The change that has taken place in thousands of people has been so profound and rapid that, in other circumstances, it would have taken several decades.
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 11 July 2024 — Three years have passed since the historic protests that shook the Cuban streets on 11 July 2021, but it seems like more time has passed. The change that has taken place in thousands of people on this island has been so profound and rapid that, in other circumstances, several decades would have been needed to achieve a similar effect. If the transformation experienced by the protesters, their families and, especially, those imprisoned for that day has been rapid and significant, a metamorphosis has also taken place among the ranks of the repressors.
Angela was 76 years old on 11J and, when she heard the first echoes of the demonstrations, she wanted to go out with a stick and confront the young people who were shouting their discontent in the streets of the city of Camagüey. A member of the Communist Party, a staunch follower of every official campaign that shaped her life – from volunteer work to missions abroad – she felt absolute contempt for those “ungrateful kids” who wanted to “overthrow the Revolution.”
Now, 36 months later, she curses angrily every time there is a blackout, has raised the tone of her criticism of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, asked to leave the ranks of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and is packing her suitcase to go to Spain through the Law of Democratic Memory, after dusting off an Asturian grandfather.
Yuri was one of those who carried out attacks near the Havana Capitol. Years as an informant for State Security in the Jesús María neighborhood made him close to those agents of the political police who always carry pseudonyms like Ernesto, Camilo or Alejandro. That day, one of them warned him that “los gusanos” — the worms — wanted to “take over the headquarters of the National Assembly and overthrow the Government.”
At 23 and with his long sessions at the gym, it was “a cakewalk,” he would later boast when telling how he broke heads, punched stomachs and helped put several of the protesters in the paddy wagons that carried off hundreds of detainees. Months ago he deleted his Facebook account where he boasted of his excesses, obtained ‘Humanitarian Parole‘ to emigrate to the United States and, from Jacksonville, Florida, he now insists that he will not return to Cuba “not even tied up.”
Months ago he deleted his Facebook account where he boasted of his excesses, he obtained ‘Humanitarian Parole’ and insists that he will not return to Cuba “not even tied up”
Paloma, 19, was one of those summoned to the act of redress for the popular protests organized by the government days after 11J on the Havana coast. At dawn, the young university student arrived at the place, passed through the metal detector placed for the occasion and chanted some slogans in a tone of eternal victory. At her school she promised to join the Rapid Response Brigades to defend “the country from falling into the hands of the enemy.”
Already a graduate of her specialty, she now joins the ranks of the unemployed who do not want to work for the State for a miserable salary but have not managed to get into a prosperous MSME that guarantees them a living. Her parents have put the family home of “capitalist construction, ready to move in” up for sale and with that money they hope to finance the three tickets to Managua that will get them off the Island as soon as possible.
Three repressors, three stories of disillusionment that could be multiplied by thousands, by hundreds of thousands. None of them is at this moment willing or available to return to the streets to defend the Cuban regime. Between emigration and disillusionment, their revolutionary energy has been reduced or buried. Some could even swell the ranks of those who shout “Homeland and Life!”, “We are not afraid!” and “We want change!” if indignation were to fill the streets again. Does this mean that another explosion is near? If disappointment with the political model has increased in the ranks of the “faithful” themselves, is another 11J approaching?
This July, the reasons for social protest are greater than they were three years ago. There has been growing discontent with the worsening economic crisis, with the inflation that has plunged millions of Cubans into poverty, with the electricity shortage that has plunged us into long hours of darkness, and with the official blunders when it comes to applying solutions to get out of the quagmire. But the legal, judicial and police mechanisms have been greatly reinforced to avoid an uprising. The long prison sentences against the protesters, not only three years ago, but also in subsequent protests, have worked as a deterrent and the exodus has reduced the number of potential protesters.
But not everyone can board a plane. Among those who are condemned to remain in the country due to a lack of resources and contacts is the ferment of another possible 11J. On which side will Angela, Yuri and Paloma who are still in Cuba, find themselves when that day comes?
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