At last we met!! / Somos+

Somos+, Eliecer Avila, 11 October 2015 — Early this morning we received a very special person. Yohana Columbie, municipal education methodologist, graduate in pedagogy and theology, mid-level technician in accounting and IT, and many other things… She is a young woman who has not lost at all his time despite living in a small town in the eastern part of Cuba. A few days ago we got the news of her arrest by the State Security to prevent her traveling to Havana in order to participate in the National Council of our movement.

Today what was inevitable came true. We were able to meet and talk for hours, listen to each other, get to know each other better, exchange ideas and make sure that we share the same path and dream. Women like her confirm for me that in Cuba if you propose it to yourself, you can be free, think and speak without hypocrisy. It only depends on your convictions and emotional defenses to face the responsibility of being authentic, of not having two faces.

Welcome to the family of Somos+ Yohana!!

Translated by: Y. Rodriguez

Somos+ in Matanzas / Somos+

With Alexei Gamez as a provincial coordinator, leading the meeting and the presence of several members, we held the monthly reunion of the movement Somos+ in Matanzas province. The topics covered included: the introduction of new members, the analysis of current issues in the province, the need of personal self-improvement and the establishment of the provincial structure. The meeting was also attended by Osvaldo Sanabria Caso, a neighbor who as an observer could witness the sincerity and freedom that characterized the way the people present reflected their own realities and those of many others. “I imagined a bunch of people full of hatred and resentment towards the leaders of this country, but I was completely wrong. Very brave young people and committed to Cuba above all, that is what you can find in Somos+” he said after the meeting ended.

One of the highlights of the meeting was the election of Franky Rojas Torres as the person in charge of Media and Press for the province, also the appointment of Duniesky Santos Jomolca as the one in charge of the improvement of the members and Liset Sanabria Arias as responsible for the finances of the provincial headquarters.

According to the coordinator: “it was an excellent time to be repeated soon” since it was established that on a monthly basis these meetings will take place in order to organize and analyze the performance of tasks which always have one single purpose, to show everyone that Somos+ (We Are More), young people committed to work, are Cubans who have decided to stop running away and with courage face our unique and biggest goal, a Cuba for all Cubans.

Translated by: Y. Rodriguez

Annual Convention of the Political Movement Somos+ / Somos+

SOMOS+, 8 October 2015 — With Cuba and for change, Somos+ invites you to its Annual Convention and congratulates all people from Cuba and the world who participated in the contest for choosing the poster of the event. The quality of the works is impressive and reminds us that we come from a land full of talent, strength and creativity.

The selected work was created by Sandor Valdes, and it will preside over the meeting this coming November 14th. We congratulate the author and thank the effort made by all the participants.

See you all on November 14th at FIU!

Translated by: Y. Rodriguez

A Message From my Faith to the State Security Authority / Somos+

Somos+, Pedro Lago Segura, 8 October 2015 — If you believe you can change me from your position of power, you don’t know where the real power lies. And if you think that with that sabre-rattling you prevent my voice from being heard by others or me from hearing others’ voices, you are not free in spirit and confuse the weak, fully twisting a democratic exercise.

Anonymous messages do not intimidate me. And so you will never prevent me to say and express what I feel. And intending to manipulate around wherever I try to earn a living, won’t work out either. It may cause some distrust and fear of me, but the one who truly gets to know me and understand in depth my ideas, really knows who I am and what I want, which is nothing but good for my country and everyone, including them and all of you too. continue reading

They are mistaken and do not know how much. They’re not doing anything other than chopping down their main goals, giving less credibility and losing more people every day.

Instilling fear is not a way to build a model or a nation. Those who do so, end up building in themselves and internally an atmosphere of fear and despair. Because he who is afraid now -understandably- because of the one who believes he is right and doesn’t seem to fear at all, tomorrow may not forgive those who have always feared when they use force subjugate and impose themselves on the people. And let us hope this won’t be the case, if what we really want is to see our motherland feel proud to have us.

My enemies are fabricated by themselves, because I have no prejudices nor intolerance. I am among those who believe that the struggle has much more sense if done from the core rather than from the distance. I am not concerned about my fate, because I know it will be for the good what I do and I shall not cease in my doing.

That I am a bit stressed? It’s true. That I am somewhat tired? It is also true. That I have problems? Well, in one way or another everyone has them. This country is actually full of them! But my being, my ideas and principles are and will remain intact, even if a whole world and all its problems are against me. I do not have the support of my father on policy issues, but at least I have learned to demand his respect and tolerance. No matter what happens to me in the street (despite having more support than rejection), with my family I have everything and everyone, and that only God can take away.

Asking me to change my mind? Never. They have not given nor will ever give me reasons. I know Cuba and know what it is going through, without even having to leave it or know other systems and other societies. Cuba is Van Van, Silvio Rodriguez, Pablo Milanes, Los Aldeanos, Compay Segundo, Buena Fe and many others. But it is also Celia Cruz, Andy Garcia, Willy Chirino, Arturo Sandoval, Bebo Valdes, the Estefans and many more. It’s music, singing, dancing and it is passion. It is culture, cigars, art and son. It is struggle, grief, peace and religion.

Cast out your selfishness, your bigotry and your foolish pride. The country does not just need us -you and me- it needs all of us. I have enough reasons to believe that the Cuban people are more revolutionary than socialist, although have not known how to be sufficiently so to demean some of their stolen rights.

Desist from everything that ties you and makes you a slave. Stop shielding yourself under a “patriotism,” in order to defend the despots with their ideologies, which do not need to be imposed on everyone just because it is their whim, or for nationalized doctrine or hypocritical commitment. You can be patriotic and perhaps even revolutionary, without being Marxist or Leninist, without being a communist or socialist.

Marti taught us that patriotism is a sacred duty, when one strives for bringing the homeland up to the condition in which men and women may live in happier, and it is reprehensible when invoked to prevent friendship among all people of good faith in the universe.

That’s why I say it is necessary to see and demand the state as a protector, the country as home, and the nation as a large family with room for the many and the few, the good and the bad, the poor and the rich, the unhappy and honest. With room for: state, citizenship, government, opposition, political parties, people, socialists, dissidents. That is democracy. That is independence. That’s what I want Cuba to be. That’s what I demand from you and will demand, and what many others in thousands of different ways demand from you and will demand as well. I do not try to make you think like me, but do not then try to make me think like you do. I do not believe in opportunists or dictators, I do not believe in “national socialists” as Juan Carlos Cremata expressed, nor in corrupt planners. I do believe in individual freedom, in the opportunities democracy provides and what is done with the soul and the heart.

Now I ask you. What do you believe in?

Translated by: Y. Rodriguez