forward would be dependent on previous concrete measures, leading to real and progressive openings -you give me, I give you; you don’t give me, I don’t give you- that is to say, verifiable changes would be demanded a priori, which is, in essence, exactly what the opposition is demanding. This could lead to the irreversible implementation of democratic mechanisms that would lead to a negotiated exit from the abyss. A utopia? Definitely yes, in light of current events, but also a door that we should leave ajar to avoid bloodshed in the future.  It would be a supreme folly to refuse a negotiated solution that would lead us to real freedom and full democracy.

The danger exposed here does not come from the kind of negotiation I have outlined above, no. Processes of this type have previously resulted in the liberation of peoples in South Africa and India and were even decisive in the Spanish transition, among other happy examples, but the prevailing conditions in Cuba at the moment are very different: in our case the opposition has not managed to cohere and show enough muscle to put pressure on its counterpart. As long as this essential condition is not met, such a negotiation will be impossible in the Cuban context, and the dictatorship knows it, that is why it is now preparing a new trap to offer us, once again, its cup of hemlock.

Listen to me, Cubans! If Castroism succeeds in pulling off such a trick, it would be able to reposition itself on its throne and then we could live under terror for another 62,000 years. From these facts an undeniable evidence emerges: whoever accepts a “dialogue” under such rules of the despotic government of Diaz-Canel would actually negotiate with the hidden power behind him, would be an accomplice and participant in the dictatorship’s game and would be guilty of an unforgivable act of betrayal of the homeland. At that moment, Corleone’s premonition would be valid: if that day comes, we will see who participates in the deception and we will know who is the traitor.

Translated by GH

the terms of the current Constitution, which they promulgated in a fit of demagogy – and with their now customary cynicism they included in the objectives of their nonsense “… to protect the interests of citizens… to ensure access to telecommunications services… and the rights to equality, privacy and secrecy in communications…”, as if millions of Cubans, massive victims of the digital blackout perpetrated on 11 July, were not already long accustomed to the systematic censorship by ETECSA’s servants, and had not witnessed the innumerable pressures in the weeks following ’11J’ – threats of dismissal from work or study centres for repeating information about the protests or showing support in any way for the victims of the repression – throughout the entire country.

But even if I am not willing to abide by it, to begin with I propose that this decree be applied to the President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez himself – and this time I omit his second forename to avoid confusion – since we can all remember how this gentleman made an irresponsible call to violence through his social media account last July 11; a call that the Cuban people will never forget, inciting his communist hordes to repress my people -something he did not do from a park bench, but on national television and social networks, from his position as President of the nation!

We all clearly heard this scoundrel shout “…the combat order is given…!” after which, together with the usual repressive hordes of the MININT, the army’s elite pack – whose only mission, presumably, should be to defend the people from external aggressions and never to turn against them – was unleashed to crush the cry in the only way it knows how: with beatings, imprisonment and summary trials without any right to defense.

No one would dispute the direct responsibility that Díaz-Canel had in that massacre, as well as the media clowns who have incited hatred from those same social networks that today they want to constrain for years, and who also comprehensively defamed the defenseless opposition, and threatened them in a thousand ways – read the Humberticos  and the Serranos, the Randy and the Froilanes, followed by a shameful etc.

That is why I also propose to apply Decree-Law 35 to them, because all of them, with a greater or lesser degree of responsibility, have thousands of times, with millions of Cubans as witnesses, carried out acts clearly catalogued in the three subcategories of this Royal Decree as crimes of a high level of danger: repeating false news in the media – every time that they deliberately lied to our people; blocking millions of accounts in social networks – when this miserable wimp perpetrated the cowardly digital blackout of July 11; and spreading harmful information with total bad faith – lies intended to delegitimize the opposition by presenting them as mercenaries at the service of a foreign power.

Of course, after July 11, you could hardly leave out from the decree the pearl that represents the call to insubordination – section (category 3, subcategory 3) – as a “…disturbance of public order…” and a “…promotion of social indiscipline…” catalogued with a very high level of danger, and for which the regime will of course have reserved its most refined resolutions of condemnation.

But as self-defense is the most basic of rights, millions of false profiles will be opened from where my people will go into that kind of digital hiding that many will opt for. That is why from the exact minute this post is published, I wish to make public that Jeovany Jimenez Vega – el Chino, to my friends – will never hide behind a false profile: I never did it and am very proud to say I certainly will not do it after 11 July.

Anyone who does not want to know what I think is perfectly entitled not to visit my wall and to ignore my tweets, but I will always show and defend my love for my homeland, in accordance with principles written in stone, that I did not learn in any party manual, but are influenced by the sacred thoughts of José Julián Martí – which will never be questioned.

My freedom of thought and opinion is an inalienable right that I will never entrust to the mercies of any despot! If from now on my words are not more incisive or aggressive against those who subjugate my people, it will only be because of my lack of talent, or because I cannot find the exact words to portray all their crudeness and the deepest contempt they arouse among my people.

The cowards who still oppress my beloved Cuba are warned: do not expect any indulgence from me, and I will not expect any from you! If you do not want to be called dictators and murderers, you will have to stop acting like them;  this is a war to the death between my people who fight for freedom and the tyrants who destroy it, and I am willing to leave my soul, my skin and my life outside or inside Cuba in that war.

I say this to make things clear.

Translated by GH